At the same time, a year ago today, on March 13, 2025, Netflix released Adolescence, which arrived with little fanfare, which is par for the course with the streamer. Despite releasing the four episodes at the same time as The Electric State, Netflix’s viewers proved that quality can overcome the quantity of blockbuster movie spending. Instead, they flocked to the shocking thriller series that quickly became one of their most-watched shows ever, leaving the most expensive movie Netflix has ever produced in the dust and shocking viewers with its propulsive and prescient storytelling.
Adolescence Broke Netflix Records and Stunned Audiences
Created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, Adolescence tells the harrowing story of Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old who is arrested for the alleged murder of a classmate, Katie Leonard. Told in continuous “one take” episodes, the series digs deep into modern issues like the influences of far-right figureheads on young minds, the backlash that accusations like this create in a community, but also online bullying, and more.
In its first weekend, Adolescence earned 24.3 million views, putting it just under The Electric State that same weekend with 25.2 million views. The second weekend for both releases tells a different story, as Adolescence climbed to 42 million views and The Electric State fell slightly to 22.5 million; by week 3, Adolescence held steady, falling to 30.4 million, while The Electric State slipped to 7.6 million. In the end, Adolescence held onto a spot on the Netflix Top 10 for 10 full weeks, eventually climbing to 142.6 million views total in its first 90 days of release, making it the second-highest Netflix series of all-time, and sitting behind only Wednesday Season 1.
The success of Adolescence was lightning in a bottle, the kind that sometimes takes Netflix itself by surprise (like last summer’s KPop Demon Hunters). It earned rave reviews upon its release, boasting a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and going on to receive countless accolades along the way, including four Golden Globes (including Best Limited Series) and nine Primetime Emmys (including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and Outstanding Cinematography).
Furthermore, beyond the enormous praise the series earned and the many awards it tallied up, Adolescence did something few other shows can lay claim to by creating an actual dialogue about the issues that it was tackling. In the UK, the series was spoken about extensively by Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, which resulted in the show being made free to watch in secondary schools, hoping to spur dialogue with students, teachers, and parents about the real-life details it dramatized.
Following the runaway success of Adolescence, it joined the rare ranks of limited series that could become even more. It was previously reported that discussions were being had about another batch of episodes being produced. Stephen Graham confirmed earlier this year that he and co-creator Jack Thorne continue to discuss the potential, but it remains to be seen if the series will happen, and if it does, if it will continue the story that they already started or if it will take the one-shot style of the series and its deep thematic tensions to cover new topics.
