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Netflix’s worst investment finally starts to come good after a buried fantasy series clambers onto the Top 10 in 49 nations

It might be too little, too late.

El Elegido Temporada 1. (L to R) Lilith Amelie Siordia, Juan Fernando González, Jorge Javier Arballo Osornio, Bobby Luhnow, Alberto Pérez Jácome in El Elegido Temporada 1.
Cr. Carla Danieli/Netflix © 2023

Even though the live-action adaptation was announced a year before Netflix closed the deal, and the source material was published by Image Comics and not its creator’s in-house label, the shadow of Millarworld nonetheless looms large over The Chosen One.

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Since splurging $31 million on the acquisition back in late 2019, Netflix has so far delivered a whole two projects based on the prolific Millar’s work. One of them cost a reputed $200 million and was a disaster on every level, and the other was an animated show that barely made a dent in the public consciousness.

Image via Netflix

Suffice to say, the streaming service has yet to see a tangible return on its investment so far, but at least The Chosen One is finally starting to make its way up the most-watched rankings. Having only cracked the Top 10 in a dozen countries in its first 24 hours, the eight-episode fantasy has surged overnight to cement itself as part of the upper echelons in 49 nations worldwide per FlixPatrol, and it’s now sitting pretty as the eighth top-viewed episodic original available so subscribers globally.

Audiences seem to have been enjoying it, too, based on a strong 91 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so there could genuinely be some signs of life for The Chosen One. Whether or not is ends up maintaining its high-flying status for the foreseeable future remains to be seen, but at least things aren’t getting any worse for a project that was barely marketed or acknowledged by Netflix, and then dumped on-demand without so much as even the lightest fanfare.

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