On Nov. 23, “Wednesday” premiered on Netflix, quickly breaking Netflix’s record for the most hours viewed in a week for an English-language series. Everyone is familiar with the famous Addams family, which was first introduced to the world with cartoons from “The New Yorker” in 1938. Since then, there have been numerous comic books, television shows and movies about the mythic family. However, “Wednesday” has introduced a whole new take to the over 80 countries it debuted for on Netflix, specifically following the family’s mysterious daughter, Wednesday.
The success of “Wednesday” likely has a lot to do with its brilliant director, Tim Burton. He is already renowned as one of the world’s best directors, having worked on countless successful projects such as Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and many more. With his expertise behind “Wednesday,” the show was certainly set up for success before it aired.
It’s also astounding that the actress for Wednesday in the 1991 adaptation, Christina Ricci, came back for this show. However, this time, she took the role of the teacher, Marilyn Thornhill. “It was really intimidating because I have so much respect for her as an actress, and being dressed up how she was 30 years ago, it was a little awkward,” said Ortega. However, it seems as though the two Wednesdays got along extremely well.
Of course, “Wednesday” would not be the same without the lead actress, Jenna Ortega. Ever since the release of “Wednesday,” the internet has been labeling the twenty-year-old as Hollywood’s newest “it girl.” For many, her rise to fame may seem to have popped out of thin air. However, some fans may remember that she has been climbing through the Hollywood ranks for years now, primarily beginning with her first leading role on Disney’s “Stuck in the Middle.” After wrapping up her Disney career, Ortega started building her reputation as a serious actress with projects like Scream, The Fallout and You. These ultimately brought her to the attention of Burton.
Fans appreciate the dedication that Ortega brought to her role. In order to bring Wednesday to life, she learned the cello, fencing, archery, dancing and German. “After work, I always had a lesson or something,” said Ortega. Her dancing was the most shocking of the list. In the show, there is a school dance, where Wednesday does her own solo performance. Ortega truly brought her character to life, and the dance became viral on TikTok. Ironically, instead of using the actual song from the show, people started using ‘Bloody Mary’ by Lady Gaga.
However, the singer clearly didn’t mind the attention to her song. She made a Tik Tok of her own doing the Wednesday dance to her song. She even captioned her video, “BLOODY WEDNESDAY.” Fans were surprised to learn that Ortega actually had no dancing abilities prior to the show, even though she choreographed the dance herself. “I felt like such a fool. I’m not a dancer. I don’t do any of that. I have no experience in that field. I didn’t sleep for two days,” said Ortega.
All of this hard work paid off, as Ortega is now a Golden Globe nominee, and the show was a smashing success. Achieving over 341.23 million hours of viewing during the first week of the series after release, “Wednesday” beat the record of “Stranger Things.” This was an unexpected occurrence considering this was only the first season of “Wednesday,” while “Stranger Things” has had four seasons to build its fame.
Netflix confirmed that its newest hit show has been picked up for a second season. Fans all over the world are ready to see what the brilliant team will bring to the table next.