Netflix’s Thriller Series Trending #3 In The U.S. Teaches Streaming A Valuable Lesson

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The thriller series Found has become increasingly popular since it started streaming on Netflix, and its success highlights an important point for streaming services. The show, which originally aired on NBC in 2023, follows a team dedicated to solving missing persons cases that often get ignored. However, despite its compelling storyline, Found was cancelled after only two seasons.

Even though it didn’t last long, the series Found ended up in a great place – Netflix, which has a lot of popular thriller shows. From established hits like You to newer, talked-about limited series like The Beast in Me and Siren, Netflix offers plenty for any thriller lover. And Found itself might even offer some valuable lessons to other shows on the platform.

What Is Found About?

While Found focuses on a team effort, the show truly revolves around Gabrielle “Gabi” Mosely, played brilliantly by Shanola Hampton. Gabi is a public relations expert and a survivor of a past kidnapping, which gives her a deeply personal connection to every case she works on.

Gabi’s team consists of people who have either been kidnapped themselves or have had family members taken. Each member, like the agoraphobic hacker Zeke Wallace and the tough military veteran Dhan Rana, is a compelling character. But Gabi’s most fascinating connection is with the man who kidnapped her, Hugh Evans, also known as ‘Sir’.

After escaping, Gabi couldn’t find the man who kidnapped her, so she decided to hunt him down herself. She not only found him, but managed to capture him, holding him captive in her basement. A strange and compelling connection formed between them; Gabi began to depend on his skills to help her locate other missing people, creating a complicated and unhealthy dynamic.

What makes Found different from typical crime shows is its complex dynamic, and it gives actor Tiffani Thiessen a chance to play a compelling villain. While she’s well-known for heroic roles in shows like Saved by the Bell, NYPD Blue, and Franklin & Bash, she’s equally convincing as a genuinely unsettling character here.

Found Is Trending On Netflix

The new thriller series, Found, has quickly become popular on Netflix. It jumped to number 7 on the daily Top 10 chart in the United States just after its release on January 2nd. This is a significant achievement, especially considering it’s sharing the chart with popular shows like Stranger Things (number 1), Emily in Paris (number 5), and other new releases like Harlan Coben’s Run Away (number 2) and The Beast in Me (number 9).

Although it doesn’t ensure a third season of Found will happen – and the recent increase in viewers on Netflix is probably just a welcome surprise – it’s still possible. Netflix has brought back several shows after they were canceled elsewhere, including Lucifer, Manifest, and the popular thriller You, which was originally canceled by Lifetime after only one season.

Found’s Success Is An Important Lesson For Streaming Platforms

Netflix shouldn’t assume the success of Found will continue automatically. The show’s popularity suggests viewers are increasingly wanting TV shows to return to the classic format of roughly 40- to 45-minute episodes, or 20- to 25-minute episodes for comedies.

Streaming services are increasingly releasing shows with very long episodes. For example, the final season of Stranger Things had eight episodes, ranging from 57 minutes to a massive 128 minutes for the finale.

Although the creators of Stranger Things, the Duffer brothers, have claimed the fifth season feels like eight big-budget movies (according to IndieWire), many viewers are starting to find this excessive. While the new season is likely to be popular on Netflix due to the show’s established fanbase, its 56% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes suggests that its lengthy episodes may be a problem.

Unlike many shows today, each episode of Found is a consistent and easy-to-watch 42 minutes long. It’s good to see writers working with a set time limit, rather than letting episodes run too long, which is common with streaming series. Hopefully, if Found proves successful, streaming services will realize that shorter, well-paced episodes are more enjoyable for viewers.

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2026-01-05 22:11