'Sweet Tooth' Star James Brolin 'Blown Away' by Fans' Response to Netflix Original Series (Exclusive)

Sweet Tooth star James Brolin said that he has been "blown away" by the overwhelming response to the series following its June 4 release on Netflix. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com on Friday, Brolin reflected on the series' first week on the streaming catalog. Having just seen the series for the first time himself, he marveled at its success.

Brolin admitted he had not expected Sweet Tooth to make as big of an impression as it did. "I'll tell you why: because I was in the dark about the whole thing!" he said. "I mean, I knew it would be watched, I knew it's on Netflix, the price is right. But, I'm blown away by the fact that it's seven days now at number one. And I think it's going to hold for a while." Brolin is the narrator of the Netflix original series, and from his perspective, the show's scope was hard to judge until he saw it for himself.

As Brolin mentioned, Sweet Tooth has been a huge success for Netflix in the first week of its release. The show is based on a comic book by Jeff Lemire published by DC Comics, though without the weight of a superhero franchise behind it, there was no telling how much that would work in its favor. Brolin also confessed that he did not predict how much the comic book cred would help the show.

"It beats me," Brolin said of the blockbuster comic book adaptation phenomenon. "You know, I have a son who collects piles of expensive collector comic books, and yet to me, they were, you know, a dime, and you read them and throw them away. Heck, I'm old enough where, you know, Coke was a nickel."

Laughing, Brolin did acknowledge that comic book adaptations have become huge for his family since his son Josh Brolin has now played two Marvel Comics villains. However, he said that personally, he'd "rather see him do No Country for Old Men, or Old Boy — some of his other, you know, where he's a real character, totally different than anything you might conceive him doing." However, he perceived a simple, "traditional" theme in Sweet Tooth, which he appreciated.

Brolin said that he himself has still not read the Sweet Tooth comics, partially because he and the producers want him to approach the story fresh for his narrations. He seemed hopeful that the show would get more seasons — as did the rest of the cast — but Netflix has not confirmed a renewal for the series yet. Sweet Tooth Season 1 is streaming now on Netflix.