--- title: Netflix CEO Interview Wall Street Journal Entertainment Pill description: You've heard of "Netflix and chill," but what if the future was more like "Netflix and pill"? Netflix CEO Reed Hastings can imagine it. canonical: https://time.com/4544291/netflix-ceo-pills/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-25T16:20:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:59.249Z og:title: Netflix's CEO Says Entertainment Pills Could Replace Movies og:description: "Movies & TV shows will be like the opera and the novel" og:url: https://time.com/4544291/netflix-ceo-pills/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt394e5a17b1944182/6988ab73656a3f13e1bcd977/netflix-pill-future.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Netflix Inc. Illustrations Ahead Of Earnings Figures og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Netflix's CEO Says Entertainment Pills Could Replace Movies twitter:description: "Movies & TV shows will be like the opera and the novel" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt394e5a17b1944182/6988ab73656a3f13e1bcd977/netflix-pill-future.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Netflix's CEO Says Entertainment Pills Could Make Movies and TV Obsolete > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=39c03649-3540-4574-b9e2-45632c1c08cb&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Oct 25, 2016 4:20 PM UTC  (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images) (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Oct 25, 2016 4:20 PM UTC You’ve no doubt heard of “[Netflix and chill](http://time.com/4052144/netflix-and-chill-button/),” but Netflix imagines a future that’s a little more like “Netflix and…pill”? According to [_Tech Radar_](http://www.techradar.com/news/netflix-biggest-rival-to-movies-in-the-future-a-pill-that-entertains-you), Netflix’s CEO Reed Hastings (while speaking at the WSJD Live, the _Wall Street Journal’s_ annual digitally minded conference) said that he anticipates that [movies and television shows](http://time.com/money/4534737/netflix-originals-subscriber-growth/) will eventually become obsolete and even went so far as to suggest that drug science would be the future of entertainment. “Movies & TV shows will be like the opera and the novel,” he said, according to the _Journal_. “There will be substitutes.” One of the substitutes he could envision? As the WSJD Twitter account revealed, Hastings speculates that the future could be a pill that entertains you. > [](https://twitter.com/WSJD/status/790752410830458880) For now, however, Hastings isn’t looking to start any recreational drugs for entertainment purposes, focusing instead on improving the streaming services Netflix already offers. “Fundamentally we’re about eliminating loneliness and boredom,” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4544291/netflix-ceo-pills/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4544291/netflix-ceo-pills/"},"headline":"Netflix's CEO Says Entertainment Pills Could Make Movies and TV Obsolete","datePublished":"2016-10-25T16:20:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:59.249Z","description":"\"Movies & TV shows will be like the opera and the novel.\"","url":"https://time.com/4544291/netflix-ceo-pills/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Television","Netflix","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt394e5a17b1944182/6988ab73656a3f13e1bcd977/netflix-pill-future.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt394e5a17b1944182/6988ab73656a3f13e1bcd977/netflix-pill-future.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Netflix Inc. 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