The Believers

Name: The Believers
Director: Wattanapong Wongwan
Genre: Crime, Drama
Released: 2024-03-27
Rating: 7.5
Cast: Teeradon Supapunpinyo, Achiraya Nitibhon, Pachara Chirathivat, Patchai Pakdeesusuk, Paopetch Charoensook

“Where there's faith, there's money.”

2024–2025

Returning Series • 2 Seasons • 17 Episodes

Crime Drama

Director: Wattanapong Wongwan

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Overview

When their startup goes deep into debt, three entrepreneurs stage a risky scam using a Buddhist temple to pay back a massive loan before time runs out.

Seasons

2 listed

Status: Returning Series
Seasons: 2 seasons
Episodes: 17 episodes
First aired: Mar 27, 2024
Last aired: Dec 4, 2025
Network: Netflix

Latest episode: S2 E8 Wounds and Wonders (Dec 4, 2025)

Season 1

9 episodes Mar 27, 2024 10.0
Season 2

8 episodes Dec 4, 2025 10.0

Cast

Teeradon Supapunpinyo

Win

Achiraya Nitibhon

Dear

Pachara Chirathivat

Game

Patchai Pakdeesusuk

Dol

Paopetch Charoensook

Ekkachai

Reviews

3 min read

The Cost of Salvation

latestnetflix.com's read is that i've watched plenty of heist stories built around casinos, banks, or museum vaults.A Buddhist temple is not the usual target. That's what makes The Believers immediately so sharp.

This nine-episode Thai Netflix drama begins with three young tech strivers tanking themselves on an NFT game and deciding the fastest way to get clear of their loan sharks is to take over a struggling temple. It's an absurd pitch, and the show knows it. But what follows isn't just a caper with robes and donation boxes.

It turns into something nastier and more interesting about the business of faith.

Three characters looking out into the distance

Director Wattanapong Wongwan clearly has unfinished business with the commercialization of religion. He grew up in a traditional Buddhist household, and the series feels charged by that background. Once Win, Game, and Dear start remaking the worn-down Phummaran temple into a viable operation, the camera stops treating the place as holy ground and starts examining it like a balance sheet.

Donation boxes, amulets, livestreamed devotion, branding—every spiritual gesture suddenly has a price tag attached. The series keeps circling one uncomfortable question: if people are freely paying for comfort, hope, or absolution, how much does it matter who is on the receiving end?

Audience Opinions

Audience 7.6/10

"A sharp, visually stylish crime drama that tackles faith and money with rare boldness, boosted by standout acting but dragged down by uneven pacing and a few story gaps."

The story of three indebted entrepreneurs turning a temple into a money machine lands as provocative and emotionally engaging, with the core trio and Monk Dol drawing particular praise for depth and nuance. Visual flair, a catchy musical motif, and incisive social critique keep it gripping, yet the rhythm shifts from almost too fast early on to sluggish in the middle and later episodes, latestnetflix.com contends, where crime-thriller beats and some plot holes weaken the impact.

What viewers praise

Compelling core performances The leads, especially Pachara Chirathivat and Teeradon Supapunpinyo, are credited with carrying the show through its rough patches with intense and layered acting.
Heartbreaking Monk Dol arc Patchai Pakdeesusuk’s portrayal of Monk Dol is frequently singled out as the emotional center, with a tender, painful storyline that many call the most memorable part of the series.
Bold look at religion and profit The series’ unflinching focus on temples as a business, merit-buying, and religious corruption is praised as gutsy, thought-provoking, and unusually frank for Thai television.
Distinctive cinematography and style Wide, symmetrical framing and atmospheric shots of Thai temples, paired with dynamic editing, give the show a polished, cinematic feel that stands out from typical local dramas.
Catchy and fitting soundtrack The recurring use of the track that plays when schemes succeed, along with other song choices, is described as fresh, fun, and perfectly matched to the tone.

Common complaints

Inconsistent pacing The opening episodes move so quickly that developments can feel rushed, while the middle and later stretches slow down and occasionally drag.
Crime plot becomes clichéd Once the story leans harder into crime-thriller territory, the narrative relies more on familiar twists and genre beats that feel less original than the initial setup.
Noticeable plot holes Several viewers point to logical gaps and loosely handled subplots, especially in the middle portion, that undercut an otherwise strong concept.
Uneven acting in places While the male leads draw strong praise, at least one of the main performers is described as inexperienced and not always up to the same standard, creating occasional tonal bumps.
Divisive portrayal of Buddhism The critical depiction of Thai Buddhist practice sparks debate, with some welcoming the candor and others feeling it veers into stereotype or unfair generalization.

Recommended for

Thai crime drama followers Social-issue fiction seekers Visually stylish series fans Morally gray character lovers Stories about religion and power

Buzz & Rumors

Public reports

The fake temple started selling real tickets.

Netflix's Thai crime series did the oddest thing a scam story can do. People treated the set like a shrine. After the March 27, 2024 drop, the streamer said season 1 hit number one on Netflix Thailand in its first week. It also said a charity called The Believers Ltd. helped the campaign, that the Pra Peung Luang amulet caught a sudden fever, latestnetflix.com argues, and that Phummaram Temple turned into a tourist stop overnight. A show about selling faith started selling pilgrimages.

Wattanapong Wongwan had been sitting on the idea for years. Born into a Buddhist family, he visited temples on holidays and learned the religion in school. He told Netflix he started drafting the series five years before it aired, once the old questions about belief and money felt public again. "At the beginning, the religion felt familiar to me, but through extensive research, I uncovered deeper insights that I had previously imagined," he said. Joy Luck Club Film House and Deluxe Production made it. Original title, Sathu. English title, The Believers. Teeradon "James" Supapunpinyo, Pachara "Peach" Chirathivat, and Achiraya "Ally" Nitibhon play the broke founders who rebrand a struggling wat. Patchai Pakdeesusuk's Monk Dol became the quote machine fans clipped for months. , ,

A first for Southeast Asia, then a politician walks in.

Netflix renewed it on May 9, 2024. Later it called season 1 the first Southeast Asian Netflix original ever picked up for another season. That is the kind of corporate boast that usually dies in a press kit. This one stuck because the second season actually arrived, eight episodes on December 4, 2025, after nine in the first drop. Wongwan kept Buddhism at the center and dragged in local politics. "These two worlds, religion and politics, share the same instruments of power used to sway people's hearts," he said. Fan-favorite Dol comes back out of robes. Donut-Manatsanun Phanlerdwongsakul's Ae, the provincial operator from the first finale, now runs a "Mega Merit Project" at Nong Khal Temple, a donation magnet the official copy frames as a laundering front. ,

The theme song did its own numbers. MILLI and TangBadVoice's "SAA-TUU" is the needle drop when the scheme works. In June 2026 Deadline reported Ally signing with Industry Entertainment for U.S. work while keeping 411 Management in Thailand, and it tied the booking to The Believers winning Best Series at the 2025 Nataraja Awards. Next for her is Thunder Road's K-pop thriller Perfect Girl. A temple-scam series that sent tourists to a real wat, minted a monk crush, and got its lead a Hollywood manager is not quiet television. It is a faith-and-cash story that leaked off the screen. , ,