Image: The Continental: From the World of John Wick, Peacock
Netflix’s live action remake of the long-running anime, One Piece, topped the ranking of most in-demand new series premieres in Q3. It had 53 times the average series demand in its first 30 days in the US. The platform has had mixed results with its live action anime adaptations. Its remake of Cowboy Bebop was cancelled only a few weeks after premiering, but Netflix just dropped the trailer for its live action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender showing that it is still pressing forward with live action anime adaptations.
The overarching takeaway from the top premieres of Q3 is how many are spinoffs or build on existing franchises. Only Special Ops: Lioness is not part of an existing franchise - and even that could be debated. The show, based on a real life team of female soldiers in the Iraq War, was created by Taylor Sheridan, whose “Sheridan-verse” is becoming a franchise in its own right with a dedicated fan base.
The franchise extensions that won over audiences last quarter came in several different forms. Twisted Metal is the latest in a number of recent adaptations of video games. Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake intentionally adapted the original cartoon for an older audience to re-engage its original fans who have grown up. The Continental is a prequel to the John Wick movies and the franchise’s first expansion onto the small screen.
Conspicuously absent from a ranking of top shows dominated by franchises is any Marvel series. For much of the past two years, an endless parade of new Marvel series premieres dominated audience attention as Disney+ was able to energize the massive Marvel fan base. There has been a noticeable slowdown in new shows from the franchise, with only Secret Invasion premiering this year and Echo scheduled to be released in January.
The only show from Disney+ to make it into the top 10 ranking was “Ahsoka” which fell just short of 50 times the average series demand in its first 30 days and ranked as the second most in-demand premiere of the quarter. The show had one of the most in-demand premieres compared to other recent Star Wars series, but really took off when it leaned into franchise canon and brought back a fan-favorite character.
It is also worth highlighting Peacock’s success last quarter. With both Twisted Metal and The Continental: From the World of John Wick, it was the only platform to have more than one of its original series make the top ten ranking of premieres. This is all the more impressive when considering that the quantity of output from a Netflix or Prime Video dwarfs the number of Peacock originals.
