Ryan Murphy's Netflix Series 'The Watcher' Will Terrorize Naomi Watts And Bobby Cannavale

The Watcher, a new Ryan Murphy Netflix series inspired by creepy true events, has found its leads. Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale will star in the series as a married couple who move into the dream home – only to then start receiving disturbing letters from someone calling themselves The Watcher. And as strange as this all sounds, it actually happened – to a married couple living in Westfield, New Jersey.

Deadline has the scoop that Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale will star in The Watcher, which is yet another Netflix series from Ryan Murphy. Watts and Cannavale will play a married couple "whose move into their dream home is being threatened by terrifying letters from a stalker, signed 'The Watcher.'" All of this is inspired by a true story of a couple who bought a large house in Westfield, New Jersey for $1.4 million, only to then leave after receiving a series of creepy letters from someone who claimed they were in charge of "watching" the house.

"657 Boulevard has been the subject of my family for decades now and as it approaches its 110th birthday, I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming," The Watcher wrote in their first note. "My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. It is now my time. Do you know the history of the house? Do you know what lies within the walls of 657 Boulevard? Why are you here? I will find out."

Eventually, the married couple who bought the house had enough of the letters and tried to sell the house. However, they had trouble finding a buyer, and opted to rent the property instead. But the renter ended up receiving letters from The Watcher, too. To this day, the identity of The Watcher remains a mystery, which just makes the whole affair all the more chilling.

The long, strange story was chronicled in a great article in The Cut, and I urge you to read it right here. Deadline reports that Netflix won the rights to the story after "a ferocious bidding battle that involved six studios." Those rights include the rights to The Cut story, and the rights of the former homeowners. The deal was originally supposed to lead to a feature film, but it will now become a series instead.

Murphy will executive produce along with Ian Brennan, Eric Newman (Narcos), Bryan Unkeless, and Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman (Catfish). Production is expected to start this fall.