Netflix is bringing back Jenna Ortega's Wednesday for a second season, and there's every reason to think it could break viewership records.
Wednesday Season 2 will arrive as one of Netflix's "biggest shows" of 2025, following up on the massive success of the original Addams Family spin-off.
Why Wednesday Was a Massive Win for Netflix
According to a post on Netflix's official Tudum page, Wednesday Season 1 leads the streamer's Top 10 most English-language TV series of all time. The series holds the most views in Netflix history, with 252.1 million views (as of November 24) and 1.72 billion minutes watched.
These views far exceed the second-place holder of Stranger Things Season 4, at 140.7 million views. But the sci-fi horror topped Wednesday in hours watched, at 1.8 billion minutes, largely due to its longer runtime of over 13 hours and 4 minutes versus 6 hours and 49 minutes.
From the get-go, Wednesday was a win for Netflix. The series was watched for 341.23 million hours in its first week, taking the streamer's record for the most time-watched for a show in a single week (via Deadline).
While Wednesday was aided by hailing for a known IP of The Addams Family, it also came into play with strong reactions and reviews. The show holds a fresh 85% audience and 73% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and, generally, the word-of-mouth surrounding the show at the time was solid.
The series also benefited from being led by Jenna Ortega, who (via Exploding Topics) tied for the 19th most-searched person on Google in November 2024 even though she wasn't featured in a new project since Beetlejuice 2 in September.
Ortega also led the way in several scenes that went viral across social media, most famously her iconic dance, which was often edited to "Bloody Mary" by Lady Gaga in viral TikToks, despite the song not featuring in the show.
Could Wednesday Season 2 Surpass the First?
As detailed, Wednesday proved to be a massive success for Netflix on launch, and due to the nature of streaming, the series will have garnered many new fans in the two years since it was released.
Due to the show's ever-growing popularity and Jenna Ortega's rising stardom, interest in Wednesday Season 2 is at an all-time high, meaning the follow-up should have no difficulty matching the success of the first.
Series such as Stranger Things, which have only gained popularity with each season, are the perfect example of how Netflix can surpass itself with Wednesday Season 2, possibly breaking more records for the streamer.
But alas, only time will tell how that pays off, as it's unclear the extent to which viral clips (something which will be tough to replicate with Season 2) factored into the show's original success and how many of those viewers will stick around for more.
Marketing for Wednesday Season 2 has already begun before a release date announcement, so Netflix is pulling out all the stops for another big win.
Wednesday Season 1 is streaming on Netflix. The second is expected to follow at some point in 2025.
