The Hunting Wives continues to break streaming records, proving why it deserves a Season 2 

The Hunting Wives continues to make waves on Netflix following its U.S. premiere on July 21, 2025. Showrunner Olivia Neal developed the series for STARZ, but the series shifted platforms in a last-minute rights deal and wound up on Netflix two months ahead of its release. Despite being United States-only, the show was able to surpass expectations and become one of the platform's most-streamed titles for late July.

Based on May Cobb's novel with the same name, The Hunting Wives features a suspenseful series that is shot in suburban East Texas. Although its tone and subject are far removed from a lot of high-concept fantasy shows or franchise dramas, the show has attracted a substantial, interested fan base.

This show has been generating increasing public interest as to whether Netflix and/or its production collaborator Lionsgate will order a second season. However, no formal announcement has been made through August 6, 2025.

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The Hunting Wives tops U.S. streaming charts on Netflix

In its initial week of launch, The Hunting Wives hit 5.2 million streams and 34.6 million total hours streamed, according to Netflix internal metrics, at #1 on the US list as of July 30, 2025. This is remarkable considering that the series was not released worldwide.

This significant regional success indicates the popularity of the show, even if global rollout is absent. The next week, July 25–31, the series continued soaring. Based on data from Luminate, The Hunting Wives recorded over 2 billion minutes streamed in that week, almost double its launch week total of 811 million minutes.

That made it the most-streamed television program of the week in the U.S. across all platforms, beating such high-profile titles as The Summer I Turned Pretty, which registered 317 million minutes.

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A strong opening

While The Hunting Wives was well up for its premiere with strong figures, especially for its regional ceiling, "week after week record-breaking" claims are hyperbolic.

The numbers show a strong premiere bump followed by a steady, consistent following. Rather than a sharp falloff, the series has had a high percentage of viewership in weeks following its premiere, which places it among Netflix's better-performing summer originals for 2025.

The retention numbers are especially noteworthy. Most series decline sharply after their opening weekends. Still, The Hunting Wives continued to appear on U.S. streaming charts, supported by internal Netflix metrics as well as external measurement by Luminate. Such performance is typically considered one of the most meaningful measures of long-term interest and renewal value.

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A regional release with national impact

Despite being made available to only American viewers, The Hunting Wives has managed to stand firm against more sophisticated titles of international sensibility. Its achievement is all the more notable given that it was accomplished without the same level of marketing viability or pre-existing IP backing behind some of its peers that made the cut.

Instead, the series found its strength in word of mouth and viewer engagement, demonstrating that adult-skewing, character-based dramas remain an available choice in streaming ages. Contextually, it is this kind of success that positions The Hunting Wives among the top-performing regional releases year-to-date. Streaming platforms increasingly depend on this kind of data in making decisions regarding a series' scalability, particularly in international distribution or renewal.

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Still no confirmation of Season 2 as of August 2025

Though the show was a success, neither Lionsgate, Netflix, nor STARZ (now in contract as the original production studio) has officially announced a second season for The Hunting Wives. But calling the first episode of the show "Season 1" instead of a "limited series" indicates receptivity to doing more.

Cast and showrunners have yet to comment officially on potential renewal. Still, industry insiders are pointing out that the mix of decent ratings, strong engagement, and open-ended storylines makes season two possible. But fans are left waiting for a statement to be made.

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Audience behaviour and platform strategy matter

The Hunting Wives surfed a tide of growing popularity for crime thrillers featuring women protagonists. Its material, secretiveness, suburban ambition, and betrayal resonated with Netflix's American viewers. Coupled with binge-worthiness and a mix of both veteran and newbie faces among its cast members, the show capitalized on its July launch to get a bite of both offline and online discourse.

Netflix's restricted U.S. release strategy for the show can potentially be a test release, and its success might lead to it opening up for wider release in the event a second season is commissioned. This follows recent trends whereby platforms will first test domestic success before taking the product to foreign territories.

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The Hunting Wives proved that local releases could gain national attention. Over 2 billion minutes viewed within a week and still holding steady visibility on U.S. charts, the series became one of Netflix's summer sleeper dramas. The achievement proves against the hypothesis that one needs blockbusters of international releases or franchise content to top streaming charts.

However, streaming networks and producers base their decision to renew on a combination of numbers, a broad view, and the ability to produce. As of early August 2025, the show remains one of the most popular ones, with no second season announced yet, but the figures do make the case.

Also read: The Hunting Wives: Release date news, cast details, streaming details and more about the upcoming Netflix drama