Netflix Picks Up YouTube Star Alan Chikin Chow and Hybe America’s Scripted K-Pop TV Series

Netflix has greenlit a new scripted series set in the K-pop world, a collaboration between the streaming giant, YouTube sensation Alan Chikin Chow, and Hybe America. The untitled project, announced Tuesday, will center on a ragtag group of aspiring pop idol rejects at an arts academy who unite to form a co-ed band. This move follows Chow's initial announcement of a partnership with Hybe America earlier this year, a venture originally dubbed "Hybe America x AU" and described as a pioneering new label.

The series represents a significant scaling-up of Chow's original vision. Initially, the plan was to feature the newly formed musical group in a scripted show on his own YouTube channel, "Alan's Universe," which boasts nearly 100 million subscribers and over a billion monthly views. Now, that concept is being developed for a global Netflix audience. The streamer is likely capitalizing on the massive success of titles like "Kpop Demon Hunters," which proved that K-pop narratives can drive both viewership and chart-topping music sales. Industry analyst Mina Park notes, "Netflix's strategy here is clear: fuse proven social media storytelling with the global machinery of K-pop to create a multi-platform franchise from day one."

Hybe America, the U.S. arm of the South Korean entertainment powerhouse Hybe, brings formidable industry clout to the production. The company is the force behind global phenomenon BTS and newer groups like Katseye, and its involvement suggests the series will incorporate authentic K-pop training and music production elements. The show will release original music alongside its episodes, mirroring the synergistic model of successful music-driven films. Executive producers include Chow, Hybe America's President of Film and Television James Shin, and Jingu Jang, President of Hybe America AU and former VP of BigHit Music, the label that discovered BTS.

In a statement, Chow framed the project as a cultural milestone: "Our groundbreaking project brings together extraordinary creative talent... to launch a pioneering new franchise for the next generation." James Shin added that the series aims to present a "culture-defining model for how pop groups are created," leveraging Chow's position at the forefront of the digital creator ecosystem. Details on writers, directors, and the status of the global talent search—which sought three male and three female artists to join Chow in both the band and the series—remain under wraps. The selected talents were slated for an intensive Los Angeles development program blending Chow's content expertise with Hybe's renowned training system.

Alan Chikin Chow, recognized by Forbes and Time as a top creator, recently expanded his operations with a 10,000-square-foot production studio in Burbank, California, which will support this new venture. This series marks a major step in the convergence of social media stardom, traditional entertainment, and the global K-pop industry, aiming to build fandom through simultaneous narrative and musical output.