Burton was previously approached to direct the 1991 film The Addams Family and was later involved in a canceled stop-motionanimated film featuring the Addams Family. In October 2020, he was reported to be helming a television series, which was later given a series order by Netflix. Ortega was cast in part to represent the character's Latina heritage. Ricci, who had played Wednesday in the 1991 film and its 1993 sequel Addams Family Values, was asked by Burton to join the series in a supporting role.
Wednesday Addams is expelled from her school after dumping live piranhas into the school's pool in retaliation for the boys' water polo team bullying her brother Pugsley. Consequently, her parents Gomez and Morticia Addams transfer her to their high school alma mater Nevermore Academy, a private school that was established for outcasts and monsters, in the town of Jericho, Vermont. Wednesday's cold, emotionless personality and her defiant nature make it difficult for her to connect with her schoolmates and cause her to run afoul of the school's principal, Larissa Weems. However, she discovers she has inherited her mother's psychic abilities, which allow her to solve a local murder mystery.
In the second season, Wednesday returns to Nevermore and, while developing her psychic abilities, must face a new tormentor and prevent her roommate's death. In addition, Pugsley enrolls at Nevermore as Weems' successor Barry Dort wants Morticia to take on a fundraising role while he looks after his own interests.
Ortega also portrays Goody Addams (season 1), Wednesday's deceased ancestor from the 1600s, who appears in her visions[5]
Karina Váradi (season 1) and Emily Ring (season 2) portray a young Wednesday Addams[6][7]
Gwendoline Christie as Larissa Weems (season 1; recurring season 2), the shapeshiftingprincipal of Nevermore Academy and a former student who was Morticia's roommate. During the second season, Weems returns as Wednesday's spirit guide because they are 13th cousins twice removed.
Oliver Wickham portrays a young Larissa Weems
Riki Lindhome as Dr. Valerie Kinbott (season 1), Wednesday's Nevermore-appointed therapist from the town of Jericho
Jamie McShane as Donovan Galpin (season 1; recurring season 2), the sheriff of Jericho
Ben Wilson portrays a young Donovan Galpin
Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin, a local coffee shop barista and Sheriff Galpin's son, who is later revealed to be a Hyde
Percy Hynes White as Xavier Thorpe (season 1), a psychic student at Nevermore who experiences visions during his dreams and can make art come to life
Christina Ricci as Marilyn Thornhill / Laurel Gates (season 1; guest season 2), the botany teacher at Nevermore and dorm mother of Wednesday and Enid. Ricci previously portrayed Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values.
Moosa Mostafa as Eugene Ottinger, a student at Nevermore with the ability to control bees and later other types of arthropods
Steve Buscemi as Barry Dort (season 2), the pyrokinetic successor of Principal Weems at Nevermore Academy
Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams (season 2; guest season 1), Wednesday's younger brother. In the second season, he begins to develop the ability to generate static electricity similar to his uncle.
Owen Painter as Isaac Night / "Slurp" (season 2), the reanimated corpse of a former student at Nevermore
Billie Piper as Isadora Capri (season 2), a former child prodigy and werewolf music teacher at Nevermore
Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo as Ritchie Santiago (season 2; recurring season 1), a deputy of Sheriff Galpin. In the second season, she is the new sheriff of Jericho following Galpin's resignation.
Victor Dorobantu as Thing (season 2; recurring season 1), a sentient disembodied hand who is sent to watch over Wednesday at Nevermore
Noah B. Taylor as Bruno Yuson (season 2), a werewolf student at Nevermore
Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams (season 2; guest season 1), Wednesday's lawyer father and Morticia's passionate husband
Lucius Hoyos portrays a young Gomez Addams
Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams (née Frump) (season 2; guest season 1), Wednesday's mother, who attended Nevermore Academy with her husband when she was younger and is a psychic similar to her daughter
Wednesday Addams, a high-school student, finds her brother Pugsley tied up in a locker. She sees a psychic vision of his bullies, whom she then attempts to kill, resulting in her getting expelled. Her parents, Morticia and Gomez, decide to enroll her in Nevermore Academy, their alma mater and a school for outcasts in Jericho, Vermont. Meanwhile, a hiker is killed by an unknown creature near Nevermore. Wednesday's parents release Thing, a sentient disembodied hand, to watch over her. She meets her roommate Enid, her complete opposite and a werewolf who has never completely transformed, and duels with popular girl Bianca, after Bianca bullies a boy named Rowan. Later, Wednesday is nearly killed by a falling gargoyle but is saved by Bianca's ex-boyfriend Xavier. After escaping her court-ordered therapy session, Wednesday meets Tyler, a "normie" barista, who agrees to help her escape from Nevermore. However, she is apprehended by Principal Larissa Weems and taken back to the school. Later, Tyler and Wednesday meet at the local carnival, and Wednesday has a vision of Rowan's death. Rowan attempts to kill her but is murdered by a monster, which saves Wednesday's life.
