New Netflix series The Watcher has everybody talking. Audiences have been shocked to learn that the psychological thriller is based on a true story. What are the real events from which writers Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan have drawn inspiration for this seven-part series? We delve into the true story behind The Watcher.
Is The Watcher based on a true story?
Elements of The Watcher are based on a true story. An article was published in The Cut in 2018, which described what happened to Derek and Maria Broaddus four years prior, when they bought a home in Westfield, New Jersey, for $1.3 million. Before they had moved in, however, they received a letter addressed to “The New Owner” in which the sender referred to themselves as “The Watcher.” Part of the letter read:
“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. 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.”
– The Watcher’s first letter to the Broaddus family
It also included references to the three children the couple shared. Derek took the letter to the police, who advised him not to discuss it with his neighbors. They did, however, email the previous owners of the home to see if they had experienced anything similar. They said that in 23 years, the only letter they had received was just before they moved out.
When the family moved in, they received more letters and one in particular used their children’s nicknames. This led to police questioning neighbor Michael Langford because of his proximity to the Broaddus’ home, but he was cleared as a suspect. Derek and Maria then decided to hire private detectives.
The investigators theorized an older person was behind the letters, and could be someone who missed out on buying the property, or a former worker at the home. Six months after receiving their very first letter, Derek and Maria put the house up for sale as investigations came to a close. It sold in 2019 for $400,000 less than what the couple had paid for it. To this day, the person behind the letters from “The Watcher” has never been identified.
Will Netflix’s The Watcher stick to the true story?
The names of the couple in the Netflix series have been changed, to Dean (Bobby Cannavale) and Nora Brannock (Naomi Watts). They also only have two children, who are older than the real children involved in the case. Whether The Watcher will reveal who has been sending the letters in this fictitious world remains to be seen. There are a number of suspects, including “kooky older woman” Pearl (Mia Farrow) and her brother Jasper (Terry Kinney) who hides in the Brannock’s dumbwaiter inside their house, as well as Nora’s former friend and realtor Karen (Jennifer Coolidge), and nosy neighbors Mitch (Richard Kind) and Mo (Margo Martindale).
