Picture Credit: Netflix
After a two-and-a-half-year wait, Guy Ritchie’s aristocratic weed empire has finally returned to our screens. But despite the massive success of its debut outing back in 2024, the highly anticipated second season of The Gentlemen has gotten off to a remarkably rocky start on Netflix.
According to new Netflix global Top 10 data, The Gentlemen Season 2 suffered a major viewing slump during its opening weekend, debuting at #3 on the English TV charts and pulling in just about half the viewership of its predecessor.
Was the drop-off due to a dip in quality, or did the long gap between seasons kill the momentum? As we noted in our review of Season 2, the show takes some massive stylistic swings this time around. That tonal shift is no accident, either; just last month, the show’s cinematographer spoke with us about bringing a much darker evolution to the new batch of episodes. Reviews across the board were strong again for the return, with the series capturing plenty of headlines thanks to Megan Markle at one stage (or perhaps still) being eyed for a role in the third season.
Whatever the reason for the sluggish start, let’s dive into the numbers and see exactly how Season 2 stacks up against Season 1—and the rest of Netflix’s returning roster.
An Apples-to-Apples Comparison: Season 1 vs. Season 2
When analyzing Netflix data, we always look for an apples-to-apples comparison, and thankfully, both seasons of The Gentlemen give us exactly that. Both seasons were released on a Thursday (March 7th, 2024, and September 3rd, 2026, respectively), meaning both had an identical four-day opening weekend window.
Here is how their opening weekends compare:
- The Gentlemen: Season 1 (Opening Weekend): 81.5 million hours viewed / 12.2 million Views (CVE) / Debuted at #1
- The Gentlemen: Season 2 (Opening Weekend): 49.8 million hours viewed / 6.7 million Views (CVE) / Debuted at #3
That represents a staggering 45% drop in Completed Viewing Equivalent (CVE) for Season 2 compared to Season 1.
Furthermore, while the first season roared out of the gate to comfortably secure the #1 spot on the global charts, Season 2 had to settle for a disappointing #3 placement. Even with a slightly longer runtime (7 hours and 26 minutes compared to Season 1’s flat 7 hours), the total hours viewed saw a harsh decline of nearly 39%.
Part of a Wider Trend: The “Season 2 Slump”
As brutal as that 45% drop sounds, The Gentlemen is far from the only show to suffer this fate.
As we recently explored in our deep dive into Netflix’s Season 2 slump views metric, the streamer has been battling a platform-wide trend where sophomore outings struggle to capture the lightning-in-a-bottle viewership of their debut seasons. This is something Netflix has more recently put on the record as being an industry-wide problem, and that Netflix is actually improving on this metric.
When we plot The Gentlemen against other returning English-language series, its 45% drop places it firmly in the lower-middle pack, alongside shows like Running Point and The Recruit. Very few shows manage to actually grow their audience in their second season, as you can see in the table below:
| Series | Evolution compared to first season |
|---|---|
| Ginny & Georgia S2 | +23% |
| Bridgerton S2 | +13% |
| My Life With The Walter Boys S2 | +6% |
| 13 Reasons Why S2 | +3% |
| The Witcher S2 | -6% |
| The Lincoln Lawyer S2 | -11% |
| XO, Kitty S2 | -15% |
| Tires S2 | -21% |
| Sex/Life S2 | -23% |
| Wednesday S2 | -32% |
| One Piece S2 | -32% |
| Nobody Wants This S2 | -34% |
| The Diplomat S2 | -38% |
| I Woke Up A Vampire S2 | -39% |
| The Night Agent S2 | -40% |
| Vikings: Valhalla S2 | -42% |
| The Recruit S2 | -43% |
| The Gentlemen S2 | -45% |
| Running Point S2 | -45% |
| Survival Of The Thickest S2 | -48% |
| A Man On The Inside S2 | -50% |
| The Sandman S2 | -56% |
| The Vince Staples Show S2 | -56% |
| The Four Seasons S2 | -58% |
| Beef S2 | -63% |
| Unstable S2 | -73% |
| Fubar S2 | -77% |
| That ’90S Show S2 | -79% |
If there’s any good news to be gleaned from this week’s data dump, it’s that the original season saw a massive resurgence.
The Gentlemen Season 1 originally spent 10 consecutive weeks in the global top 10 in early 2024, racking up a massive 72.7 million completed views during its initial run. Now, thanks to the release of Season 2, the first season has re-entered the global charts.
For the week of August 30 to September 6, 2026, Season 1 returned to the Top 10 at the #5 spot, pulling in an impressive 21.2 million hours viewed and 3.2 million views.
This tells us a couple of things. First, there is still an active audience for the franchise. Second, the 2.5-year gap between seasons absolutely forced a large chunk of the audience to rewatch the first season to remember where the sprawling story left off. This “catch-up” viewing could be heavily cannibalizing Season 2’s opening weekend numbers.
What to Expect for Week 2?
Historically, Thursday releases peak in their second week on the platform, as they get their first full Monday-to-Sunday viewing window.
When Season 1 hit its second week, it saw a monstrous 65% increase in viewership, jumping from 12.2 million views to 20.1 million views. For Season 2 to avoid being labeled a total disappointment, it desperately needs a similar—or even larger—week 2 bump. If the 3.2 million people who just re-watched Season 1 transition smoothly into Season 2 over the next few days, we could see a very strong hold next Tuesday.
Normally, an opening weekend drop of this magnitude would have us sounding the cancellation alarms. Fortunately for fans, Netflix already pulled the trigger early on the show’s future. As we recently reported, The Gentlemen has already been renewed for Season 3. So, while Guy Ritchie’s TV universe is safe from the chopping block for now, Netflix executives will undoubtedly be hoping these viewership numbers bounce back in week two. Another bright spot – we won’t be waiting for season 3 quite as long, with filming expected to begin imminently.
