Exactly 1 Year After ‘Adolescence’, Netflix’s Must-Watch Companion Piece Becomes an Instant Streaming Hit

3 weeks ago 19

Owen Cooper sat back in his chair in 'Adolescence'

Published Mar 18, 2026, 6:12 PM EDT

Rohan Naahar is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

On March 13, 2025, Netflix debuted the four-part drama series Adolescence. The show became a cultural phenomenon, garnering appreciation for its technical achievements — each episode was filmed in a single, unbroken take — and timely themes. It went on to become one of the most-watched Netflix shows of all time, and absolutely steamrolled competition during the awards race. Adolescence received 13 Emmy nods, winning nine honors in total. The show's breakout star, Owen Cooper, won an Emmy for his performance and went on to play the young Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell's recent Wuthering Heights movie, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Now, exactly a year later, a movie that serves as a companion piece to the show has debuted on the Netflix viewership charts.

Adolescence was inspired by stories about an increase in knife crimes in the U.K. It follows a teenager who is accused of murdering a young girl from his school, from the perspectives of his parents, a social worker, and investigating officers. Adolescence addressed themes of toxic masculinity and raised concerns about the millions of hours of content that teenage boys are exposed to in the corner of the internet known as the "manosphere." This is the domain of influencers such as Andrew Tate, whose content typically revolves around get-rich-quick schemes, misogyny, and racism. The new Netflix film investigates the impact of such influencers on vulnerable youth by sending the iconic British documentarian Louis Theroux into the manosphere, as it were.

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Here's the Must-Watch Companion Piece to 'Adolescence' Making Its Way Up the Netflix Charts

The film is titled Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere, and it has emerged as an instant hit on Netflix. According to FlixPatrol, the film was among the most-watched titles on the streamer on March 13, exactly a year after Adolescence took the world by storm. It remains among the streamer's most-watched movies globally even a week later. Theroux has made a name for himself over a three-decade-long career as a documentary filmmaker, having covered various fringe communities around the world. He has interviewed death-row prisoners, sex offenders, cult leaders, and members of the alt-right. His last film, Louis Theroux: The Settlers, was an on-the-ground report on the war in Gaza. However, his first collaboration with Netflix has drawn a mixed response from critics. Inside the Manosphere holds a 69% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.