'Wednesday' Draws Nielsen's Second-Largest Streaming Audience Ever, 'Inevitable' Renewal Coming Soon

Previously, Netflix's "Wednesday" became the third-ranked most-watched English-language show in the streaming service's history. Now, the show has recorded another milestone, drawing record ratings on the official Nielsen streaming chart, per The Hollywood Reporter.

The episodic TV reimagining of "The Addams Family" has officially drawn the second largest week ever on Nielsen's streaming chart.

THR reports that "Wednesday" drew nearly just under 6 billion minutes, or 5.988 billion viewing minutes, in the United States during its debut week on Netflix from November 21-27. It is the second largest week ever on Nielsen's streaming chart, second to only "Stranger Things 4," which recorded 7.2 billion viewing minutes from May 30-June 5.

Previously, Netflix's internal measurements had the show drawing 411.29 million viewing hours worldwide for the week of November 28-December 4. It was the first time an English-language series on the streaming service topped 400 million viewing hours in one week. It later became No. 3 in Netflix's all-time English-language show rankings, with the expectation that it would soon ascend to No. 2, surpassing "Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story."

"Wednesday" is reportedly only the fourth show to pass 5 billion viewing minutes of watch time in a single week. "Stranger Things" accomplished this three different times. Also, "Tiger King" and "Ozark" both managed the feat during the pandemic lockdowns in March and April of 2020.

"Wednesday" topped both Nielsen's overall streaming chart and its Original Series chart for the week. Other shows in the Top 5 rankings that drew over a billion viewing minutes for the week included "Dead to Me" at No. 2 with 1.46 billion viewing minutes. "1899" and "The Crown" both tied for No. 3 in both charts with 1.11 billion viewing minutes.

"Wednesday" stars Jenna Ortega in the eponymous role. The show also features a stunning cast with Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams, Luiz Guzmán as Gomez Addams, Fred Armisen as Fester Addams, Gwendoline Christie, Riki Lindhome, and Christina Ricci. Ricci herself played the role of Wednesday Addams in the big-screen features, "The Addams Family" in 1991 and "The Addams Family Values" in 1993.

The show also boasts a strong pedigree behind the camera. The show was created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar ("Smallville," "Spider-Man 2"). Also, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Tim Burton ("Batman," "Sleepy Hollow") serves as director of the first four episodes of the first season.

With the reports on these latest numbers, a Season 2 renewal seems all but confirmed at this point. While a second season for "Wednesday" has not yet been announced, Deadline reports that a Season 2 renewal is "inevitable" at this point. However, the renewal is expected to happen later in the new year rather than before 2022 comes to a close.

Meanwhile, Ortega is building quite the resume as of late. After a breakout year with roles in "Scream," "X," and "Wednesday," she's set to reprise her role as Tara Carpenter in next year's "Scream 6." The sequel, which brings the cast of the slasher series to New York City, arrives in theaters on March 10, 2023.

The first season of "Wednesday," starring Ortega, is streaming now on Netflix.