2
2
"Woe Is the Loneliest Number"
Tim Burton
Alfred Gough & Miles Millar
November23,2022(2022-11-23)
Wednesday convinces a skeptical Sheriff Galpin that the perpetrator of the murders is a monster. Suddenly, Rowan reappears unharmed. Wednesday doubts her sanity and decides to investigate the murders herself. She roams the campus inquiring about Rowan and is told that he has been expelled. Meanwhile, Principal Weems grows worried about Wednesday's visions and keeps close tabs on her. Wednesday confronts a defensive Rowan as he leaves the school and sends Thing to follow him. Thing loses him, and Rowan is revealed to be Principal Weems, who has shapeshifted into him. Wednesday has visions of a book belonging to an old students' society. In her search for the book, she overhears Bianca planning to rig the upcoming student tournament. Wednesday joins Enid to defeat Bianca and win the tournament. Later, Wednesday discovers a hidden library within the school, where she is captured by members of the elite students' society, the Nightshades.
3
3
"Friend or Woe"
Tim Burton
Kayla Alpert
November23,2022(2022-11-23)
Wednesday finds herself tied up and surrounded by members of the Nightshades, including Bianca and Xavier. Wednesday frees herself and leaves the library, taking one of the books with her. Principal Weems orders Wednesday to accompany the high school band to an upcoming town ceremony run by Mayor Noble Walker. A drawing in the purloined book leads her to an exhibition at a local fair, where she notices the painting of a girl she had seen in her visions. In the forest, Wednesday envisions the girl—believed to be an ancestor of hers—escaping the execution of the town's outcasts at the hands of its founder, Joseph Crackstone. Wednesday is ambushed by the monster, which she discovers, by its footprints, to transform into a human. Back in town, Wednesday disrupts the ceremony by having Thing destroy a commemorative statue of Joseph Crackstone and is scolded by Principal Weems. While investigating a crime scene in the forest, police find a camera that captured photographs of the monster.
4
4
"Woe What a Night"
Tim Burton
Kayla Alpert
November23,2022(2022-11-23)
Wednesday and Thing break into the coroner's office to copy the files of the monster's victims. In trying to identify a pattern, she finds that each victim has had body parts surgically removed. Wednesday becomes suspicious of Xavier and follows him into his art studio, where she discovers several drawings of the monster, which lead her to the monster's cave. There, she retrieves one of its claws and gives it to Sheriff Galpin for DNA matching. Wednesday and Tyler attend a school dance together. Meanwhile, classmate Eugene, who is privy to Wednesday's investigative work, witnesses a cloaked figure blow up the monster's cave. The dance is interrupted by Mayor Walker's son, Lucas, who triggers the building's fire sprinklers to spray fake blood in revenge for Wednesday's disruption of the town ceremony. Wednesday senses that Eugene is in danger and heads into the forest, only to find him gravely injured by the monster.
Thirty-two years earlier, Gomez Addams had been arrested at Nevermore on suspicion of killing Garrett Gates, a descendant of Joseph Crackstone. In present time, the Addamses visit Wednesday on Parents' Weekend at Nevermore. A family therapy session is cut short when Wednesday confronts her parents about the suspected murder. Meanwhile, Sheriff Galpin learns that the coroner committed suicide after admitting to fabricating Gates's autopsy report. Galpin concludes that Gomez is guilty and arrests him. In prison, Gomez reveals to Wednesday that he was covering for Morticia, who accidentally killed Garrett. Wednesday and Morticia dig up Garrett's grave to find that he had been lethally poisoned before Morticia stabbed him but are caught by police and arrested. Later, they confront Mayor Walker, who reveals that Garrett intended to poison the entire school due to his father's hatred of outcasts. Mayor Walker agrees to release Gomez after admitting to covering up Garrett's motive. Back at Nevermore, Principal Weems reluctantly admits to covering up Rowan's death by means of shapeshifting in an effort to evade controversy at the school.
