True Crime fans and enthusiasts can celebrate. After the immense success ofMonster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Netflix announced today that the anthology series is moving forward with at least two seasons. Just like the first season, the upcoming two installments are set to chronicle the life of serial killers who have made a huge negative impact on society. The names of the criminals whose stories will be covered in the upcoming episodes haven’t been disclosed.
Netflix refers toMonster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Storyas “record-breaking,” and the numbers seem to confirm it. According to Netflix itself, the first season of the series is projected to reach the landmark number of one billion view hours in coming weeks. So far, the show has accumulated over 900 million view hours, which makes it one of the most-watched English-language shows to premiere on the streamer ever.
The two-season order was announced along witha second season forThe Watcher,another disturbing thriller series that premiered on Netflix in mid-October. In an official statement, head of Global TV at NetflixBela Bajariacelebrated the success of both series and praised the series creators’ work:
“Audiences can’t take their eyes off ‘Monster’ and ‘The Watcher’. The creative team of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan on Monster along with Eric Newman on ‘The Watcher’ are masterful storytellers who captivated audiences all over the world. The back-to-back force of these two series is due to Ryan’s distinct original voice which created cultural sensations and we are thrilled to continue telling stories in the Monster and Watcher universes.”
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TheMonsterand Murphy-Brennan Legacy at Netflix
As Bajaria indicated,Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Storywas created byRyan MurphyandIan Brennan, both of whom developed other shows for Netflix, includingHollywood,The Politician, andRatched. The renewal announcement isn’t surprising: Back in October, the streamerhad already announcedthat bothMonsterandThe Watcherwere reaching sky-high viewing numbers.
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’s success comes with its share of controversy, though: The show has sparked discussion about its profiting off real-life tragedies, and many have pointed out the fact that the seriescould do betterwhen it comes to representing Dahmer’s victims. If Murphy and Netflix take that criticism and work on bringing together more nuanced future installments ofMonster, we’ll have to wait and see.
You can watch the trailer for Season 1 ofMonster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Storybelow:
Check out the official synopsis of the series here:
Between 1978 and 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer gruesomely took the lives of seventeen innocent victims. DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is a series that exposes these unconscionable crimes, centered around the underserved victims and their communities impacted by the systemic racism and institutional failures of the police that allowed one of America’s most notorious serial killers to continue his murderous spree in plain sight for over a decade.
