Netflix renewed Dahmer: An American Cannibal for two more seasons last week. So Ryan Murphy's controversial production will continue, and that makes sense, but will it work?
The production turned into fiction the real case of the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, also known as The Cannibal of Milwaukee, responsible for the death of 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. The case became famous not only for the cannibalism practiced by Dahmer, but also for the police negligence, which allowed the killer to continue in action.
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The creators and producers have been emphasizing since the announcement of the series that their differential would be to catch this macabre story from the point of view of the victims of Jeffrey Dahmer. But this did not make “Dahmer” escape the controversies.
This is because the victims' families either disagree with Netflix exploiting their suffering again for profit, or because, in some cases, they claim that streaming never got in touch to at least unify about the series. In addition, the production was accused of mistreatment by a member of the team and saw items related to the serial killer on the rise for Halloween.
Amid public complaints and threats of prosecution, “Dahmer: An American Cannibal” reached the position of third most watched series in the history of Netflix, behind only the South Korean phenomenon “Round 6” and the main production of streaming today, “ Stranger Things” (in this case, season 4).
Over the first 28 days of display, a period used by Netflix to assess the audience of its productions, “Dahmer” accumulated an impressive 856,2 million hours watched. From this point of view, it makes a lot of sense that the series has won two new seasons.
On the other hand, many wonder what will be done in the future of the series, after all, the story of Jeffrey Dahmer and his victims had a beginning, middle and end (not necessarily in that order). But it is the title of the production in Portuguese that can confuse people, and explain the continuation. In English, the series is called “DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, or “DAHMER – Monster: The Story of Jeffrey Dahmer”.
The word “Monster” in the title should govern the series going forward, and Jeffrey Dahmer's story is over. A sequel involving this same story would make no sense, but “Dahmer” will follow the path of other Ryan Murphy productions, and will be an anthology series.
An anthology series tells different stories, different characters every episode or season. Ryan Murphy is best known for “American Horror Story,” where each season tells a different, independent horror story. The same goes for “American Crime Story”, another true crime production by the producer, in which each season focuses on a different story.
Thus, the revelation that the two new seasons will tell "the stories of other monstrous figures who impacted society", as announced by Netflix, it makes sense that "Dahmer" will continue. If the idea was to continue the story presented in Season 1, my opinion would be different.
It remains to be seen which other cases will be adapted for fiction, information that has not yet been revealed, and whether Netflix will take greater care of the people involved. Also, carrying the name “Dahmer” might not mean much if the product isn't as good.
An example of this is “American Crime Story“, whose first season, “The People Vs. OJ Simpson”, was a smash hit, not picked up by the sequel, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace”, which focused on the shocking murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace.
Anthologies or this can often be seen as standalone miniseries. If “Dahmer” didn't get the success it did, we would never think about the possibility of the series having a continuation. This type of maneuver tries to extract the success of a production and pass it on to another, several miniseries counting only one series. But this strategy only goes so far.
In Brazil, perhaps it is more difficult to make people understand the relationship of one story to another, mainly due to the simple fact that “Dahmer: An American Cannibal” has this title, without the word “Monster”. Would it make sense to call another story, about a different monstrous figure, “Dahmer”? We'll see in the future how Netflix handles this issue.
In conclusion, it is possible to say that a renewal makes sense, Netflix seeking to extract even more profit from this story. But for this to work, the choice of stories to be told and the quality of the new casts and productions will be as important as starting a new miniseries, as most people must see sequels in this way.
It would be ideal for the production to seek a more sensitive approach towards potential family members of the victims of the monsters portrayed in the series in the future. But it is possible that, despite being ethically questionable, Netflix sees these controversies as yet another way to get attention for “Dahmer” productions.
“Dahmer: An American Cannibal” is available on Netflix. The sequels do not yet have announced release dates.
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