6
6
"Quid Pro Woe"
Gandja Monteiro
April Blair
November23,2022(2022-11-23)
Wednesday attempts to summon Goody Addams, an ancestor and fellow psychic who killed Crackstone. During a surprise birthday party, Wednesday has a vision of Goody, who instructs her to seek out the Gates mansion. There, she witnesses Mayor Walker leaving the building and sneaks into his car. After arriving back in town, Mayor Walker is hit by a car and severely injured. Principal Weems locks down the school and forbids Wednesday to leave campus. With Tyler and Enid's help, she escapes and returns to the Gates mansion. There they find evidence that Laurel Gates, Garrett's younger sister, long believed to be dead, might still be alive. They find the severed body parts of the monster's victims in a cellar but are forced to flee after being ambushed by the monster. Wednesday leads Galpin to the cellar, only to find it empty. Wednesday convinces Principal Weems not to expel her so she can further pursue her investigation. At the hospital, an unknown figure kills Mayor Walker.
At Mayor Walker's funeral, Wednesday notices a lurking figure and chases it into the forest. The figure is revealed to be Uncle Fester, who explains to Wednesday that the monster she has been investigating is a Hyde. Together, they retrieve a diary from the Nightshades' library, which reveals that a Hyde must always have a master. Later, they track and follow Xavier, whom they witness meeting in the forest with Dr. Kinbott, Wednesday's therapist. After returning from an interrupted date with Tyler, Wednesday finds her dorm room vandalized, the diary stolen, and Thing gravely injured. Research into Laurel Gates reveals that she is both alive and the master of the Hyde. Wednesday initially suspects Dr. Kinbott, but Dr. Kinbott is killed by the Hyde. Police arrive to arrest Xavier, whom Wednesday believes to be the Hyde. Wednesday meets with Tyler and kisses him but suddenly has a vision of him being the Hyde and runs off.
8
8
"A Murder of Woes"
James Marshall
Alfred Gough & Miles Millar
November23,2022(2022-11-23)
Wednesday and her classmates kidnap Tyler to try to make him confess. Wednesday is arrested and Tyler secretly admits to Wednesday that he is the Hyde. Wednesday and Principal Weems visit Eugene at the hospital, where he has come out of his coma. His description of the figure he saw at the monster's cave matches Ms. Thornhill, a teacher at Nevermore. Wednesday and Principal Weems, disguised as Tyler, get Thornhill to confess that she is Laurel Gates and manipulated Tyler into killing the victims to resurrect Joseph Crackstone and wipe out all outcasts. Laurel kills Principal Weems and knocks Wednesday out. Using Wednesday's blood and the stolen body parts, Laurel resurrects Crackstone, who stabs Wednesday and leaves her to die, but Goody appears and heals her. Rushing to help Wednesday, Enid finally transforms into a werewolf and defeats Tyler in his Hyde form. With Bianca's help, Wednesday destroys and kills Crackstone, and Eugene defeats Laurel with the aid of his bees. Xavier is released from jail, Tyler is detained, and Wednesday departs Nevermore Academy, which is closing for the remainder of the semester.
Wednesday returns to Nevermore with Pugsley, who starts his first day, and discovers she is a celebrity. New principal Barry Dort offers her the honor student position at a start-of-year bonfire. In her dorm, she realizes she has a stalker. Principal Dort persuades Morticia to lead a fundraiser committee. After private investigator Carl Bradbury is killed by a murder of crows, former sheriff Galpin asks Wednesday for help solving the case, but she refuses due to his actions from last year. Principal Dort pressures Bianca to use her siren skills to raise money for the school. Xavier sends Wednesday a painting, which shows a crow with a blind eye. Wednesday's stalker steals her manuscript. After retrieving her manuscript from the midst of the bonfire, Wednesday publicly rejects all praise for saving the school and storms off. After hearing about a former student with a clockwork heart, who died as a result of his dangerous inventions, Pugsley accidentally revives the student as a zombie. Enid chases after Wednesday, but Wednesday collapses and goes into a seizure after seeing a vision of Enid's tombstone in a crow-infested graveyard.
Wednesday finds Galpin killed by crows in his home, and her psychic powers fail. During Nevermore's Prank Day, Wednesday finds one of Galpin's eyes placed in her and Enid's dorm room. Pugsley reveals Slurp, the zombie he has chained up and is keeping as a pet, to Eugene, but it eventually escapes. Wednesday goes to Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital, where Tyler is confined. After meeting with Tyler's psychiatrist, Dr. Rachael Fairburn, Wednesday tells Tyler about his father's death. Enid and her werewolf crush Bruno are kidnapped, and Wednesday solves a series of riddles to free them. Agnes DeMille, a student with invisibility powers, reveals herself as the stalker behind the riddles but denies involvement in Galpin's murder. Bianca tries to persuade Morticia to ask her estranged mother for a donation, but Morticia declines. After Bianca finds that Principal Dort's pendant protects him from the effects of her siren powers, he compels her to use them on Morticia. Thing reveals to Wednesday that Morticia took Goody Addams's book.
