What is Sweet Tooth on Netflix about and who’s in it?

Sweet Tooth is the latest Netflix show that people can’t stop talking about.

It’s currently ranked as the second most popular thing to stream on there in the UK right now (and top of the Netflix charts in the US), and has seemingly come from nowhere to instant popularity and critical acclaim.

Here’s everything you need to know about the new show, its cast and what everyone’s been saying about it.

What’s Sweet Tooth all about?

Sweet Tooth is set in a post-apocalyptic world where children have mutated into hybrids – part human, part animal. It was adapted for Netflix from a comic book series, and produced by Robert Downey Jr and his wife Susan under their production company Team Downey.

The lead character, Gus, has distinctive horns that have been turning heads in all the promotional pictures and clips for the show. It’s not just horns, though. Other kids in Sweet Tooth have different mutations like wings, snouts and beaks.

The plot centres around Gus, played by 11 year old actor Christian Convery, as he embarks on a journey out of his isolated woodland upbringing with Jepperd (Nonso Anozie) after the latter saves his life. In a setting that’s potentially a bit close to home, the world of Sweet Tooth has been ravaged by a deadly virus.

With the world unsure if the new hybrids exist because of the virus or if they caused it, the mutated children are hunted by most humans and live in isolation and fear.

The tone of the show is reportedly a lot more optimistic than the darker vibe of the comics. Susan Downey said they chose to make the show feel more optimistic so it could be accessible for a wider audience, and to set it apart from the doom and gloom of most post apocalyptic film and TV.

Who’s in it?

Christian Convery plays the horned lead role Gus. He’s previously been in Venom with Tom Hardy and Beautiful Boy with Timothée Chalomet and Steve Carrell.

Nonso Anozie plays Jepperd, the adult lead. He starred in the live action Cinderella back in 2015.

Stefania LaVie Owen, best known for her roles in Krampus and The Lovely Bones, plays Bear. Dania Ramirez plays Aimee and had a lead role in Heroes and was in X-Men: The Last Stand.

What’s everyone said about it and is it any good?

The series has a 97 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning the show has already been a huge hit with critics.

Variety have called it a “pleasant, family-friendly surprise” and The Verge says “Sweet Tooth makes the end of the world a little cosier.” Digital Spy’s David Opie said the euphoric nature of the Netflix Sweet Tooth adaptation might shock fans of the comics, but said “in a genre as crowded as this, that’s no bad thing.”

The Guardian, however, took a more mixed stance – but a stance that has managed to make it seem like even more of an essential watch:

“Watch Sweet Tooth with an open mind and, ideally, a large drink inside you and another one to hand. For I cannot for the life of me tell if it is the worst thing I have ever seen, or the greatest work devised for the entertainment of humankind.”

This is what’s been said over on Twitter:

Producer Jeremy Platt tweeted the following, showing the lack of faith in the show in an old email and then showing its success in contrast:

Recommended stories by this writer:

• True crime drama Believe Me is ‘harrowing’, ‘sinister’ and ‘wildly heartbreaking’

• Where you recognise the cast of Channel 5’s new drama Anne Boleyn from

• This is how much money the Friends cast made for every single episode of the show