‘The Circle’ returns to shoot in Atlanta, moves to Hulu from Netflix

“The Circle” was built from the embers of social media in early 2020 and quickly became a viral hit for Netflix, alongside the dating show “Love is Blind,” which came out five weeks later. (Seasons 1 and 2 of that show, which aired Season 10 earlier this year, were shot in Atlanta.)

In “The Circle,” contestants live in apartment units in the same building but are kept isolated from each other. They cannot see or hear the other players, and can only interact through either group or individual chats.

The twist: Players can choose to play as themselves or “catfish” others by pretending to be someone else.

Players in the Netflix version ranked each other every week. The most popular “influencers” eliminated other contestants. In the first seven seasons, winners each took home $100,000.

Deadline.com reported that the Hulu version will mix celebrity contestants with civilians. And unlike the pre-taped version Netflix created, Hulu will film Season 8 in real time along the lines of Peacock’s “Love Island” and CBS’s “Big Brother.”

Viewers will shape the game, with audience voting included in some fashion, according to Deadline.

The show is currently casting, and Hulu has not announced a launch date.

Several cast members of previous seasons of “The Circle” have Georgia ties, including Seaburn Williams (Season 1), Eversen Bevelle (Season 4) and Madelyn Rusinyak (Season 7).

The return of “The Circle” to Atlanta is good news for Georgia’s struggling film and TV industry, which has become far less robust in the past two years as more productions move to other states and countries with competitive tax credits.

Reality shows are still finding a home in Georgia. ABC’s “Shark Tank” recently moved from Los Angeles to Tyler Perry Studios; Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Atlanta” is currently in its 17th season; and fellow Bravo show “Married to Medicine” earlier this year was renewed for a 13th season.