Kevin Costner’s 2020 drama Let Him Go has found a fresh audience on Netflix, landing at No. 10 globally for the week of March 30th to April 5th with 3.7 million views and 7 million hours watched. It was the film’s third week in the streamer’s top 10.
The movie was released theatrically in November 2020, won its opening weekend domestically with a $4 million haul and finished with $10.8 million worldwide, modest numbers for a film fronted by a star who has spent decades moving between sports dramas, political thrillers and superhero blockbusters. Costner also won Oscars for Dances With Wolves and spent years anchored in the critically acclaimed TV series Yellowstone.
Let Him Go centers on former sheriff George Blackledge and his wife Margaret as they try to rescue their grandson from the Weboy family. Costner plays George, Diane Lane plays Margaret, and Lesley Manville, Jeffrey Donovan and Will Brittain portray members of the Weboy clan. Director Thomas Bezucha and cinematographer Guy Godfree gave the film its look, and Rotten Tomatoes lists it as Certified Fresh at 85%.
The film’s renewed streaming momentum is also a reminder of how its original release was boxed in by the COVID-19 pandemic, which limited the reach of many titles that came out in 2020. That helps explain why Let Him Go, described here as one of Costner’s most underrated films, drew stronger notice later than it did in theaters and why its reputation has outlasted its box office. It did not earn any Oscar nominations in 2020, but its latest Netflix showing suggests the audience it missed then was still there to be found.
For Costner, the result is simple: a quiet film that did not break out in theaters is still capable of traveling, and streaming has given Let Him Go the second chance its first run never quite allowed.