Wednesday gets into Galpin's phone and learns about the "Bullpen", a hunting cabin they used as a rendezvous. Wednesday decides to attend Nevermore's first camping trip to investigate, but her parents also come along as chaperones. Pugsley brings along Slurp so that he is not left unattended. A double booking leads Nevermore to compete with the Phoenix Cadets for use of the campsite, and Nevermore wins the capture the flag challenge. At the "Bullpen", Wednesday discovers years of newsclips on the deaths of outcast Willow Hill patients and the name "LOIS" painted on a wall. In a bid to regain Goody's book, Wednesday challenges Morticia to a blind duel, where if Wednesday wins, she gets the book, and if Morticia wins, she can burn the book. They duel, and Morticia defeats Wednesday. When the Phoenix Cadets attempt to raid the campsite, they accidentally release Slurp, who kills their scoutmaster in the process. After Wednesday stops Slurp, he is transferred to Willow Hill, where Laurel Gates is also a new patient.
12
4
"If These Woes Could Talk"
Tim Burton
Lauren Otero
August6,2025(2025-08-06)
Wednesday discovers that Willow Hill death certificates were signed by Augustus Stonehearst, now a patient there. Uncle Fester infiltrates Willow Hill to learn about "LOIS". Grandmama Hester Frump arrives and offers to donate to Nevermore if Goody's book is returned, but Morticia burns it. Uncle Fester's attempt to uncover the truth is thwarted, leading to his imprisonment alongside Slurp, but Wednesday rescues him as Slurp escapes. Wednesday and Uncle Fester discover that LOIS (Long-term Outcast Integration Study) is a secret program to transfer outcasts' powers into normies, and the supposedly deceased Willow Hill patients are still held captive, including an unidentified woman. Judi Spannegel, Dr. Fairburn's assistant and Stonehearst's daughter, reveals her experiments to become an Avian, able to control birds. After Uncle Fester releases the LOIS detainees, Slurp kills Dr. Fairburn and Stonehearst, furthering his regeneration and enabling him to speak. Laurel frees Tyler, but Tyler, in his Hyde form, kills her. As Wednesday helps the mysterious woman escape, Tyler throws Wednesday out of a window and escapes, leaving Wednesday severely injured.
Wednesday, in a coma, discovers that Larissa Weems is her new spirit guide due to being Wednesday's 13th cousin twice removed. After awakening, Wednesday is threatened by Judi, and a disguised Tyler threatens Wednesday and Enid. While Nevermore is celebrating the Outcast Day of Remembrance, Wednesday learns how to control a Hyde from music professor Isadora Capri. Wednesday then meets with Enid and the Nightshades, and tells them her plan to control Tyler. Later that night, Pugsley and Gomez locate Slurp, but Pugsley lets Slurp go when the police arrive. Gomez recognizes Slurp as the supposedly long-deceased student Isaac Night. On the same night, Tyler breaks into Nevermore and follows Enid. He is cornered by her and the Nightshades and transforms into his Hyde form. Wednesday attempts to control Tyler, but she is attacked by another Hyde. Morticia intervenes, and the second Hyde – who turns out to be Tyler's mother Françoise, the mysterious woman Wednesday had rescued – leaves with Tyler. Judi is confronted by Isaac and killed. Enid suddenly turns into a werewolf despite there not being a full moon.
14
6
"Woe Thyself"
Angela Robinson
Alfred Gough & Miles Millar and Kayla Alpert
September3,2025(2025-09-03)
Tyler and Françoise reunite with Isaac, who is Françoise's brother. Isaac tells Françoise he can remove her Hyde and save her. Wednesday attempts to regain her psychic abilities by using a charm from the gravestone of former Nevermore professor Rosaline Rotwood, but is interrupted by Enid. Both of them lose consciousness and wake up in their dorm room, having switched bodies. They each struggle to adjust to each other's personalities. To cure Françoise, Isaac removes the power supply he invented from the mechanism that keeps alive Professor Orloff, a disembodied head, then eats his brain. An invisible Agnes sees him doing this, follows the family to Willow Hill, and warns Enid and Wednesday. As Isaac prepares to cure Françoise, Wednesday, Enid, and Agnes arrive and sabotage the process. Tyler attempts to attack them but is stopped by Wednesday as Enid's wolf-self. Wednesday and Enid return to Rotwood's grave where they reveal what they learned about each other, allowing them to return to their own bodies. Weems ominously tells Wednesday that she prevented Enid's death, but it is now an Addams who will die.
