The Queen’s Gambit becomes Netflix’s biggest miniseries ever
By Ariba Bhuvad
The Queen’s Gambit has made all the right moves, claiming its spot as Netflix’s most-watched original limited series ever.
Have you seen The Queen’s Gambit yet? If not, then I must ask…why?! Catching most of us off-guard with its emotional and often gut-wrenching tale of a young orphan girl’s rise to becoming a world chess champion, The Queen’s Gambit is the missing piece to a weird year of television.
I binged the entire seven-episode series in one sitting, and I know I’m not the only one. In fact, the limited series made Netflix history, according to the streamer’s official press release. (Netflix almost never releases numbers, so when they do, you know its good news.)
In less than a month, 62 million households tuned in to watch The Queen’s Gambit. And if you keep a watchful eye on the top 10, then you’ll notice that the series has been kicking around there since it premiered in 92 countries, taking the number one spot in 63 of them.
The limited series is a global phenomenon, with much praise do to the ridiculously talented Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays main character Beth Harmon, who overcomes poverty and drug addiction to become the best in the chess business. Game of Thrones veteran Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Jojen Reed) is in it as well, and he’s absolutely marvelous!
The Queen’s Gambit is not a true story, but rather based on the 1983 novel by Walter Tevis, which is now back on The New York Times bestseller list 37 years after publication. It comes from producer Scott Frank, who also created the successful limited series Godless. Guy’s batting 1000 here.
Unsurprisingly, the series has also driving a new interest in chess itself, with search queries for “chess” doubling and queries of “how to play chess” hitting a nine-year peak. Meanwhile, chess sets are the Christmas item of 2020, with Goliath Games saying that chess sales have increased over 170% Players on Chess.com have increased five-fold.
Does any of this have you curious? The Queen’s Gambit is streaming on Netflix now, probably with millions watching it at this moment.
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h/t AV Club