A gripping French police thriller has stormed Netflix’s global top 10 without a whisper of advance marketing, unlike mainstream ones. The six-part procedural has also outperformed a slate of heavily promoted Korean dramas to seize the number one spot on the streamer’s non-English chart.
French series Elite Force is a huge hit for Netflix
According to the latest weekly viewership numbers released by Tudum, Season 1 of Elite Force pulled in over 10 million views in a single week. That performance makes it the number one non-English series on Netflix right now, outpacing a wave of popular Korean dramas like The East Palace, Agent Kim Reactivated, and Teach You a Lesson.
In the United States, Flix Patrol data from July 30 has the show at number six on the overall Top 10 list, sitting alongside titles like Ransom Canyon and The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare.
Created by Sylvain Caron and Julien Leclercq, Elite Force was originally titled GIGN, a direct reference to France’s elite tactical unit. The synopsis states, “After an unprecedented attack on his unit, a high-ranking officer set to leave the field leads a perilous mission that forces him to confront his past.” The story follows a tight-knit team tasked with dismantling terrorist sleeper cells, rescuing hostages, and protecting important national figures.
The action is relentless, but the show invests equal time in the psychological weight its operatives carry. Maintaining focus outside the field becomes a battle in itself. Tomer Sisley leads the cast alongside Tristan Zanchi, Jedith El Zein, Guillaume Gouix, and Kevin Azauis. Their performances ground the action in something closer to a procedural than a spectacle.
Netflix has launched plenty of successful action titles over the past decade. Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction, Tom Hardy’s Havoc, the Man on Fire remake, and the animated Blue Eye Samurai all drew huge audiences. Elite Force achieved its breakout without a household-name lead or an established franchise.