15
7
"Woe Me the Money"
Tim Burton
Teleplay by: Matt Lambert & James Madejski Story by: James Madejski
September3,2025(2025-09-03)
In 2008, Dort enlists failed actor Arnold Hunt to act as leader of the Morning Song cult, where Bianca and her mother Gabrielle had been held. In the present, Principal Dort uses Bianca's siren abilities to make Grandmama Frump promise all her money to Nevermore. Elsewhere, Isaac treats Françoise with blood transfusions from Tyler. When Ajax, worried about Bianca, tells Wednesday about Principal Dort's crimes, Wednesday plans to expose Dort. Meanwhile, Dort burns Arnold Hunt in front of Bianca. At the gala Masquerade Ball, Enid and Agnes perform a dance, during which Agnes, while invisible, steals Principal Dort's anti-Siren pendant. After Ajax rescues Gabrielle, Bianca uses her truth spell to compel Principal Dort to confess his crimes, but he seizes Bianca as a hostage. Ajax uses his gorgon powers to turn Dort to stone, enabling Bianca to escape before a chandelier, whose rope had been burned by his powers, falls on Dort, shattering his stone body and killing him. Wednesday blackmails Grandmama Frump into donating a worthy sum to Nevermore before she discovers Isaac has kidnapped Pugsley.
16
8
"This Means Woe"
Tim Burton
Alfred Gough & Miles Millar & James Madejski
September3,2025(2025-09-03)
Wednesday learns that Isaac's original effort to cure Françoise required the electrical powers Gomez then possessed, and he plans to use Pugsley in turn. Wednesday confronts Isaac, who reveals that Thing is actually his hand, which he forcibly reattaches before burying Wednesday alive. Enid risks permanently becoming an alpha werewolf to dig Wednesday up before fleeing the scene. At Iago Tower, Françoise has Isaac forcibly restrain Tyler to cure him in her place. When Wednesday frees him, Tyler, in his Hyde form, attacks Isaac, forcing Françoise to transform to fight Tyler before falling to her death. The lab explodes, but everyone survives, preventing Wednesday's premonition. Before Isaac can kill Wednesday, Thing breaks free from his control and rips out his mechanical heart, killing him for good. In the aftermath, Nevermore shuts down early once again. Capri invites a grieving Tyler to join a secret pack of Hydes; Tyler accepts. Wednesday, Uncle Fester, and Thing head north to find Enid. Wednesday has a vision of her deranged maternal Aunt Ophelia, who is being held captive by Grandmama Frump; the latter which finds Ophelia in her cell writing in blood "Wednesday Must Die".
Production
Development
During pre-production on The Addams Family (1991), Tim Burton was approached to direct, but ended up passing on it due to scheduling conflicts with Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), resulting in Barry Sonnenfeld taking the job.[8][9] In March 2010, it was announced that Illumination Entertainment had acquired the underlying rights to the Addams Family drawings.[10] The film was planned to be a stop-motion animated film based on Charles Addams's original drawings. Burton was set to co-write, co-produce and possibly direct the film.[11] In July 2013, it was reported that the film was canceled,[12] which, according to Burton, was due to the studio favoring a computer-animated approach over the stop-motion technique.[13]
ShowrunnersMiles Millar and Alfred Gough started developing story ideas in 2019. They subsequently acquired the rights to the intellectual property before writing a television pilot script, which they sent to Burton.[14] To their surprise, Burton immediately became interested upon receiving the script.[15] Commenting about his decision to join the project, Burton stated that he could relate to the titular character's worldview and that the script "spoke to me about how I felt in school and how you feel about your parents, how you feel as a person. It gave the Addams Family a different kind of reality. It was an interesting combination".[13] Feeling creatively drained after Dumbo (2019), Burton considered retiring from the industry, being left to his own "feelings and things" during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the offer to make Wednesday reconnected his love to filmmaking and served him as a "health camp".[16] Millar stated that it was "very important" to the creative team not to emulate the prior films and 1964 television series.[15] Millar and Gough decided to make the juxtaposition of "outcasts" and "normies", as well as criticism of colonial Americans, major themes in the series.[17]
In October 2020, Wednesday was initially announced as an unnamed Addams Family project being helmed by Burton. The show's production would be handled by MGM Television, with Burton as director. Gough and Millar would serve as showrunners, while Gough, Millar and Burton would also be executive producers alongside Gail Berman, Jon Glickman and Andrew Mittman.[18] In February 2021, Netflix gave the production a series order consisting of eight episodes.[19] In August 2021, Kayla Alpert was added as an executive producer and 1.21, Tee and Charles Addams Foundation and Glickmania were also producing the series.[20] Deemed his "first real foray into television", Burton directed four out of the eight episodes,[15] with Gandja Monteiro and James Marshall directing the remaining episodes.[21] Burton brought on regular collaborator Colleen Atwood as costume designer.[15]
