About Wednesday Season 1 – TV Series

Wednesday Season 1

Wednesday is an American coming-of-age supernatural comedy horror television series based on the character Wednesday Addams by Charles Addams. Created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, it stars Jenna Ortega as the titular character, with Gwendoline Christie, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Hunter Doohan, Percy Hynes White, Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Georgie Farmer, Naomi J. Ogawa, Christina Ricci, and Moosa Mostafa appearing in supporting roles. Four out of the eight episodes of the first season were directed by Tim Burton, who also serves as executive producer. It revolves around Wednesday Addams, who attempts to solve a murder mystery at her new school.

Burton was previously approached to direct the 1991 film The Addams Family and was involved with a cancelled stop-motion animated The Addams Family film. 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 the titular character in the 1991 film and its 1993 sequel Addams Family Values, was asked by Burton to join the series in a supporting role. Filming took place in Romania between September 2021 and March 2022.

Wednesday premiered on November 16, 2022, and was released on Netflix on November 23 to predominantly positive reviews from critics, who praised Ortega’s performance. Within three weeks of release, it became the second-most watched English-language Netflix series. It received two Golden Globe nominations: Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for Ortega. It also received Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. In January 2023, the series was renewed for a second season.

Wednesday

STORY

Episodes 01

“Wednesday’s Child Is Full of Woe”

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 expulsion. 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 duels with Bianca, the popular girl, 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 coffee 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 the monster.

Episodes 02

“Woe Is the Loneliest Number”

Wednesday convinces a skeptical Sheriff Galpin that the perpetrator of the murders is in fact 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, Weems grows worried about Wednesday’s visions, keeping 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.

Episodes 03

“Friend or Woe”

Wednesday finds herself tied up and surrounded by members of an elite students’ society, including Bianca and Xavier. Wednesday frees herself and leaves the library, taking one of the books with her. Weems orders Wednesday to play in the school’s band at an upcoming town ceremony run by Mayor Noble Walker. A drawing in the 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—ready to be executed by Joseph Crackstone, the town’s founder who is intent on killing all outcasts, but the girl is able to escape. Wednesday is ambushed by the monster, which she discovers to be human. Back in town, Wednesday crashes 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.

Episodes 04

“Woe What a Night”

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 lair. 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 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.

Episodes 05

“You Reap What You Woe”

32 years earlier, Gomez Addams was 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 actually killed Gates. Wednesday and Morticia dig up Gates’s grave to find that he had been lethally poisoned before he was killed, but are caught by police and arrested for the night. Later, they confront Mayor Walker, who reveals that Garrett intended to poison the entire school due to his father’s hate for outcasts. Mayor Walker agrees to release Gomez after admitting to covering up Gates’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.

Episodes 06

“Quid Pro Woe”

Wednesday attempts to summon Goody, 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 as he is 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 discover 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. At Nevermore, Wednesday convinces Weems not to expel her in order to further pursue her investigation. At the hospital, an unknown figure kills Mayor Walker.

Episodes 07

“If You Don’t Woe Me by Now”

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 hidden library which reveals that a Hyde must always have a master. Later, they track and follow Xavier, who they witness meeting up with Dr. Kinbott, Wednesday’s therapist, in the forest. After returning from a 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 Kinbott is killed by the Hyde. Police arrive to arrest Xavier, who 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.

Episodes 08

“A Murder of Woes”

