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Netflix miniseries The Queen’s Gambit has broken the record for most-watched limited scripted series on the platform.
The hit series follows Anya Taylor-Joy’s orphan chess prodigy Beth Harmon, and also stars Marielle Heller, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Moses Ingram, Harry Melling and Bill Camp.
The show premiered exactly one month ago (October 23) on the streaming platform, and has since been watched by 62 million accounts, making it the biggest limited show in Netflix history.
However, it is worth noting that Netflix measures views based on two minutes of watching time, as compared to how the wider TV industry does metrics.
The Queen’s Gambit isn’t the biggest opening for a Netflix show ever, however, with The Witcher breaking that record after 76 million accounts watched the show in its first month earlier this year.
Netflix VP of original series Peter Friedlander wrote in a blog post: “Three years ago when Scott Frank (Godless) first approached us about adapting The Queen’s Gambit – Walter Tevis’ 1983 book about a young chess prodigy – we felt it was a compelling tale.
“Beth is an underdog who faces addiction, loss and abandonment. Her success – against the odds – speaks to the importance of perseverance, family, and finding, and staying true to, yourself.
“However, I don’t think any of us could have predicted that The Queen’s Gambit – and the extraordinary Anya Taylor-Joy – would become the global phenomena they are today, or our biggest limited scripted series ever.”
In the wake of the The Queen’s Gambit‘s success, there has been a huge surge in chess set sales, according to eBay.
Writing in a three-star review of the series, NME said: “Beth’s experiences as an addict and a woman in the world of chess may be new ground for television, but Frank and co-creator Allan Scott do little to address evolving attitudes around such themes, focusing instead on a likeable lead.
“Taylor-Joy embodies the chic, placid poster girl effortlessly with her orb-like eyes and swan-like posture. As an addict however she’s still shown to be glamorous, moving lucidly around kitsch interiors while drinking from a bottle as if in a music video.”
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