On possible future seasons, Gough and Millar commented in an interview with Variety, "when we sit down to create a show, it's looking at multiple seasons, ideally. That's never expected, but that's the anticipation that hopefully the show is successful." They further stated that they had "a pretty clear runway" of how future seasons could unfold.[22] In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gough and Millar stated that the second season would expand upon the friendship between Wednesday Addams and Enid Sinclair while also evolving Wednesday's relationship with her mother, Morticia.[23] Ortega stated that the season would "lean into the horror aspect" while "ditching any romantic love interest for Wednesday".[24] Preparations for a second season commenced in December 2022, following Amazon's acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[25] In January 2023, the series was renewed for a second season,[26] with Ortega now also serving as producer.[27] In July 2025, the series was renewed for a third season.[28]
A spin-off series centered around Uncle Fester has been in early development on Netflix as of December 2023.[29] As of August 2025, the creators were not treating it as a priority as they were focused instead on production of seasons 2 and 3 of Wednesday.[30] Season 3 is reported to be planned for as early as mid-to-late 2027; the reported stated: "If production for Wednesday Season 3 begins in early 2026, fans can expect new episodes to premiere on Netflix around mid-to-late 2027. Wednesday Season 3 will likely also follow a multi-part release schedule."[31]
Casting
Christina Ricci (left) appears in the series as a nod to her previous portrayal of the titular character, this time played by Jenna Ortega (right).[32]
The creative team sought a Latina to play the role of Wednesday Addams to align with character Gomez Addams's heritage, an aspect of the character that was already worked into the series' script.[33] In May 2021, Jenna Ortega, who is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent,[33] was cast in the role.[34] Millar stated that, upon their first Zoom call together, the creative team knew that "nobody else on this planet" was better suited to portray the character.[35] Ortega said that she was initially hesitant about joining the project due to her past work in teen-oriented Disney Channel shows[36] and her plans to prioritize film over television work, but decided to join in after meeting Burton through Zoom.[37] In the beginning of August of that year, Luis Guzmán was cast to guest-star as Gomez Addams,[20] and Catherine Zeta-Jones was cast as Morticia Addams in an undisclosed capacity.[38] Later that month, Thora Birch, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Hunter Doohan, Georgie Farmer, Moosa Mostafa, Emma Myers, Naomi J. Ogawa, Joy Sunday, and Percy Hynes White were announced to be cast as series regulars.[39] Myers initially auditioned for the titular role before she was cast as Wednesday's roommate Enid Sinclair.[40]
In September, Gwendoline Christie and Victor Dorobantu were added to the cast in starring roles while Isaac Ordonez, George Burcea, Tommie Earl Jenkins, Iman Marson, William Houston, Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo, Oliver Watson, Calum Ross and Johnna Dias Watson were cast in recurring roles.[41] In December 2021, Birch left the series, leaving the status of her character, dorm mother Tamara Novak, unclear.[42] In March 2022, it was announced that Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday Addams in the film The Addams Family and its sequel Addams Family Values (1993), was cast as a series regular, replacing Birch in a similar role.[43] Commenting on her casting, Ricci stated, "I was really flattered to be asked and to be asked by Tim [Burton]",[32] with whom she had previously collaborated on Sleepy Hollow (1999).[44] Ricci was almost unable to accept the role due to possible scheduling conflicts with Showtime series Yellowjackets.[33] In October, a trailer revealed Fred Armisen to be portraying Uncle Fester and Ricci's role was confirmed as Marilyn Thornhill.[45]
In April 2024, Steve Buscemi joined the cast of the second season as the new principal of Nevermore Academy,[46] after previously working with Ortega in Klara and the Sun and with Burton in Big Fish (2003) respectively,[47] alongside Thandiwe Newton in an undisclosed role.[48] In May, the cast for the season was announced, with Buscemi playing Barry Dort, Billie Piper as Isadora Capri, Joanna Lumley as Grandmama, Newton as Dr. Rachael Fairburn, alongside Evie Templeton, Owen Painter, Noah B. Taylor, Christopher Lloyd, Frances O'Connor, Haley Joel Osment, Heather Matarazzo and Joonas Suotamo in undisclosed roles, while Zeta-Jones, Guzmán, Ordonez and Lewis-Nyawo were promoted to the main cast.[49] In addition, it was announced that Hynes White would not return as Xavier for the second season, due to anonymous sexual assault allegations against the actor which surfaced on Twitter in January 2023.[50][51] In November, Lady Gaga was cast in an undisclosed role, later revealed to be the portrayal of Rosaline Rotwood in the second part of season 2.[52]
