After the success of “Monster: The Jeffery Dahmer story”, Netflix has granted creators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan two more installments in their “Monster” anthology. The first series surrounding Jeffery Dahmer, the serial killer and cannibal, became the second most popular English TV season ever on the streaming platform.
Netflix announced the series renewal on Twitter. The next series in the anthology will “focus on other monstrous figures who have impacted society”.
Following the record-breaking success of DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Ryan Murphy & Ian Brennan will create two more installments that will focus on other monstrous figures who have impacted society.
A second season of The Watcher has also been greenlit! pic.twitter.com/NmFdj6soJj
— Netflix (@netflix) November 7, 2022
“Dahmer”, which premiered on Sept. 21st, drew in controversy for not receiving support from the family of Dahmer’s victims. Some saw the series as “glorifying” the serial killer whose victims were mainly black and brown queer youth.
I’m not telling anyone what to watch, I know true crime media is huge rn, but if you’re actually curious about the victims, my family (the Isbell’s) are pissed about this show. It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need? https://t.co/CRQjXWAvjx
— eric. (@ericthulhu) September 22, 2022
Murphy has responded to criticisms of the subject matter and backlash from the families saying, “…Over the course of the three, three and a half years when we were really writing it, working on it, we reached out to 20, around 20 of the victims’ families and friends trying to get input, trying to talk to people and not a single person responded to us in that process,” at an event for the show in LA.
Yet the series grew fascination in true crime communities online. Many people dressed as the serial killer for Halloween and fan edits from the show have millions of views.
ADVERTISEMENT
Can’t even tell you how out of pocket dressing your child as Dahmer for Halloween is. pic.twitter.com/1PTtEM64Ge
— The Emo Dragon (@TheEmoDragon) November 5, 2022
“Something that we talked a lot in the making of it is we weren’t so much interested in Jeffrey Dahmer, the person, but what made him the monster that he became” Murphy explained. “…It’s really about white privilege. It’s about systemic racism. It’s about homophobia.”
Still, the news of two more installments of the anthology has received backlash online.
We lost. I understand why Netflix did this (numbers and what not) but my god, the unhealthy fascination people have with serial killers and true crime is only going to get worse. I mean come on y'all, we saw fucking Jeffrey Dahmer HALLOWEEN COSTUMES this year. This is so sad.
— Justin | IDontBeatGames⚡️ (@IDontBeatGames) November 7, 2022
Some were confused about how the show gained a lot of views despite the controversy surrounding it.
I have zero respect for anyone who watched Dahmer on Netflix. I have even less respect for those who say up and tried to rationalize that man’s behavior.
— JDK (@joshuadavdking) November 4, 2022
ADVERTISEMENT
https://twitter.com/Oraion5/status/1589739482055868416?s=20&t=NKqC4y0QPQ852s-XzETzfg
Others see this news as a sign of the public being desensitized to real-life tragedies.
netflix with the gross hours and hours of dahmer miniseries, now peacock pushing casey anthony, so which streamer will reanimate gacy or bundy for their networks? true crime is interesting, but this is gross.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) November 8, 2022
Netflix's response to Dahmer pushback is shockingly not thoughtful reconsideration and instead they're gonna go ahead and make the serial killer Avengers because so many people watched the first time https://t.co/sjEdoKCaxH
— Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) November 7, 2022
Creators, Murphy and Brennan have not yet announced who the next installment’s “monster” will be.
