It may be a while before Only Murders in the Building returns for Season 3, but don’t worry, Freeform has a new thriller series on the way that’s guaranteed to fill that void. The Watchful Eye follows Promised Land star Mariel Molino as Elena Santos, a young woman with a mysterious past who manipulates herself to work at The Greybourne in Manhattan as a live-in nanny for an architect named Matthew (Warren Christie). work. and his son Jasper (Henry Joseph Samiri) after the death of Matthew’s wife. Elena quickly realizes, however, that she’s not the only one with secrets and ulterior motives.
“’The Watchful Eye’ is primarily a mystery. And I think that starts with his main character, Elena. She’s also a mystery,” Molino tells POPSUGAR. “In the first episode, we don’t really see a lot about who Elena is or why she’s here or why she has a bone to pick. And that’s something you’ll see from episode two onwards is backstory. That’s one of the things that drew me to the story, that it has a very rich backstory. And as the series begins to unravel, you’ll find all this information about her parents, her past life, and why she is doing the things she is doing.”
“You never know what someone’s true intentions are, and you don’t really know who to trust.”
Amy Acker joins the series as Matthew’s sister-in-law, Tory, who immediately dislikes Elena upon arrival. Acker says of her character, “She’s very protective of her family and [wants] to protect her wealth and family secret.” Acker also notes that “there’s a little storyline between Tory and Matthew that we uncover as the season progresses.” She explains, “I have a feeling she kind of thinks that maybe he’s the one who got away and she wants to be a bigger part of his life. And if that means keeping other people away from him, she’s not afraid to do whatever she has to do to make that happen.”
Luckily, Elena doesn’t seem to be completely alone on her mission, as she immediately befriends a young resident named Elliott (Lex Lumpkin). “He knows more than he lets on and he sees Elena as a newcomer to The Greybourne,” says Lumpkin. “And although he looks at her because she’s older and has a lot of wisdom, he also tells her a lot of things to watch out for at The Greybourne because you can’t really trust anyone. He gives her some tips and tricks so she doesn’t fall too hard.”
Lumpkin, who you may know from Nickelodeon’s All That and Drama Club, says one of the things he loves most about the show is that “you have to be prepared for the unexpected.” He notes, “You never know what someone’s true intentions are, and you don’t really know who to trust. That’s why it’s really hard to say because everyone has something to benefit from and it’s just a matter of figuring out who, and I think if I had to guess Matthew is the one who benefits the most, but he kind of seems pure to be, so I’m not sure.
Christie says it’s the characters that fascinate him the most and that none of them are what they appear to be. “All the characters have their own secrets, but that instantaneous chemistry between Elena and Jasper might blind him to some of those things that might be indicators in other situations,” explains Christie. “He’s a guy who deals with a lot of things, and then she comes in and brings this breath of fresh air, and the relationship is so important.” Ultimately, Matthew’s focus is on “making sure his son is okay and that he has a good life” after recently losing his mother.
The Watchful Eye will premiere on Freeform in January 2023. At its core, the 10-part series is “about survival and a world where life isn’t fair,” says Molino. Oh, and according to Acker, be sure to keep an eye out for Easter eggs. She teases, “You’ll see things that caught your eye at first, or maybe if you go back and look at them, you’ll find things that might have led you to see what the truth was — if you fit right in.” on.”
Read on to learn more about The Watchful Eye, including the full cast and premiere date.
Cast of “The Watchful Eye”.
The series stars Mariel as Elena Santos, a young woman who is hired as a nanny at The Greybourne. Molino describes her character as “a very bright, accomplished, smart young woman who has a complicated past”. She explains, “I think she’s trying to navigate this new world that she’s going into, a very affluent society, and using the tools that she has to do that. But I think she’s going to run into a lot more problems than she thinks.”
Molino also notes that Elena “isn’t just there as a nanny.” She adds, “As the series progresses, we’ll learn more about her past and who exactly she’s trying to reach. That’s all I can say, but I can tell you that while she thinks she has a clear goal, there are many different goals that come in and out that end up taking her away from her mission.
The show also stars Christie as Matthew, a wealthy widower struggling with the grief of his wife’s death and the impact it has on their son, and Kelly Bishop as Mrs Ivey, a lifelong resident of The Greybourne who is used to it to get what she wants by using her money and power. Also in the cast are Acker as Matthew’s sister-in-law, Tory; Jon-Michael Ecker as Elena’s boyfriend Scott; and Samiri as Matthew’s son Jasper.
“Everyone has some ulterior motive [and] The motifs unfold over the course of the season.”
Speaking of Scott and Elena’s relationship, Molino says, “It is Scott that paves the way for her to get a job at The Greybourne, and in many ways their relationship is the catalyst for this adventure and this mission. I think they both have axes to sharpen, and both have reasons for doing some pretty shady stuff. All I can say is that Elena trusts Scott, but she also knows that she has to differentiate between her relationship and what she’s going to be doing at The Greybourne, because that ends up muddying the waters.”
Rounding out the cast are Lumpkin as Elliott, one of The Greybourne’s young residents who quickly forms a friendship with Elena, and Aliyah Royale as Ginny, one of the nannies who works alongside Elena at The Greybourne. According to Lumpkin, Elliott is “smart, cool, and really nice.” He adds: “Like all teenagers, he has his own insecurities and is just trying to express himself. And he’s alert, so sometimes he’s watching and maybe he catches something, but he’s really just doing his own thing.” Of her character, Royale says, “Ginny is first and foremost a sweetheart, which I think we see right away in episode one, but she’s definitely the funniest, the naughtiest, tell-it-how-it-is girlfriend. I think this season we’ll see her decide where her allegiance lies and that can go in a lot of different directions.”
Regardless of what role each character plays on the show, Ecker notes that “everyone has some ulterior motive [and] The motifs unfold over the course of the season.”
Release date of “The Watchful Eye”.
The Watchful Eye premieres Monday, January 30 at 9 p.m. with two episodes before switching to its regular 10 p.m. timeslot.
The Watchful Eye poster.
