Netflix’s New FBI Thriller Is Harshly Dividing Critics & Audiences, But It’s Become A Massive Streaming Hit Anyway

There is no absence of interest in the 3-season FBI thriller show that recently debuted worldwide on Netflix.

Absentia premiered November 14, 2025 on the world’s biggest streamer, and has gone straight to near the top of the service’s global streaming chart, landing at #2 for November 25, 2025.

The show’s performance has been stronger overseas than in the US, where it only places #8. Globally, only the twisty thriller series The Beast In Me places higher.

Becoming more widely available has helped Absentia catch on as a streaming hit. The show debuted on Prime Video back in 2017, with the first 2 seasons also carried to international audiences on Sony’s AXN.

Absentia season 3 made its way to Prime Video in 2020, but was only available to United States customers. It seems a lot of international Absentia fans are sitting down to catch up on season 3, now that it’s finally been made available worldwide by Netflix.

Castle’s Stana Katic headlines Absentia as Emily Byrne, an FBI agent kidnapped by a serial killer and kept in captivity for six years, during which time she is declared dead in absentia. Suspected of being a murderer herself, the bewildered Emily must go on the run in order to clear her name.

Critics were never as high on Absentia as audiences, leading to a big Rotten Tomatoes divide between season 1’s poor 47% Tomatometer score and significantly higher 67% Popcornmeter number.

Rotten Tomatoes has no critics’ score for Absentia seasons 2 and 3, but its audience score has remained solid, with season 2 sitting at 77% and season 3 all the way up at 82%.

Absentia season 1 reviews praised the show’s lead actor Stana Katic, but accused the writing of leaving the star stranded in a predictable narrative.

ScreenRant’s own run-down of Katic’s 10 best movies and shows includes an Absentia review that mostly agrees with critical consensus as reflected by the show’s 47% RT score for season 1.

“The mystery at the core of Absentia is less interesting than the setup and there are diminishing returns over the three seasons of the show,” ScreenRant says, adding, “It also depends a little too much on classic procedural tropes to bring anything totally new to the genre.”

Speaking to ScreenRant back in 2020, Katic addressed Absentia’s very real international dynamic, and how it helped the show achieve greater authenticity:

Katic plays Emily Byrne, an FBI agent kidnapped by a serial killer and kept in captivity for six years, during which time she is declared dead in absentia. Suspected of being a murderer herself, the reborn Emily must go on the run in order to clear her name.

Absentia was canceled after season 3, having produced 30 episodes from 2017-2020. All three of those seasons are now available on Netflix.