This Netflix Conspiracy Thriller With 125.8M Hours Watched Is Still One of TV’s Most Underrated Binges

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Collier Jennings is an entertainment journalist with a substantial amount of experience under his belt. Collier, or "CJ" to his friends and family, is a dedicated fan of genre films - particularly science fiction, fantasy and comic book adaptations, not to mention all forms of animation animation. This stems from a close bond with his father, who introduced him to these genres via copies of X-Men comics and reruns of the original Ultraman series. Using his near-encyclopedic knowledge and bottomless love of genre, he's been able to tackle a wide variety of articles.

Most people usually turn to television as a way to escape politics, yet political thrillers often offer truly engaging entertainment that thrills its viewers as well as making them think about the state of the world. A key example is 24, which features counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) attempting to stop world-shattering events within the course of 24 hours. Designated Survivor is another political thriller that features Sutherland in a leading role, and it still holds up as a bingeworthy watch to this day. FlixPatrol's charts indicate that Designated Survivor made the Top 10 list of most watched action TV shows in the first half of 2025, clocking in at an impressive 125.8 million hours.

This puts Designated Survivor in some good company, including Netflix hits like Squid Game and Cobra Kai. It's also not surprising, considering the series' premise. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Thomas Kirkman (Sutherland) is named the "designated survivor", or the person in the presidential line of succession who's kept safe just in case something happens. That "something" ends up being a bombing that wipes out a large chunk of the government save for Kirkman, effectively making him President. It makes for a tense, often intriguing watch, and Netflix is a large chunk of the reason for its success.

Netflix Saved 'Designated Survivor' From Cancellation

Designated Survivor originally started life on ABC, and was one of the networks' biggest success stories...at first. Sutherland drew praise for his layered performance, showcasing that Kirkman could be an effective president and a family man, leading the series premiere to set ratings records for ABC. However, things behind the scenes were less than pleasant. Designated Survivor would go through a total of three different showrunners in its first season while its second season saw dips in ratings and critical reception. ABC finally pulled the plug after two seasons, leaving Netflix to swoop in.

It's important to note that Netflix, at the time, was known as the "savior" of series that had been canceled or cut down in their prime. Lucifer, Cobra Kai and Arrested Development all found a second life on the streamer, and Designated Survivor was no different. Not only was there a shift in the production values and the tone, but Season 3 feels like a wholly different show. After two seasons of dealing with the fallout from the Capital bombing, President Kirkman now has to juggle a re-election campaign while dealing with the development of a bioweapon that could wipe out most of the world's population.

The shift to Netflix also meant a major shift in the cast, which led to mixed results, especially where Maggie Q was concerned. Q portrayed FBI officer Maggie Wells, who starts looking into the Capital bombing; Designated Survivor was mostly split between Wells' investigation and Kirkman learning the ropes as President. Season 3 continues this trend, as Wells — now a CIA agent — starts hunting down the mastermind behind the bioweapon...only to be hit with a deadly dose of nerve gas. Most Designated Survivor fans cite this as the biggest mistake of Season 3, if not the entire series, yet it showcased that Netflix was willing to take the series in a direction that ABC wouldn't or couldn't.

House of Cards, The Crown, and Bodyguard

Netflix would elect not to renew Designated Survivor for a fourth season, but the series took on an unexpected new life at the streamer in the form of a South Korean remake, Designated Survivor: 60 Days. Like its American counterpart, Designated Survivor: 60 Days focuses on a low-level politician, Park Mu-jin (Ji Jin-hee), who becomes the acting president of South Korea after the National Assembly is bombed. Designated Survivor: 60 Days wound up performing extremely well on Netflix, especially where its finale was concerned, and served as a precursor to the runaway hit Squid Game would become. With a new 24 series in the works, it's worth revisiting Designated Survivor to check out the sheer range Kiefer Sutherland has as an actor.