‘Fauda’ Reaches Its Biggest Netflix Milestone With an October 7 Storyline

Israeli television has produced few exports as globally recognized as this long-running action thriller, and its creators have spent years building a reputation for tackling some of the region’s most sensitive real-world conflicts head-on. That approach reaches its most consequential test yet with the show’s latest season, which directly confronts one of the most devastating events in recent Israeli history.

‘Fauda’ has followed an elite Israeli undercover counterterrorism unit across four previous seasons since its debut, building a substantial global fanbase along the way. Season five marks the first installment produced since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, with creators Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff substantially rewriting the season to grapple with the lasting trauma of that day and its aftermath.

That creative gamble has translated into the show’s strongest commercial performance to date. ‘Fauda’ scored its highest position ever on Netflix’s weekly streaming rankings, according to The Hollywood Reporter, landing at No. 4 among non-English language series for the week of September 7-13, surpassing its previous best of No. 7 back in January 2023.

The scale of that achievement becomes clearer when broken down further. Season five pulled in 2.1 million views worldwide for the week, and at a runtime of just under seven and a half hours, that translated to 15.9 million hours of total watch time. The season landed in the top 10 in 41 countries, spanning much of Europe and Asia, and reached the No. 1 spot in both Israel and Lebanon.

That Lebanese performance stands out as particularly striking given the political context surrounding the show’s subject matter. The season climbed to the top of Netflix’s Lebanon rankings just two days after its international release on September 8, according to tracking site FlixPatrol, and also broke into the top 10 in several other Arab and Muslim-majority countries, including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, Turkey, Morocco, and Oman.

First trailer for Fauda season 5. Here we go again pic.twitter.com/arJAoR7a0V

— avi issacharoff (@issacharoff) July 24, 2025

The season’s most emotionally charged material centers on a double flashback episode dedicated specifically to the events of October 7, for which the production team issued an unusual viewer content warning. Both episodes covering that storyline reportedly received a 9.3 rating on IMDb, reflecting a strong critical response to how the show handled the material.

The show’s creators have publicly emphasized that this new season isn’t simply an attempt to recreate the events of October 7 for dramatic effect, but rather an exploration of what happens to people in the aftermath of trauma, and how cycles of revenge can perpetuate ongoing violence. Much of the season’s action reportedly takes place roughly two years after the initial attacks, focusing on their lingering impact on Israeli society rather than functioning purely as a recreation of that day itself.

The 11-episode season first aired domestically in Israel between May and July before making its international debut on Netflix. Raz himself was reportedly abroad when the October 7 attacks occurred and became involved in volunteer efforts helping affected Israelis upon his return, adding a layer of personal connection to the season’s subject matter.

For a series built around one of the most contentious ongoing conflicts in modern geopolitics, ‘Fauda’ achieving its best-ever chart performance while directly confronting such raw, recent trauma speaks to the show’s established credibility with audiences across a genuinely wide range of countries and political contexts. Whether that success continues as the season’s remaining episodes reach wider audiences remains to be seen, but this opening chart performance already marks a significant milestone for the franchise.

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