The Watchful Eye: Mariel Molino to star in Hitchcockian thriller series

After evaluating the pilot episode of a Hitchcockian thriller show called The Nanny, with Andrea Londo (Narcos) in the lead role, Freeform has decided to order it to series – but under the title The Watchful Eye, and with Mariel Molino (Promised Land) taking over as the lead.

Created by Grace and Frankie executive producer Julie Durk, The Watchful Eye will center on

Elena Santos, a young woman with a complicated past, maneuvering her way into working as a live-in nanny for an affluent family in Manhattan. She quickly learns that everyone in the mysterious building has deadly secrets and ulterior motives. What they don’t know, however, is that Elena has some shocking secrets of her own.

Molino is playing Elena Santos, “a bright, savvy young woman hired as the live-in nanny to a wealthy widower and his young son. When Elena moves into The Greybourne, a landmark Manhattan apartment building, she quickly learns about the complex politics among its wealthy inhabitants and a history riddled with mystery and tragedy. Luckily, Elena is more than equipped to handle anything that comes her way on her own terms.”

According to Deadline, Molino is joined in the cast by Warren Christie (The Village) as Matthew, a self-made architect dealing with grief and confusion over his wife’s death and its impact on his young son; Kelly Bishop (Gilmore Girls) as Mrs. Ivey, a lifelong resident of The Greybourne who rules the roost and is accustomed to getting her way through a potent combination of wealth, power and sheer force of will; Amy Acker (The Gifted) as Tory, a woman who instantly dislikes the fresh-faced, eager young nanny hired by her handsome brother-in-law, Matthew; Jon Ecker (Firefly Lane) as Scott, Elena’s sharp and cunning boyfriend who has helped arrange for Elena to get a live-in job at The Greybourne; Lex Lumpkin (All That) as Elliott, a precocious teenager who lives in The Greybourne and strikes up an instant friendship with Elena; Henry Joseph Samiri (The Bold and the Beautiful) as Jasper, Matthew’s son, an intelligent but withdrawn child still reeling from the recent death of his mother; and Aliyah Royale (The Walking Dead: The World Beyond) as Ginny, who works alongside Elena as a nanny and is one of the few people who can get past her new friend’s tough outer shell.

Durk is on board as consultant while Emily Fox serves as showrunner and executive producer. The other executive producers are Ryan Seacrest, Nina Wass, Andrea Shay, and Jeffrey Reiner of Ryan Seacrest Productions. Reiner (Dirty John) is also directing the pilot. The series is being produced by ABC Signature.

Fox, Wass, and Shay provided the following statement:

We are so excited to be working with our partners at Freeform and ABC Signature on The Watchful Eye, an updated twist on a classic Hitchcockian thriller featuring an empowered female lead who’s got an ax to grind. An elegant New York City apartment building called The Greybourne provides a backdrop where nothing is as it seems and where the palace intrigue has an undercurrent of terror. Elena Santos is very much a force to be reckoned with, and the Manhattan power players who underestimate her may soon realize they’ve met their match. In this day and age, who doesn’t secretly long to eat the rich?”

I’m all for more Hitchcockian thrillers being released into the world, so The Watchful Eye going to series sounds like good news to me. How does this show sound to you? Let us know by leaving a comment below.