'Wednesday' Surging Up Netflix's Rankings, Becomes Third Most-Watched English-Language Show

Netflix's episodic TV reimagining of "The Addams Family," "Wednesday," is quickly becoming one of the streaming service's surging phenomenons. The show is continuing to wrack up significant viewership across the globe, and it's now third in Netflix's all-time rankings for English-language series, per The Hollywood Reporter.

According to Netflix's internal measurements, "Wednesday" drew 411.29 million viewing hours worldwide for the week of Nov. 28-Dec. 4. THR notes that this is the first time an English-language show on the service has topped 400 million viewer hours in a given week. For comparison, the Korean drama, "Squid Game," managed to accomplish that feet three times for its first season, reaching a high of 571.76 million viewing hours in its third week of release.

A mere 12 days after the show's Nov. 23 launch, it has now become No. 3 in the all-time rankings for Netflix's English-language shows at 752.52 million viewing hours. "Wednesday" is expected to soon surpass the true crime anthology drama series, "Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story," in the No. 2 ranking next week.

As reported by The Blast, "Dahmer" recently crossed over 1 billion viewing hours in the first 60 days since its launch, becoming only the third show in Netflix history to do so. It became Netflix's second most popular English-language series ever, behind only "Stranger Things 4." It is currently third overall, with "Squid Game" in the top spot.

However, it looks like "Wednesday" will be taking that slot in the rankings in a matter of days. THR notes that the show is expected to reach over 1 billion hours of watch time soon, and it would be only the third Netflix series to accomplish this feat in its first four weeks of release. The only other shows that have reached those viewership milestones in that timeframe are "Squid Game" at 1.65 billion hours and "Stranger Things 4" with 1.35 billion hours.

The show stars Jenna Ortega in the titular role, plus an impressive supporting cast that also includes Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams, Luiz Guzmán as Gomez Addams, Fred Armisen as Fester Addams, along with Gwendoline Christie, Riki Lindhome, and Christina Ricci. Ricci previously portrayed Wednesday Addams in the 1991 big-screen adaptation of "The Addams Family," along with its 1993 sequel, "The Addams Family Values."

Ortega has been generating a ton of buzz for her performance, along with the series. THR notes that searches related to "Wednesday" on the social media platform, TikTok, are currently in the billions. The show's soundtrack is also currently on the top of the iTunes soundtrack chart.

The show’s popularity on Netflix is reflected in other media as well: Wednesday-related searches on TikTok number in the billions, and the show’s soundtrack tops the iTunes soundtrack chart.

In the new series, Addams is transferred to Nevermore Academy where strange things are afoot. She seeks to uncover a murder mystery her parents were previously embroiled in 25 years earlier, while also navigating her new school environment.

"Wednesday" is executive produced by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, along with Tim Burton, with Gough and Millar serving as the showrunners. Burton also directed the first four episodes. The first season is streaming now on Netflix.