Jennifer Coolidge Wants to Sell You Your Dream Home in Trailer for Netflix's THE WATCHER From Ryan Murphy
A new video has dropped promoting the upcoming limited thriller series The Watcher, which is heading to Netflix. In the promo, Emmy winner Jennifer Coolidge (Best In Show, Legally Blonde, The White Lotus) is a high end real estate agent who is touring viewers through a big, beautiful house that she’s trying to sell. It feels very authentic as a real estate pitch, but has a couple of odd moments, like when Coolidge’s character mentions fitting a body in the home’s dumbwaiter, or talks about keeping the blinds closed to the creepy neighbors don’t see in. She also plays a haunting little tune on the piano and seems to glaze over a bit in the process before coming to.
The show is co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan (Ratched, The Politician), and it stars Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale. It is inspired by the true story of the infamous “Watcher” house in New Jersey, where a couple bought the 1905 Dutch colonial revival in 2014 for nearly $1.4 million. They were forced to abandon their new home over chilling letters from “The Watcher,” who claimed to have been “watching” the house for decades. “I am the Watcher. Bring me your young blood,” one of the notes read.
The family put the house back on the market. It didn’t sell, and they rented it out. In 2017, the renter also received a sinister letter from “The Watcher,” also threatening their life. The house ultimately sold in 2019 for $959,000. The identity of “The Watcher” remains a mystery.
The official logline reads:
Dean (Cannavale) and Nora Brannock (Watts) just purchased their dream home in the idyllic suburb of Westfield, New Jersey, but after putting all of their savings into closing the deal they soon realize the neighborhood is less than welcoming. There’s a kooky older woman named Pearl (Mia Farrow) and her brother Jasper (Terry Kinney), who sneaks into the Brannock’s house and hides in their dumbwaiter. There’s Karen (Jennifer Coolidge), the realtor and an old acquaintance of Nora’s, who makes them feel like they don’t really belong, and nosy neighbors Mitch (Richard Kind) and Mo (Margo Martindale), who don’t seem to understand property lines. Their icy welcome quickly turns into a full-blown living hell when ominous letters from someone calling themself “The Watcher” start arriving, terrorizing the Brannocks to their breaking point as the neighborhood’s sinister secrets come spilling out.
The cast also includes Noma Dumezweni, Christopher McDonald, Michael Nouri, Isabel Gravitt, Henry Hunter Hall and Luke David Blumm. The Watcher is set to release this Fall on Netflix. Watch the promo below, and let us know if you’ll be tuning in.