A Stranger Things Record Was Just Beat By A Star-Studded Netflix Show

Netflix has reason to celebrate, because "Wednesday" season 2 has entered the list of most popular English-language titles of all time just two weeks after its release (according to Netflix, of course). This cements "Wednesday" as a bonafide phenomenon for the streamer, with season 2 knocking "Stranger Things" season 3 off the most-streamed list.

Though it was expected that "Wednesday" season 2, a strong follow-up to the first season, would eventually make its way to the Netflix Top Ten, the fact it did it so quickly makes it clear the Tim Burton show is resonating with audiences. Most importantly, it means "Wednesday" is a hit for the streamer at a time when it desperately needs new hits.

Now that "Stranger Things" is (slowly) coming to an end, Netflix is about to lose arguably its biggest franchise ever, the first one that actually grew organically thanks to word of mouth. Though the streamer has produced plenty of quite popular shows, like "The Crown" or "Bridgerton," it has few actual continuing franchises. "The Witcher" is still ongoing, and it's had two animated feature film spin-offs already, but it's nowhere near the Top Ten list, "Squid Game" is already over, and the Emmy-winning "Adolescence" was a limited series.

Netflix needs another "Stranger Things," a show that grows season by season, set in a universe big enough to expand through spin-offs (and actually do some expanding, rather than wait so long that no one cares anymore, like with "Stranger Things"). "Wednesday" might be just what it's been looking for.

We already saw the rise of a potential new franchise at Netflix earlier this year when "KPop Demon Hunters" became the biggest film in the history of Netflix, as well a surprising box office hit and its songs became record-breaking Billboard hits. That came as a surprise to both audiences and Netflix itself, which had not prepared at all for that movie to be a success and is still playing catch-up and trying to capitalize on the public's love for "KPop Demon Hunters" by promising sequels and threatening everyone with a live-action remake.

Now that the era of spending hundreds of millions on movies like "Red Notice" is basically over, replaced by cost-cutting measures across Hollywood, Netflix is looking at titles that are already proving to be big with audiences. "KPop Demon Hunters" is a great example of that, as is "Wednesday," a show with high-profile names attached, but not big enough that they'd cost the streamer hundreds of millions to keep happy.

The question is whether Netflix can expand the world of "Wednesday" the right way without sacrificing what made people like the show in the first place. We've seen ideas thrown around that would focus on one particular member of the Addams family or another, but why not go back to basics and do a whole "Addams Family" spin-off/remake? Time will tell, but what's certain is that the world of "Wednesday" is not going anywhere.