Netflix proudly crowed yesterday that its brand new series Wednesday surpassed Stranger Things Season 4 for most hours viewed for an English-language show in a single week. The semantics of measuring the ratings of a show that premiered on a Wednesday against one that debuted on a Friday aside, it’s clear that Wednesday is a hit. Folks tuned in to a show centered on The Addams Family‘s most beloved character in droves and they clearly kept watching Wednesday to the bitter end (in the vain hopes that Wednesday and Enid might kiss). But what made Wednesday such a smash wasn’t the direction of Tim Burton or the supernatural mystery. No, it was clearly the show’s star: the mightily magnetic Jenna Ortega.
Jenna Ortega is hardly what you could call an up-and-comer. The 20-year-old American actress cut her teeth as a child actor playing the younger version of Jane in Jane the Virgin and starring in such kids’ shows as the Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle and Netflix’s maligned Richie Rich. While she’s had recent star turns in slashers like Scream and X, Netflix has been her most consistent employer. Ortega has appeared prominently in Yes Day, The Babysitter: Killer Queen and the smash hit You, making her just the latest young star cultivated for success by the streaming giant. But Wednesday might be the project that shoots Ortega over the top into household name territory. Wednesday should make Ortega a major star. After all, Jenna Ortega is what makes Wednesday work.
Wednesday follows a teenaged Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) as she’s sent off to a peculiar boarding school called Nevermore Academy. Her classmates are sirens, werewolves, and all around weirdoes, but Wednesday is the strangest student of all. Wednesday’s burgeoning psychic abilities pull her into a dark murder mystery at the school. Oh, and there’s love triangles, Hogwarts-esque house challenges, and therapy to contend with.
As adaptations of Charles Addams’s iconic New Yorker cartoons go, Wednesday is not great. It’s a sloppy mishmash of CW concepts and dark academia memes. Director and EP Tim Burton lends the project none of the creative spark that defined his early work and the show seems woefully afraid to explore Wednesday’s chemistry with roomie Enid (Emma Myers). However, Wednesday is a compelling watch thanks to Jenna Ortega’s performance. Ortega not only captures the ice cold energy of the twisted character, but lends nuance to Wednesday’s world. There’s passion simmering under the surface of her unblinking facade. It comes out when she rocks out on the cello or gleefully takes revenge on students who have harmed her few handful of friends.
If Wednesday nabs a Season 2 and if it continues to be a juggernaut for Netflix, Jenna Ortega deserves most of the credit. Sure, it’s a popular bit of IP, but the character only comes alive because of Ortega’s performance. And even if Wednesday‘s own days on the streaming giant are numbered, Ortega’s future is supernova bright.