Will Ferrell’s New Netflix Series Just Became One of the Streamer’s Biggest Hits of 2026
Will Ferrell's new Netflix comedy series "The Hawk" has become a major streaming success despite a lukewarm critical reception, highlighting a widening gap between reviewers' verdicts and audience viewing habits. All ten half-hour episodes dropped on 16 July, and the show quickly rose to the top of Netflix's US Top 10 chart, suggesting Ferrell's brand of physical comedy still draws large audiences even when critics are unimpressed.
In its first week, the series about a washed-up professional golfer racked up 4.8 million views and 24.7 million viewing hours worldwide, making it the third most-watched English-language series on the platform that week. It topped the charts in Australia, Canada and Iceland, and reached number two in the UK, New Zealand and Ireland, with 1.5 billion minutes watched to date. Critics, however, were largely unenthusiastic, with outlets including The Hollywood Reporter and Variety calling it "shapeless" and "lackluster", though NPR, the Los Angeles Times and Collider offered warmer assessments, praising its cast, including Molly Shannon, and Ferrell's committed comedic performance.
- "The Hawk" became a global Netflix streaming hit despite mixed reviews.
- It logged 4.8 million views and 24.7 million viewing hours in its first week.
- Critics were largely negative, but audiences and some reviewers praised the cast.
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Will Ferrell has built his comedy career on broad physical humour, in films such as Anchorman and Elf and TV work going back to Saturday Night Live. His latest project is "The Hawk", a Netflix comedy series in which he plays a washed-up professional golfer, with a supporting cast that includes Molly Shannon. Netflix released the series in one go, making all ten episodes available at once rather than weekly.
Streaming success is generally measured by how many people watch a show and for how long, figures that Netflix publishes through its own charts and viewing-hours reports, separate from the scores given by professional critics. It's common for a title to perform well with viewers while getting a mixed or negative critical reception, and "The Hawk" has become a notable example of that pattern, drawing large global audiences despite reviews from outlets such as The Hollywood Reporter and Variety that were largely unfavourable, alongside some more positive notices elsewhere.
This gap matters because it feeds into an ongoing debate about how much influence traditional critics still have over what people choose to watch, especially on streaming platforms where recommendation algorithms and star recognition can drive viewing regardless of reviews.