‘Hellbound’ Season 2: Has Netflix Renewed or Canceled?

hellbound season 2 netflix k drama

Hellbound – Picture: Netflix / Climax Studio

Hellbound is one of many excellent K-Dramas that landed on Netflix in 2021 and proved to be a hit with subscribers. With Squid Game and Sweet Home getting renewals, will Hellbound follow suit? Netflix has yet to determine the future of the K-drama, but we’ll be keeping track of everything you need to know about the second season of Hellbound. Here’s what we know over 6 months following its release.

Hellbound is a South Korean Netflix Original horror series written and directed by Yeon Sang-Ho and is an adaptation of the popular South Korean webtoon Hell.

The series is already one of the biggest K-Drama releases on Netflix in 2021, only second to the worldwide phenomenon Squid Game. The show critically acclaimed carrying a 97% RottenTomatoes rating and scooping up numerous awards.


Hellbound Season 2 Netflix Renewal Status

Official Netflix Renewal Status: Pending (Last Updated: 25/11/2021)
Our Renewal Prediction: Likely cancelation

Over six months following the release of Hellbound, Netflix is still yet to decide the future of the show. The show notably released just a few months after Squid Game and overtook that show in the top 10s following its release.

In its first week, the show was watched for 43,480,000 hours by subscribers globally, which has seen the drama soar to the top of the global TV Non-English chart.

The show went on to be included in the Non-English TV list for four weeks picking up 142.85 million hours in total.

Week Period Hours Viewed(M) Rank Week in Top 10
November 14th, 2021 to November 21st, 2021 43,480,000 1 1
November 21st, 2021 to November 28th, 2021 67,520,000 (+55%) 2 2
November 28th, 2021 to December 5th, 2021 22,380,000 (-67%) 3 3
December 5th, 2021 to December 12th, 2021 9,470,000 (-58%) 9 4

Looking at raw top 10s, the show made it into the top ten lists of 90 different countries. Many of the countries have seen Hellbound reach the number one spot, and many others it has featured in the top 3.

If we compare the hourly data, we can see it fell well short of All Of Us Are Dead and Squid Game (both getting renewed for season 2) and tracked just higher than The Silent Sea.

hellbound vs squid game all of us are dead vs the silent sea netflix top 10s

Top 10 comparison – Hellbound vs All Of Us Are Dead vs Squid Game vs The Silent Sea

Compared to a couple of other shows that were released weekly and Squid Game, you can see the show falls very short thus suggesting the show could be at risk of cancelation.

hellbound vs squid game business proposal top 10s

Top 10 comparison – Hellbound vs Business Proposal vs Squid Game vs Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha


What to expect from the second season of Hellbound?

In the final moments of the first season, a shocking revelation that will forever change the world took place when the ashes and remains of Park Jung Ja came together and resurrected the woman.

The doctrine of the New Truth was torn to shreds after multiple eyewitnesses saw what transpired between the baby of Song So Hyun, who despite being given a decree, lived after his parents sacrificed themselves to save their newborn son.

song so hyun netflix

Song So Hyun sought the help of the New Truth – Picture: Climax Studio

Even more, questions will be asked of the New Truth when the victims of the decrees begin to resurrect just like Park Jung Ja. However, if this means we’ll see the resurrection of former New Truth chairman Jung Jin Soo, would he use his newfound resurrection to spread a new gospel?

park jung ja moments before her death netflix

Park Jung Ja moments before her death – Picture: Climax Studio

With the New Truth and Arrowhead convincing the masses that all those who were given decrees are sinners, with sinners being resurrected from hell itself will likely send society into a complete meltdown as the world attempts to understand “God’s” actions.

Speaking to Variety, the creator of the show acknowledged that with the Webtoon now covered, plans for the second season would be going back to the drawing board saying:

“Because “Hellbound” is based on the original webtoons, my partner Choi Kyu-Seok and I have decided that the story afterwards will be told first through the webtoon and, as for whether we would want to turn that into another live-action series, that’s something that we will need further discussion on. As you know, we have only just released “Hellbound” Season 1 and so we didn’t have any time to discuss that issue with Netflix. So I would say this is something we need further discussion on.”


When could we expect to see Hellbound season 2 on Netflix?

A release date for Hellbound season 2 relies heavily on when the series is renewed. We can use the production of the first season to give an educated guess on when we could see Hellbound season 2 on Netflix.

Filming for Hellbound began on September 17th, 2020, and came to an end on January 18th, 2021. So, between the start of filming and the Netflix release date was just over fourteen months. This means if we use fourteen months as a rough estimate, we won’t be seeing Hellbound season 2 on Netflix until 2023 at the earliest.

If renewal happens and filming begins in Spring 2022 then we could see a late Summer 2023 release date.

Potential Release Date: Summer 2023


Would you like to see a second season of Hellbound on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!