Filming
The entrance to Cantacuzino Castle as of April 2023 has been marketed as the shooting location of Nevermore Academy
Ortega called her work on the series "very stressful and confusing" and "the most overwhelming job I've ever had" due to the production's fast-tracked shooting schedule.[37][59] To prepare for her role, Ortega learned to play cello and took canoeing, fencing, archery and German lessons.[35] According to actress Joy Sunday, the canoeing lessons were especially strenuous, involving the entire cast and some dozen stuntmen racing each other for an hour daily, with days starting as early as 5:30am.[60] Ortega avoided talking to Ricci about playing the character during filming to achieve her own unique rendition of the role.[61] She choreographed her dance to the Cramps' "Goo Goo Muck" herself, taking inspiration from Siouxsie Sioux, Bob Fosse and goth dance club footage from the 1980s.[62][63] Ortega sought to make Wednesday's characterization consistent, down to changing lines that she felt were unfitting of the character and with more depth. She stated "you can't lead a story and have no emotional arc because then it's boring and nobody likes you."[64][37] Scenes featuring Thing, played by Romanian magician Victor Dorobantu, were achieved using a mixture of practical and special effects; Dorobantu wore a blue chroma-key bodysuit that would be edited out in post-production, leaving only his hand exposed. To create the illusion of a severed hand, a prosthetic stump was applied to Dorobantu's hand.[65]
The second season began filming in May 2024 in Ireland.[49][66][67] Ortega's schedule for the show was discussed with the filmmakers of the Scream franchise prior to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, leading to Ortega's departure from the upcoming Scream 7 (2026) due to the scheduling conflict.[68] Ortega denied this report in April 2025, claiming she instead left because of the departures of Melissa Barrera, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett from that project.[69] By August 2024, they had completed four episodes.[70] Filming wrapped by early December 2024.[71] According to Tourism Ireland, some of the locations used to shoot the new series include Charleville Castle in Co Offaly, Dean's Grange Cemetery in Co Dublin and Ashford Studios in Co Wicklow.[72] The third season is scheduled to begin filming on November 30, 2025, in Ireland.[73]
Led by two singles,[80]Wednesday's 48-track soundtrack was released by Lakeshore Records on November 23, 2022,[77] and a four-track extended play featuring covers of classical and pop songs was released on November 30.[79] In his review of the series, Tony Sokol of Den of Geek called the score "a major character, not only thematically, but as an emotional delivery system", making "the chills creepier, the jokes funnier and the tingles tangible".[81] Linda Codega of Gizmodo called the cello segments "memorable" and the score "occasionally-magnificent".[82] Writing for IGN, Amelia Emberwing described the combination of Elfman's score with Burton's material as "[going] together like peanut butter and jelly" and the score overall as "a stunner".[83]
A first teaser trailer for Wednesday was released on August 17, 2022,[87] followed by a full trailer on October 9[88] and the unveiling of the series' opening sequence on November 8.[89]Wednesday premiered on November 16, 2022, at Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles.[90][91] Its eight episodes were released on Netflix on November 23, 2022.[92] In December 2022, Netflix released a promotional video to its Twitter account depicting Thing, a sentient disembodied hand appearing in the series, roaming the streets of New York City and capturing the reactions of passersby.[93] The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (via Studio Distribution Services joint-venture unit) in March 2024.[94]
In April 2025, a trailer for the second season was released.[95] The second season was set to be released in two parts. The first part, consisting of four episodes, premiered on August 6, 2025, while the second part, also consisting of four episodes, premiered on September 3, 2025.[96]
Reception
Audience viewership
According to data from users of TV Time collected by Whip Media, Wednesday had the second-most pre-release followers of any Netflix original series on the platform, behind only The Witcher;[97] it ultimately debuted at number one on Netflix in 83 countries.[98] The series holds the record of most hours viewed in a week for an English-language Netflix series with a total 341 million hours watched in its first week of release, amounting to more than 50million households, and passing prior record holder Stranger Things 4's 335 million hours.[99]Nielsen Media Research reported a combined watch time of 6billion minutes within its first week of release, making it the second-biggest streaming week ever recorded by the firm.[100] Three weeks after its release, it became the second-most watched English-language Netflix series in the history of the platform, reaching an estimated 150 million households and totaling 1billion viewing hours by December 2022.[101] Jacob Stolworthy of The Independent called the series's popularity "unprecedented" and suggested that it could jumpstart development of several other spin-off television series.[102]
