Prepare to have your opinion on Stranger Things changed if you believed it would continue to be the most popular program on Netflix this year. Wednesday, a coming-of-age supernatural comedy series based on Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family, is Netflix’s most popular show right now. It set a record for any English-language TV series for the most hours seen in a week. The first week of the new series had 341.23 million hours watched, well surpassing season 4 of Stranger Things, which had 335 million hours.
Jenna Ortega, 20, who plays the leading role, has huge shoes to fill after Christina Ricci’s noteworthy performance in the 1991 production of The Addams Family. With prior recurring performances as young Jane in the popular CW romantic-comedy series Jane the Virgin and as Ellie Alves in the second season of the Netflix thriller series You, Ortega is no stranger to the television screen.
Despite having a Libra Sun (born on September 27, 2002), Ortega embodies the essence of a Scorpio in her portrayal of the horrific yet somehow endearing Wednesday Addams. She also succeeds in acting just as well as some of her more seasoned co-stars, such as Christina Ricci as Marilyn Thornhill and Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia.
With a Metacritic rating of 66 and a 69% Rotten Tomatoes score, Wednesday has generally received positive reviews. Lena Finkel of Femestella criticized the show’s “utterly dull script,” Kelly Lawler of USA Today gave the “kitschy” Wednesday 3 out of 4 stars, and Caroline Franke of Variety Magazine praised Jenna Ortega’s “magnetic” performance despite being dissatisfied with the overall “predictable” plotlines. However, the reviews from critics have been more conflicted.
Even if Wednesday has not yet been renewed for Season 2, I predict Netflix will do so, especially given how well-liked and well-publicized Ortega is.