It was delivered with the signature droll tone and sly irreverence that has made the character, the show and star Jenna Ortega such a huge hit.
Wednesday is a spin-off from the Addams Family brand, following Wednesday (Ortega) to school at the Nevermore Academy where she encountered teen crushes and friendship tussles as well as monsters, conspiracies and a plot to resurrect the dead. It was a lot.
The series broke Netflix’s record for most hours viewed in the first week for an English-language series – 341 million hours.
The eight-episode first season’s first four episodes were directed by Tim Burton and also starred Gwendoline Christie, Riki Lindhome, Emma Myers and Christina Ricci, who played the titular character in the 1991 and 1993 Addams Family movies.
Guest stars included Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia, Luis Guzman as Gomez and Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester.
Ortega, who has previously been in Scream, You and Yes Day, has seen her star rise since the series’ premiere. She won plaudits for improving Wednesday’s now-viral dance.
In a Netflix featurette, Burton said of the up-and-comer: “She’s like a silent movie actress in the sense where she’s able to convey things without words. To see the inner life and the subtleties was very exciting. And that’s why we’re very lucky to have Jenna because I can’t imagine any other Wednesday”.
The series renewal comes after a week of drama where The Independent speculated Netflix might lose the rights to the series.
An article put forward the argument that it was taking longer than expected for Netflix to confirm a second season, and that the series’ production studio was MGM which is now owned by rival Amazon Prime Video.
The reports forced insider studios to respond in other publications that the deal between Netflix and MGM had been inked before Amazon’s acquisition. It is also common for studios such as MGM to work with many distribution partners.
