YouTube Star Allen Chickin Chow Teams with Netflix and HYBE to Produce New K-pop Drama Series

Netflix has announced that it will collaborate with YouTube Shorts star Allen Chickin Chow and HYBE America to develop a new drama series set in the K-pop world.

Chow is the creator of “Allen’s Universe” and is the most popular YouTube Shorts creator, boasting approximately 130 million followers. The new drama will follow a group of failed pop idol trainees from an art school who come together to form a mixed-gender band. The emerging artists featured in the drama are set to release original music alongside the series.

Chow was named one of Forbes’ Top Creators in 2025, as well as by The New York Times and TIME100 Creators. Acting as an actor, producer, showrunner, and director, he has combined viral sensibility with K-drama-style storytelling. He will serve as a producer on this drama, alongside James Shin, HYBE America’s president of film and television, and Jin Guo Zhang, HYBE America’s AU president and former vice president of Big Hit Music, who will also participate as producers.

HYBE, the K-pop-focused company behind BTS and CATSEYE, plans to leverage Chow’s content expertise along with its own K-pop training system to cultivate new music groups. Participants selected through a development program in Los Angeles will attend a K-pop bootcamp that integrates Chow’s content knowledge with HYBE’s K-pop training methods.

President Shin stated, “This project will serve as a cultural blueprint for how pop groups are created. By working with a proven visionary like Allen, we will produce a groundbreaking series at the forefront of the creative ecosystem to expand our understanding of audiences, potential, and how fanbases are built from day one.”

Chow said in a statement, “This innovative project brings together top creative talent from Netflix and HYBE America to launch a pioneering new franchise for the next generation. Working with the world’s best team, capable of continuously shaping culture on a global scale, our mission is to set a new standard for storytelling—designed to inspire creativity, bring joy, and deliver timeless life lessons for audiences around the world.”