'Wednesday' Breaks 'Stranger Things' Netflix Record
There are way more Addams Family fans than Netflix predicted. Wednesday, a new series spotlighting Wednesday Addams, broke a record previously held by Stranger Things, the streamer said Tuesday. The Jenna Ortega-starring show earned the most hours viewed in a week for an English-language TV series on Netflix.
Netflix subscribers have watched 341.23 million hours of Wednesday in over 50 million households. It was the most-watched show in 83 countries, tying the record previously set by Stranger Things 4. All eight episodes of Wednesday Season 1 were released on Wednesday, Nov. 23.
Wednesday was created by showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, and all eight episodes were directed by Tim Burton. Ortega plays a teenaged Wednesday Addams, who is enrolled in Nevermore Academy in Vermont after she is expelled from her high school. Wednesday quickly learns about a local murder mystery and uses her psychic abilities to solve it. Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday Addams in the 1991 and 1993 Addams Family movies, has a supporting role as a botany teacher at the academy.
The series has not been renewed for a second season yet, but Millar and Gough already have ideas for the future. In a new interview with TVLine, Millar suggested that the other Addams Family characters could have larger roles in Season 2. The first season introduced Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman as Morticia and Gomez Addams, George Burcea as Lurch, Isaac Ordonez as Pugsly Addams, Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester, and Victor Dorobantu as Thing.
"We felt like we just touched the surface with those characters and the actors are so amazing in those roles," Millar said. "Catherine is, I think, an iconic Morticia. The relationship between Wednesday and Morticia is also essential to the show, and the idea that Wednesday is trying to forge her own path outside the family is important."
The German series 1899 also continues to do well on Netflix. During its second week, Netflix subscribers watched over 87.89 million hours of the acclaimed science-fiction drama. It is set in 1899 and follows a group of Europeans traveling from London to New York City on a steamship. The multilingual series was created by Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar.
The Crown Season 5 came in third, with 42.36 million hours watched during the week of Nov. 21-27. Dead to Me Season 3 had 33.33 million hours watched. Manifest Season 4 rounded out the Top 5 with 21.6 million hours viewed.
Over on the movie side, Francis Lawrence's Slumberland, inspired by Windsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland comic strip, came in at number one with 45.43 million hours viewed in its second week. The Noel Diary debuted in second place with 36.27 million hours viewed. The other Christmas movies in the Top 10 were Falling for Christmas, Christmas with You, and Christmas on Mistletoe Farm.
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