Fauda scrapped and rewrote its fifth season after 7 October 2023 - it returned at number four on Netflix's non-English chart
Which of Netflix’s hottest action thrillers roared back with a new season last week — and has already become a global streaming hit?
If you mashed up every relentless CTU raid from 24 with the shadowy spy antics of Homeland, you’d land squarely in the world of Netflix’s current action juggernaut, Fauda. Unless you’ve been properly off-grid, you’ll know it's just returned with another season, and everyone seems to be watching it. This isn’t some flash-in-the-pan, either; Fauda has been a heavy-hitter ever since it kicked off in Israel back in 2015. The only thing more dramatic than the show is how long it’s taken to get each new season on air, but clearly, punters are eating it up.
The Story, the Chaos, the Wait
So, Fauda made its original debut on Israeli telly in 2015, but didn’t dive onto the UK Netflix menu until December 2026. Leading from the front is Lior Raz as Doron Kavillio, a not-quite-retired Israeli undercover op who keeps getting pulled into bloody, high-stakes missions. The main gig sees Doron and his team blending in as Arabs, worming their way into Palestinian territories. Sounds one-note, but it’s more complex than your average shoot-’em-up. The creators—Raz himself and Avi Issacharoff—spend real time with both Israeli and Palestinian characters, so you’re never fully sure who’s got the moral high ground or if there even is one. If you were hoping for sympathetic, straight-shooter heroes, think again.
Filmed in proper locations around Israel, the show isn’t shy about action—gunfights, midnight raids, kidnappings, assassinations, you name it—but don’t assume it's non-stop explosions. The moral ambiguity is thick and just as gripping as any car chase or bust-up. It’s all helped along by a cast of characters making increasingly questionable decisions, sometimes digging themselves into deeper trouble than last time. It is proper chaos—the name literally means that.
Fauda landed on Netflix in December 2026, marking over a decade since the original Israeli premiere.
For proof the series puts its money where its mouth is with authenticity, Seasons 4 and 5 both took their sweet time to arrive. Season 4 was shot partly in Ukraine, of all places, and they’d barely started prepping for Season 5 when the world changed on 7 October 2023. That meant scrapping or reworking loads of material to reflect new realities on the ground—a nightmare for any production team, let alone one dealing with such sensitive subject matter.
Streaming Surge: Fauda’s Fifth Season
After yet another lengthy gap, Season 5 dropped on 8 September, and it’s already shot up the Netflix ranks. According to the latest batch of numbers from Netflix covering the week 7–13 September, the new season racked up a serious 2.1 million views and 15.9 million hours watched. That notched Fauda into 4th place on Netflix’s Top 10 list for non-English series, edged out only by new Dutch thriller The Perfect Lie, Korean dramas, and an Italian reality show with questionable physics.
- The Perfect Lie: Season 1 — 4.1M views, 25.2M hours
- The Early Spring: Season 1 — 2.5M views, 48.1M hours
- Lovesick: Season 1 — 2.4M views, 17.4M hours
- Fauda: Season 5 — 2.1M views, 15.9M hours
- Physical 100: Italy: Season 1 — 2M views, 5.9M hours
- Mousetrap: Limited Series — 1.8M views, 17.5M hours
- Four Hands, Two Sonatas: Limited Series — 1.5M views, 9.5M hours
- Stolen Heartbeats: Season 1 — 1.5M views, 3.4M hours
- Blood Sacrifice: Season 1 — 1.5M views, 6.1M hours
- Badly in Love: Season 2 — 1.4M views, 23.9M hours
So, if you’re tracking TV culture by the numbers, Fauda is currently one of the most-watched non-English dramas in the world. If you’ve got a Netflix login and even a passing interest in grounded, gritty drama set in the Middle East, there’s all five seasons waiting to be binge-watched.