Wednesday, the new spin-off of The Addams Family, was a huge success. Since its premiere on Netflix on Nov. 23, the show starring actress Jenna Ortega (You, Jane the Virgin, Scream 5) has become the most watched English-language series in the history of the streaming platform.
According to data shared by Netflix, the show accumulated a total of 341 million hours watched in its first week, with more than 50 million households tuning in. In doing so, Wednesday surpassed Stranger Things season 4 to take the record for the most hours watched in a week for an English-language TV series on Netflix. Stranger Things, which stars Millie Bobbie Brown, was watched for a total of 335 million hours between May 30 and June 5.
A cast of Latin American descent
Despite not being a Hispanic fiction, Latino actors play a major role in Wednesday, beginning with the leading lady Jenna Ortega, who is of Mexican descent. The Addams Family spin-off features several other actors of Hispanic origin, such as Catherine Zeta-Jones, who plays Morticia, Puerto Rican Luis Gúzman as Gomez Addams, and Isaac Ordonez as Wednesday's younger brother, Pugsley.
These are not the only original characters from The Addams Family that have returned. Thing, the sentient "helping hand," also returns in this new adaptation and has a big role as Wednesday's personal assistant. Uncle Fester (played by American actor and musician Fred Armisen) and Lurch (George Bucea), the Frankenstein-like chauffeur, also appear in Wednesday.
All of them are part of a very well selected cast that also includes the Game of Thrones and Sandman actress Gwendoline Christie in the role of Larissa Weems, the academy principal and Morticia's former roommate; or Christina Ricci, who played little Wednesday in the 90's movies, who returns to the saga this time in the role of the botany teacher, Miss. Marilyn Thornhill.
A wave of murders, the main plot of 'Wednesday'
The show is a supernatural mystery drama that follows the Addams family daughter's early years at Nevermore Academy, where she was sent after causing several problems in other schools such as throwing piranhas into a pool. While the teenager tries to adapt to a new school, she also works to understand and master her psychic power that begins to awaken.
As if that were not enough, the young girl and her friends investigate and try to stop a crime wave taking place in Jericho, the town near her school. The murders, according to the villagers, are the fault of Nevermore students belonging to supernatural races including pyschic students, mermaids or werewolves.
The hit Netflix series, which is the platform's number one fiction in 83 countries, is directed and produced by Tim Burton and was co-created by Al Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville). Although it has not yet been renewed for a second season, the overwhelming public and critical acclaim seems to ensure that Wednesday is here to stay.
