Why don't all episodes of The Circle drop at once on Netflix?

An all new season of The Circle is dropping on Netflix, but not all episodes will be available at the same time. Here's why we love that Netflix is releasing The Circle season 6 in four batches.

The Circle. An interior with AI/Max from episode 602 of The Circle. Credit: Courtesy of Netflix/© 2024 Netflix, Inc.
The Circle. An interior with AI/Max from episode 602 of The Circle. Credit: Courtesy of Netflix/© 2024 Netflix, Inc. /
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The hit reality series The Circle is back for season 6, and fans will recognize a few new elements in the game. Off the bat, you'll see that The Circle has moved across the pond from England to Atlanta, Georgia. The more exciting twist though is that players will not only be hunting for catfish in The Circle season 6 -- they'll also be tracking down AI.

One of the apartments will not be for a human player, but it will be the home to an artificial intelligence "box" that will set up its own social media profile and play the game as if it were a real person. It will be up to the other human players (both real profiles and catfish) to sort out which profile is the AI imposter.

The Circle is personally one of my favorite reality shows because of the players' big personalities, and how the audience is able to see the players for who they truly are and how they work on their gameplay. I find myself knowing who I'm going to root for to win the $100,000 cash prize after just the first two or three episodes, and I always want to watch the full season within the first few days to find out who will be in the Top 5.

But for The Circle season 6, we're all going to need to have more patience because Netflix is once again releasing the 13 episodes in four batches. While I would love to be able to binge the entire season in one weekend, I admit that I am thankful Netflix is choosing to release the season in weekly batches, so I don't accidentally come across any deep teases or spoilers before I am able to watch the full season.

Spacing out the episodes into weekly batches also benefits Netflix. Keeping audiences engaged for new episodes over one month helps keep The Circle buzz going for a longer stretch of time this spring. This catches the attention of more subscribers and can help get the show more streams. Whereas if all the episodes had been dropped at once, the lifespan of the hype surrounding the show would be much shorter.

Alert! Mark your calendars for Wednesdays. Starting Wednesday, April 17, The Circle season 6 will release its hour-long episodes four at a time. The season finale will then drop by itself on Wednesday, May 8. Here's a breakdown of the release schedule:

The Circle season 6 release schedule on Netflix

  • Wednesday, April 17: Episodes 1-4
  • Wednesday, April 24: Episodes 5-8
  • Wednesday, May 1: Episodes 9-12
  • Wednesday, May 8: Finale Episode

Watch the trailer for The Circle season 6

The first 4 episodes of The Circle are now streaming on Netflix, with new episodes dropping weekly on Wednesdays.

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