For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 73% approval rating, based on 105 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Wednesday isn't exactly full of woe for viewers, but without Jenna Ortega in the lead, this Addams Family-adjacent series might as well be another CW drama."[103]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 66 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable".[104]
Ed Power of The Daily Telegraph gave Wednesday four out of five stars and called it "an addictively rococo romp that unfolds like a cross between Euphoria and Hotel Transylvania".[107] John Anderson of The Wall Street Journal commended Ortega's "charismatic performance" and called the series "often delightful, despite its deliberate darkness".[108] In his "B"-review for The Detroit News, Tom Long deemed the series visually appealing and described Ortega's deadpan as "just as elastic as it needed to be" and her performance overall as "consistently [pushing] outside the caricature enough to keep things lively".[109] Writing for RogerEbert.com, Cristina Escobar similarly praised Ortega's deadpan humor and commended the series' "satisfactory" ending.[110] While finding that the series would not be "what real fans of Charles Addams and his characters are looking for", Mike Hale of The New York Times called the series "tolerable" despite "satisfying only on the level of formulaic teenage romance and mystery" and compared it to the Harry Potter franchise.[111] Commenting on its tone, Jesse Hassenger of TheWrap described the four episodes directed by Burton as feeling more like Veronica Mars than Sleepy Hollow.[112] Nick Hilton of The Independent gave the series two out of five stars and criticized the series's tone as "relentlessly quippy Gen Z" and its performances as "more two-dimensional than the New Yorker comic strip in which the characters first appeared".[113]
Season 2
For the second season, Rotten Tomatoes gave an 87% approval rating, based on 92 reviews. The website's critics consensus states, "Wednesday's second season smartly opens up to include more of the whole Addams clan, backing up Jenna Ortega's lovably heartless teenager with an ookier and spookier ensemble."[105] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable".[106]
Lili Loofbourow of The Washington Post said Wednesday's second season is "tonally darker than its predecessors, and that sometimes feels like a drag on the show, especially when it veers away from the silly high school antics (such as the notorious dance sequence in Season 1). The spin-off suffers from some of the same conceptual instability that plagued the original films, but the latter, being comedies, managed their contradictions with hand-wavy humor."[114]
Queerbaiting allegations
Wednesday has been repeatedly accused of queerbaiting.[115][116][117][118] Many fans have interpreted Wednesday's close friendship and moments of emotional intimacy with Enid Sinclair as suggestive of a romantic subtext; this popular ship has been dubbed "Wenclair". Despite the popularity of such shipping, show's writers have stated that there are no plans for a romantic relationship between the two characters.[119][120]
Tom Turnbull, Kent Johnson, Jesse Kawzenuk, Oana Bardan, Craig Calvert, Ed Englander, John Coldrick, Brodie McNeill, and Jason Troughton (for "A Murder Of Woes")
Following the release of Wednesday, Wednesday Addams's dance from the series and its fan recreations to Lady Gaga's song "Bloody Mary" went viral on video sharing service TikTok,[147] with Kim Kardashian, Amelia Dimoldenberg, Marina Diamandis, Madonna and Gaga herself also participating in the trend.[148][149][150] This resulted in a large increase in plays of the song on Spotify[151] and on-demand streams in the United States, surging by 415 percent in the week after the series's release.[152] Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva recreated the dance during a December 2022 competition.[153] Earlier that same month, "Bloody Mary" was sent to French radio as a single, 11 years after the release of Born This Way, the album it was featured on.[154] The 1981 song "Goo Goo Muck" by the Cramps, which plays during the original dance scene, also saw a surge in popularity. According to Billboard, on-demand streams of the song in the United States increased from 2,500 to over 134,000,[155] and Spotify streams increased by 9,500 percent since the series was released.[156] Janelle Zara of The Guardian stated that the viral dance trend "may have single-handedly revived Gothic subculture for Gen Z".[157]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
