'Your Fault: London' Stars Defend Toxic Romance
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- "Your Fault: London" debuts on Prime Video as the middle chapter of a trilogy adapted from Mercedes Ron's Culpables novels, which the Spanish author first published on Wattpad before turning 20.
- The Culpables films collectively reached 100 million viewers worldwide and ranked number one in 170+ countries at launch, with over 90% of viewers outside Spain, per Amazon MGM Studios head Nicole Clemens.
- The #BookTok community — with roughly 80 million #BookTok posts and 6.5 million #romancebooks posts on TikTok — drives the franchise's pre-existing fanbase, which Banks and Broome called the most striking part of joining the project.
- Broome and Banks pushed back on the "romanticizing toxicity" critique, arguing the films show consequences of toxic behavior and resolve conflict through "healthy communication," with Banks adding that Noah is meant to read as a "strong young female character."
- Critics including Variety ("a trashy gimmick" adapting "tawdry teen literature") and The Guardian ("a bizarre and wooden step-sibling romance") dismissed the franchise, while BookTok creator Tia Saunders called the London version a "phenomenal" adaptation.
- The AI fan content has been intense — Broome said he regularly mistakes AI-generated posters imagining his and Banks' future for official Amazon releases — and the pair avoided the Spanish originals while filming to develop their own interpretations of Noah and Nick.
Why it matters: The Culpables franchise has reached 100 million viewers globally with 90% outside Spain, making the London English remake a pre-validated Prime Video bet built on 80 million #BookTok posts rather than unproven IP. The trade-off: critics call the source material 'tasteless' and 'wooden,' so Amazon is absorbing reputational risk to chase teen novel fandoms over prestige.
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