‘Hellbound’ Dethrones ‘Squid Game’ as Netflix’s Most Popular Show

The supernatural South Korean horror series jumped to the streaming service’s No. 1 spot in just 24 hours.

Maxim Staff

Nov 26, 2021

A new South Korean horror series has snatched Squid Game‘s crown as Netflix’s most popular show.

Streaming analytics site FlixPatrol reports that Hellbound, which premiered November 19, notched the No. 1 spot in just 24 hours thanks to a streaming surge from 84 countries, per the New York Post.

Squid Game took eight days to achieve the same feat before spending 46 nonconsecutive days on top. It currently sits in FlixPatrol’s No. 2 spot.

“A story about otherworldly beings who appear out of nowhere to issue a decree and condemn individuals to hell,” reads Netflix’s Hellbound description.

“These supernatural events cause great mayhem and enable the religious group The New Truth to grow in influence. A few people, however, become suspicious about its activities and begin investigating its involvement in mysterious events.”

Hellbound began as a webtoon before it was adapted for TV. The season 2 webtoon is already set to release sometime in the second half of next year, but no filming plans for an accompanying TV season have been made.

Director Yeon Sang-ho and cartoonist Choi Gyu-Seok own the Hellbound intellectual property and could take it to any platform. But a move seems unlikely, as Sang-ho spoke highly of Netflix in a recent interview with HuffPost KR picked up by Hypebeast.

“As a creator, Netflix is a good platform. There are no restrictions that come with being introduced first in Korea, so free planning is possible. It is also a great advantage and a new experience to be able to simultaneously release and see reactions in countries of different cultures.” he said.

“It was my first work with Netflix and it was successful, but if I do it again with Netflix, I won’t take a similar approach, I will do something new.”

Meanwhile, Squid Game set the record for Netflix’s most successful series launch ever. Leaked internal documents acquired by Bloomberg also indicate that Netflix is projected to earn $891 million in value off the South Korean survival drama’s success.

Squid Game creator, director and writer Hwang Dong-hyuk recently confirmed a second season of the show that sees indebted citizens competing in fatal children’s games for money.

“There’s been so much pressure, so much demand and so much love for a second season. So I almost feel like you leave us no choice!”

At least according to these early numbers, it seems Hellbound is on track to become Netflix’s next entertainment phenomenon.

Mentioned in this article: Entertainment Hellbound netflix news Squid Game Streaming tv