Wednesday Defeats Stranger Things In Huge Netflix Ratings Upset

Addams Family spinoff show Wednesday beats Stranger Things viewership figures in a Netflix streaming record upset for an English language series.

The Addams Family spinoff show Wednesday has set a new Netflix viewership record, breaking the previous record held by the streaming platform’s mega-hit show Stranger Things. The new series, based around the character of Wednesday Addams, is the first live-action installment in The Addams Family franchise since The New Addams Family TV series, which ran from October 1998 to August 1999. Starring Jenna Ortega as the titular character, Wednesday premiered on November 23 and has wasted no time in setting a new record.

According to THR, Wednesday enjoyed the biggest ever opening week for an English language series in Netflix history, overtaking the previous record set by ratings behemoth Stranger Things. The series racked up a staggering 341.2 million hours of viewing globally during its opening week, beating the previous 335 million hours set by Stranger Things season 4. Despite this, the total remains short of the all-time opening week record of 571.76 million hours set by Squid Game last year.

Related: Wednesday Breaks A Huge Tim Burton Ratings Streak

Why Wednesday Beat Stranger Things

The success of Wednesday will be viewed as a massive coup for Netflix, a streaming service that has dedicated much of their time and resources to developing original content in recent years. The show achieved this remarkable feat when it hit #1 in no less than 83 different countries during its opening week, tying with Stranger Things. This was calculated by Netflix, who determined that around 50 million households globally watched at least part of the series. This is especially promising for the future of Wednesday.

Critical and fan reception to Wednesday has been largely positive. Ortega’s lead performance has earned much praise, as has the supporting turns from Gwendoline Christie, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, and Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday Addams in the original 1991 movie, The Addams Family, and its sequel. Hollywood director Tim Burton also directs the opening four episodes of the series. That star power, combined with the appeal of the Addams Family IP, fueled plenty of anticipation before the series even premiered. This likely drummed up Wednesday‘s big audience, while positive word of mouth ensured more people would continue to tune in. While there is no doubt Stranger Things will hit back once its fifth and final season airs, for now Wednesday has taken the crown.

This Means We’re Getting Wednesday Season 2, Right?

All of this should point definitively in the direction of a series renewal, and though nothing has been confirmed yet, Wednesday season 1 ended with plenty of story threads that could be explored in a second season. In fact, co-showrunner Miles Millar has already discussed a potential Wednesday season 2 and what storylines could be explored should the series be picked up for another season. The fact that Wednesday has not yet been renewed should not worry fans, as it has only just debuted, and it is likely that Netflix wants to see how the show fares before committing to a renewal. However, things now look positive for the future of Wednesday.

Next: The Biggest Questions Wednesday Season 2 Needs to Answer

Source: THR