My Life with the Walter Boys. (L to R) Noah LaLonde as Cole and Nikki Rodriguez as Jackie in episode 110 of My Life with the Walter Boys. Cr. Chris Large/© 2023 Netflix, Inc.
Netflix’s newest teen drama arrived on the streaming service without much fanfare but has been slowly rising up the charts and finding success on TikTok. Will My Life with the Walter Boys return for a season 2? What can we expect from any return? Here’s what we know.
Added to Netflix on December 7th, 2023, My Life with the Walter Boys is the new show based on the Wattpad novel from Ali Novak, published in 2014. Melanie Halsall developed the novel into a 10-part series that starred Nikki Rodriguez, Noah LaLonde, Ashby Gentry, and Johnny Link.
The story revolves around Rodriguez’s character, Jackie Howard, a 15-year-old who moves to Silver Falls in Colorado after losing her family in a tragic car accident. She has to adjust to living alongside a family with seven sons in rural America.
Has My Life with the Walter Boys been renewed for season 2?
Official Renewal Status: Not Yet Renewed
Our Renewal Prediction: Likely Renewal
The show was given a single-season order upfront with no current word on a second season. That’s pretty common with most shows, with renewals roughly 1 to 3 months after its initial debut.
As we’ve covered before, Netflix uses a variety of metrics to determine whether or not a show will come back. We’ll be diving into some of those publicly available metrics below.
Based on the initial viewership figures, we’re confident that the show is eying a renewal, but there’s still a long way to go, and we’ll update you once we hear more.
Another factor that we think plays a part is that Sony Pictures Television International Productions is ultimately behind the show and owns the underlying rights. As a result, Netflix has exclusivity on My Life with the Walter Boys for ten years. They’ve shown in the past they’re really good at keeping shows alive as they have a vested interest in making them successful.
How well is My Life with the Walter Boys performing on Netflix?
Let’s begin with the global Netflix top 10s. Every Tuesday, Netflix releases a snapshot of its top 40 titles for four categories. My Life with the Walter Boys falls in the English TV category.
In week 1, the series ranked as the second most watched in terms of views, with 57.40 million hours watched, equating to 7.5 million views.
If we rank those views against other premieres throughout 2023, we can see it falls in the middling range. The most comparable in terms of genre and budget would be XO, Kitty, which got 15.3M in its first four days. It did notably outpace cancelations from this year, including Glamorous and Freeridge.
In our top 10 report on December 13th, our numbers guru Frédéric said:
“The numbers are higher than Obliterated released last week and if we take a look at the fate of the new Netflix US shows of the year, I would say it has a very, very decent chance of being renewed as it’s probably not very costly.”
Another tool we’re going to use to measure the ongoing viewership of My Life with the Walter Boys here is TikTok. Netflix is pushing this show hard on that social network (they’ve uploaded the first episodes into parts on their main channel), and given it’s a teen show; many people are creating edits.
Tracking the popularity of shows on TikTok isn’t an exact science. Still, we can look at the main Walter Boys hashtag and see that views and interest continue to rise in week 2 of the show on Netflix, with over 101M in the US (358M globally) over the past week and 489M globally.
Interest level in My Life with the Walter Boys – Picture: TikTok Creative Center
That success on social media is reflected on TelevisionStats.com, which, on December 13th, lists the show as the second most popular title online using a variety of sources, including IMDb, Wikipedia, and Reddit, only behind Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Lots more to come on the stats front in the weeks ahead, so keep checking back for more.
What to Expect from My Life with the Walter Boys Season 2
As a quick recap (spoilers ahead), season 1 ends with episode 10, “Happily Ever After,” where the Walter boys help Jackie with the ranch wedding that saw Will and Hayley tie the knot.
Nikhil surprises Tara with the news that he won’t be taking his new role in London and instead staying in Silver Falls, which looks to have thrown a wrench in her possible attraction to Richard.
The episode ends with Jackie, Richard, and Danny returning to New York on a plane.
Any return to My Life with the Walter Boys might see our time spent next season either in New York or, whether through a time jump or something else, Jackie is lured back to Silver Falls.
Another big cliffhanger that needs to be resolved is who Morgan is. At the end of season 1, Hayley received a text message that she was rattled by (enough to lie about it) – what’s the deal there?
That’s in addition to plenty of lingering questions about relationship tensions and possibilities headed into any second season.
Looking at theories on Reddit, several people think Alex and Kiley may end up together next season; Alex is likely going to find out why Jackie ultimately left and cut Cole out, who may even choose on his own to isolate himself. Another commented that they thought season 2 would resemble the plot of The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Ali Novak’s website does tease that something new is on the way for fans of the story, even if it doesn’t result in a season 2. On her FAQs, Novak asks if there’s going to be a published sequel to the book and says:
“In the past I’ve said there won’t be a published sequel. However, now that the show has been released on Netflix, I may or may not be working on somethingexciting! Keep your eyes peeled for exciting news by following me on Twitter and Instagram.”
My Life with the Walter Boys. Nikki Rodriguez as Jackie in episode 101 of My Life with the Walter Boys. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix/© 2023 Netflix, Inc.
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