Not all of Netflix’s most popular shows need to dominate the cultural conversation, capture the zeitgeist, and spawn a fanatical army of followers, and while it’s usually a benefit if they do, Sweet Magnolias is proof enough that online buzz and passionate fandoms aren’t the be-all and end-all.
After all, the remarkably twee romantic drama has quietly become one of the streaming service’s most unheralded juggernauts, with season 2 racking up 161 million viewing hours in its first 30 days after premiering in February of last year, with absence evidently making the heart grow fonder after an extended wait for the third run of episodes.
Following an extensive 17-month spell in the wilderness, users have made bingeing Sweet Magnolias their latest port of call, after FlixPatrol named it as a Top 10 hit in 52 countries globally just 24 hours after season 3 premiered, establishing it as the sixth most-watched series on the entire platform.
This time around, the tension and drama has reached an all-time high as personal and professional relationships fracture and heal in equal measure, with the small town story continuing to keep viewers enraptured. Netflix might have a habit for axing too many in-house exclusives well before their time, but at this stage it seems almost inevitable that Sweet Magnolias will live to fight another day and be renewed for season 4.
It isn’t the splashiest, most expensive, eye-catching, or visually dazzling weapon in the company’s episodic arsenal, but you can’t argue with the numbers underlining its credentials as a certifiable smash.