The Altruists on Netflix: release date, cast and what it is about

David White

16 Oct 2026 · 3 min read

Netflix has an eight-part drama about the collapse of FTX landing next month, with Julia Garner and Anthony Boyle as Caroline Ellison and Sam Bankman-Fried. The Altruists arrives on Thursday 19 November 2026.

The date and the cast both come from Netflix’s own Tudum announcement, published on 13 August 2026. Netflix states it twice and leaves no room for doubt: “All eight episodes of the series will stream on Netflix starting Nov. 19.”

When does The Altruists come out?

Thursday 19 November 2026, and the whole thing at once. This is not a weekly rollout and not a two part split. Eight episodes, one day, which for a story this heavily documented is probably the right call.

It is a limited series rather than a returning one, so there is no second season to wait for.

What is The Altruists about?

It is the rise and fall of FTX, told through the two people at the centre of it. Netflix describes the subjects as “Gen Z’s Bonnie and Clyde” and frames the story as two “hyper-smart, ambitious young idealists” who “tried to remake the global financial system before they were accused of stealing $8 billion”.

The anchor Netflix reaches for is the 2024 sentencing: US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan’s observation that what happened might have been the “greatest financial fraud ever perpetrated in this country”.

Co-showrunner Graham Moore’s framing is worth quoting, because it tells you what kind of eight hours this is going to be. He says the thing a drama can do that a newspaper cannot is reconstruct “the ones that happened off camera, the intimate moments”. Co-showrunner Jacqueline Hoyt says the aim is for viewers to “have a better understanding of why they did what they did”.

So it is a relationship drama wearing a financial scandal, rather than a procedural about crypto. Moore also points out the detail that most coverage skips: when the bulk of this happened, Bankman-Fried and Ellison were 26 and 28.

The series is inspired by New York Magazine reporting.

The Altruists cast

In recurring roles:

Garner is coming off Ozark, Inventing Anna and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Boyle was in House of Guinness, Say Nothing and Masters of the Air, which is a run of three consecutive real-person roles and now a fourth.

Who made it

Graham Moore and Jacqueline Hoyt are co-showrunners, co-writers and executive producers. Moore wrote The Imitation Game and The Outfit; Hoyt wrote on The Underground Railroad, Dietland and The Leftovers.

James Ponsoldt directed the first episode and is an executive producer. His credits include The Spectacular Now, Daisy Jones and The Six, Shrinking and Running Point.

It is a Higher Ground Productions series, the Obamas’ company, in its continuing partnership with Netflix. Vinnie Malhotra and Jessie Dicovitsky are executive producers for Higher Ground, with Scoop Wasserstein for New York Magazine and Vox Media Studios, plus Tonia Davis, Lauren Morelli and Garner herself.

What Netflix has not said

Nothing about runtime per episode, and nothing about a UK date distinct from the global one. Netflix originals normally go live worldwide at the same moment, which for a UK viewer means it appears on 19 November wherever you are, though the hour depends on how Netflix stages the drop.

If it changes, the page above is where Netflix will say so.

Track it

Add The Altruists to your watchlist on TrackShows and you will get a notification when the episodes land, rather than finding out a week late because the row moved down your home screen. How to track TV shows covers the basics, and get notified when new episodes air covers the notification settings.

For the rest of what is coming, Pride and Prejudice is two weeks later, on 3 December.