Tim Burton’s new Netflix series Wednesday, released on November 23, has already become a popular addition to The Addams Family legacy. Based on cartoon characters from the 1930s, The Addams Family franchise has spanned decades and remains one of the most beloved big screen families in pop culture.
Wednesday follows the Addams’ eldest child as she attends a school for outcasts called Nevermore Academy. Throughout her time at the school, Wednesday slowly uncovers a mystery that involves her, her family, and the centuries old conflict between Outcasts and Normies. The show is full of nods to the iconic Addams Family legacy and successfully updates it for the modern era.
13 Black And White
In the new series, Wednesday’s gothic aesthetic is a curiosity for the other students of Nevermore. In the first episode, as Wednesday receives a tour of the school in her custom grayscale uniform, Ajax the gorgon says: “Woah, you’re in black and white”.
Later in the episode Bianca, the school’s most popular siren, accepts Wednesday’s challenge to fence without protective gear. They agree to fight to first blood and Bianca says: “Let’s see if you bleed in black and white”. These lines are a nod to the 1964 black and white TV adaptation of the franchise which kick-started the popularity of The Addams Family on the big screen.
12 Ophelia Hall
Wednesday is full of cameos and mentions of extended Addams Family members, but one that devoted fans will recognize lies in the name of the dorm room Wednesday is placed in. Ophelia Frump, sister of Morticia Addams, appeared in the original comics, the black and white TV adaption, as well as the animated 2019 movie.
In a nod to the Shakespeare character she shares a name with, Ophelia is often portrayed as a blonde woman with braided, flower-adorned hair. Wednesday also references the drowned princess when she’s told the name of her room.
11 Wednesday’s Child Is Full Of Woe
The title of the first episode, as well as a quote from Morticia, serves as a nod to the origin of Wednesday’s name. When the Addams Family characters were originally created in The New Yorker cartoon, none of them had names.
However, when the sitcom adaption was made, comic creator Charles Addams took inspiration for Wednesday’s name from a popular nursery rhyme from 1838. “Wednesday’s child is full of woe” is the third line of this poem and perfectly encapsulates Wednesday’s grim and ghoulish demeanor.
10 Christina Ricci Joining The Cast
True fans of The Addams Family will immediately recognize Christina Ricci as the actress who played Wednesday in the 1991 and 1993 movie adaptions. Ricci’s Wednesday is undoubtedly one of the most iconic portrayals due to her deadpan delivery of some truly macabre lines.
In the 2022 Netflix series Wednesday, Ricci plays a character named Marilyn Thornhill. Thornhill teaches herbology at Nevermore Academy and is Wednesday’s dorm mom. Thornhill is also the first normal teacher to be allowed into the school.
9 Creepy Crawly Pets
In the first episode of Wednesday, viewers are shown a flashback to when Wednesday lost her pet scorpion, Nero.
While Nero doesn’t feature in other adaptions of The Addams Family, this isn’t the first time fans have seen Wednesday caring for a creepy crawly creature named after a famous figure from ancient history. In the original TV sitcom, Wednesday raises pet spiders as a hobby and has a favorite named Homer.
8 Apple Shot
One of the harder to spot pastimes Wednesday has throughout the franchise’s history is shooting apples with her crossbow. Whether they be in Pugsley’s mouth in the 1991 movie or on her love interest's head in the Broadway musical, dedicated Addams Family fans will know that Wednesday enjoys recreating the famous William Tell moment.
In the new Netflix series, creators pay homage to this pastime when Wednesday has an archery lesson and she hits a bullseye, right through an apple she throws in the air.
7 They’re Creepy And They’re Kooky
The Addams Family franchise has many memorable recurring motifs, but none more so than the iconic theme song of the 1964 show. Featuring a jaunty harpsichord arrangement and lyrics that describe their spooky nature, the theme has been included in many subsequent reboots of the family.
In Wednesday there are several small nods to the theme, one of which occurs in an exchange between Wednesday and the son of Jericho’s sheriff, Tyler. Tyler says to Wednesday: “You’re not scary, you’re just kind of kooky”. To which Wednesday replies: “I prefer spooky”.
6 Snap Twice
Another nod to the iconic Addams Family theme comes from a secret code used by an underground society at Nevermore Academy. The Nightshades are an exclusive club at the school whose past members include much of Wednesday’s family.
In order to access the Nightshade’s secret library, a riddle must be solved in the book of a statue of Edgar Allen Poe. The solution of this riddle reveals the code: snap twice. The double snap is an iconic part of the original sitcom theme and is recognizable to Addams fans everywhere.
5 Pilgrim Foes
A big theme in the Wednesday Netflix series is the Pilgrim history of Jericho, the town near which Nevermore Academy is situated. Viewers are shown throughout the series that these Pilgrims, and their descendants, have never been kind to society’s outcasts.
However, this isn’t the first time Wednesday has stood opposite Pilgrim enemies. In the fan favorite 1993 film Addams Family Values Wednesday faces off with the Pilgrims in the Thanksgiving play put on at her summer camp, Camp Chippewa. In the play, Wednesday is Pocahontas and threatens to burn the Pilgrim village to the ground.
4 Lurch’s Line
Though he is a man of few words, Lurch is a key part of the whole Addams Family group. Serving as their butler, Lurch is the first face that outsiders see when they enter the Addams’ house. In the original sitcom Lurch often greets guests with a guttural: “You rang?”
In Wednesday, Lurch himself doesn’t repeat the line but another character, Tyler, does. In the third episode, when Wednesday rings a bell at the cafe where he works, Tyler appears and repeats the iconic line in a less guttural but just as quizzical tone.
3 Decapitated Dolls
Throughout the entire Addams Family franchise, one of Wednesday’s iconic characteristics is her love of decapitated dolls. Whether she cuts off their head herself or asks one of her family members to do it, there is rarely an adaptation that doesn’t include this key detail.
Wednesday is no different, but this habit is revealed through dialogue. When helping Tyler fix the espresso machine the first episode, Wednesday reveals she is familiar with its workings as she made a steam-powered guillotine when she was ten. Her reason for doing this: “I wanted to decapitate my dolls more efficiently”.
2 Girl Scouts
One memorable scene from the 1991 film is when Wednesday and Pugsley are selling lemonade from a stand outside the motel they’re staying in. When a Girl Scout comes by and offers to buy a cup in exchange for the Addams siblings buying a box of her cookies, Wednesday asks if the cookies are made from real Girl Scouts.
Netflix new series makes a small, easily missed nod to this scene in episode three when Wednesday says: “I could eat Girl Scouts for breakfast”.
1 Reunion Reference
With five feature films and four other television adaptations, there is plenty of Addams Family content out there that Wednesday could reference. One of the lesser known films in the franchise is Addams Family Reunion. This movie, released in 1998, receives a small mention in the new series.
In episode five, Wednesday and Morticia are caught by the sheriff’s deputy when they are grave digging for evidence to an old crime Gomez is believed to have committed. When Deputy Santiago arrests them she says: “Guess there’s going to be an Addams family reunion in lockup tonight.”
Wednesday is available to watch on Netflix