Wednesday and her classmates kidnap Tyler, and Wednesday tortures him to try to make him confess. Disagreeing with her methods, her classmates alert Principal Weems, and Wednesday is arrested. At the police station, Tyler secretly confesses to Wednesday that he is the monster. Fed up with Wednesday’s behavior, Weems expels her from Nevermore. Wednesday visits Eugene at the hospital, whose description of the figure he saw at the monster’s cave matches Ms. Thornhill, a teacher at Nevermore. Weems, disguised as Tyler, and Wednesday get Thornhill to confess that she is Laurel Gates and manipulated Tyler into killing the victims as part of her scheme to resurrect Joseph Crackstone and wipe out all outcasts. However, Gates kills Weems and subdues Wednesday. Using Wednesday’s blood, Gates resurrects Crackstone and leaves Wednesday to die, but Goody appears and heals her. Enid, having transformed into her werewolf form, defeats Tyler in his Hyde form while Crackstone breaches Nevermore. With help from Bianca, Wednesday destroys Crackstone, and Eugene helps defeat Gates. Xavier is released from prison, Tyler is detained, and Wednesday departs Nevermore, which is closing for the remainder of the semester.

CAST

Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams, a teenager who possesses psychic powers. She is sent to Nevermore Academy for causing mischief at several other schools. Ortega also plays Goody Addams, Wednesday’s deceased ancestor from the 1600s, whom Wednesday sees in visions of the past.
- Karina Váradi portrays a young Wednesday
Gwendoline Christie as Larissa Weems, the shapeshifting principal of Nevermore Academy and a former student who was Morticia Addams’s roommate
- Oliver Wickham portrays a young Larissa Weems
Riki Lindhome as Dr. Valerie Kinbott, Wednesday’s court-ordered therapist from the local town, Jericho
Jamie McShane as Donovan Galpin, Jericho’s sheriff who is suspicious of Nevermore Academy and Wednesday specifically
- Ben Wilson portrays a young Donovan Galpin
Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin, a barista at a local coffee shop and Sheriff Galpin’s son who has a romantic interest in Wednesday
Percy Hynes White as Xavier Thorpe, a student of Nevermore Academy who has the ability to make his art come to life
Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair, Wednesday’s colorful werewolf roommate at Nevermore Academy who attempts to become her friend despite Wednesday’s lack of interest
Joy Sunday as Bianca Barclay, a successful siren student at Nevermore Academy and Xavier’s ex-girlfriend
Georgie Farmer as Ajax Petropolus, a gorgon student at Nevermore Academy who is Enid’s crush
Naomi J. Ogawa as Yoko Tanaka, a vampire student at Nevermore Academy
Moosa Mostafa as Eugene Ottinger, a student at Nevermore Academy who has the ability to control bees
Christina Ricci as Marilyn Thornhill / Laurel Gates, the botany teacher at Nevermore Academy and dorm mother of Wednesday and Enid.

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 and Batman Returns, resulting in Barry Sonnenfeld taking the job. In March 2010, it was announced that Illumination Entertainment had acquired the underlying rights to the Addams Family drawings. 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. In July 2013, it was reported that the film was cancelled, which, according to Burton, was due to the studio favoring a computer-animated approach over the stop-motion technique.

Showrunners Miles Millar and Alfred Gough started developing story ideas in 2019. They subsequently acquired the rights to the intellectual property before writing a pilot script, which they sent to Burton. To their surprise, Burton immediately became interested upon receiving the script. 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.” Millar stated that it was “very important” to the creative team not to emulate the prior films and 1964 television series. Millar and Gough decided to make the juxtaposition of “outcasts” and “normies”, as well as criticism of colonial Americans, major themes in the series.

In October 2020, Wednesday was initially announced as an unnamed Addams Family project being helmed by Burton. The series’s production would be handled by Amazon 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. In February 2021, Netflix gave the production a series order consisting of eight episodes. 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. Deemed his “first real foray into television”, Burton directed four out of the eight episodes, with Gandja Monteiro and James Marshall directing the remaining episodes. Burton brought on regular collaborator Colleen Atwood as costume designer.

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. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gough and Millar stated that the second season would expand upon the friendship between Wednesday and Enid while also evolving Wednesday’s relationship with her mother, Morticia. Ortega stated that the season would “lean into the horror aspect” while “ditching any romantic love interest for Wednesday”. Preparations for a second season commenced in December 2022, following Amazon’s acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In January 2023, the series was renewed for a second season, with Ortega now also serving as producer.