After the resounding successes of ryan murphyit’s the last two netflix series, the streamer doubles (and triples) on both.
Netflix has ordered two additional installments of Freak after huge viewership numbers for its Jeffrey Dahmer-focused season and won a second season of The Observer. The first will become an anthology series a la Murphy’s FX shows american horror story and American crime history, featuring “stories of other monstrous characters who impacted society,” per Netflix. Creative details about season two of The Observer are being kept quiet for now, so it’s unclear if this will also become an anthology or continue the unsettling story of the first season, which left several things open.
Murphy and his longtime collaborator Ian Brennan created Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Storyand the two teamed up with Narcos boss Eric Newman on The Observer.
“The audience can’t take their eyes off Freak and The Observer. The creative team of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan on Freak with Eric Newman on The Observer are masterful storytellers who have captivated audiences around the world,” Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s head of global television, said in a statement. “The back-to-back strength of these two series is due to Ryan’s distinct original voice creating cultural sensations, and we’re excited to continue telling stories in the Freak and Observer universe”.
Dahmerstarring Evan Peters as the infamous serial killer, became Netflix second most-watched English series — and third in any language — in its first four weeks. It has amassed more than 856 million watch hours worldwide, according to the streamer’s internal metrics. (Only squid game and stranger things 4 exceeded it.) Dahmer stands at 934 million hours as of November 1, according to the streamer.
The Observer, based on a New York magazine article and featuring Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale, racked up nearly 341 million viewing hours worldwide within 18 days of its Oct. 13 premiere.
Securing the future of both Freak and The Observer is vital for Netflix. Murphy has been based at the streamer since July 2018, when he signed a five-year, $300 million overall deal with the streaming giant. Since then, Murphy had struggled to deliver breakout success like he did for his former home at Disney with the likes of American Horror Story, American Crime Story and Quarrel at FX as well as procedures like Fox’s 911 franchise.
Until Freak and The Observer, Murphy’s Netflix series included the relatively under-watched Hollywood, The Politician, Ratched and Halton. Additionally, Murphy made waves in August 2021 when Disney announced it was teaming up with the prolific showrunner for two new episodes of the American history deductible — American love story and American sports history — while Murphy was plagued by his contract with Netflix. This reignited a flurry of industry rumors that Murphy was planning to reunite with Dana Walden and return to Disney when his Netflix contract expires in July 2023. Cementing the future of the two Freak and The Observer, Netflix has guaranteed it will stay in business with Murphy if the creator behind hits like Joy return to Disney as has been widely speculated.
Alexis Martin Woodall and Eric Kovtun of Murphy, Brennan and Ryan Murphy Productions are producing both series. Janet Mock, Carl Franklin and Peters are also EPs on Dahmerwhile Newman, Bryan Unkeless, Paris Barclay, Watts, Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost and Scoop Wasserstein also produced the first season of The Observer.