The funny and the macabre might seem like an odd combination, but Tim Burton built his career on putting the two genres together. The Netflix series that focuses most of the story and plot on the oldest daughter, Wednesday Addams, is his production, and fans are looking forward to seeing more from the same director and writer that brought us Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands.

Related: The Addams Family: Best Versions Of Wednesday, Ranked

The series, which is classified as an Addams Family spinoff, is entitled Wednesday and it follows the adventures of the oldest Addams child as she attends a posh boarding school that fits her dark demeanor. In the black-and-white sitcom and the comics, she's younger than Pugsley, but in more recent adaptations, including the 1990s live-action movies and the animated cartoons, she's depicted as the oldest. Despite the popularity of this character, who has been a fan favorite for most of the existence of the franchise, there's still a lot that people don't know about the brooding character of Wednesday Addams.

Updated on January 1, 2023 by Kristy Ambrose: It didn't surprise anyone that a series by Tim Burton Productions with a musical score by Danny Elfman was a hit with audiences and critics. The show was outranked only by The Witcher and season four of Stranger Things.

Jenna Ortega impressed viewers as the titular character and is nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Wednesday was successful enough to ensure a season 2 will be forthcoming and preparation for future episodes has already begun. That means more fun facts about everyone's favorite Goth girl, Wednesday Addams.

10 "Wednesday's Child"

Wednesday The Addams Family Chloe Moretz (2019-2021) Animated The Addams Family 1 & 2

There's an old poem filed under "Nursery Rhymes" that gives an attribute to every child depending on the day of the week on which they were born. A few different versions exist, but most of them agree that "Wednesday's child is full of woe." Morticia quotes this line to the headmistress of the school during the family visit to the campus, making this less of an obscure fact and more like pub night trivia.

It really is the perfect name for an Addams, but Wednesday also has a middle name, Friday. It's funny to have two days of the week in there, but what happened to Thursday? It's probably better not to ask. And Friday's child is "giving and loving" in the poem, which doesn't sound very Addams-like. As it would be with this family, uncovering the answer to one question just leads to two or three new mysteries.

9 Her Favorite Toy

Wednesday-Addams fav toy

In the 1960s sitcom, Wednesday had a favorite toy, a headless doll. It wasn't always headless, but it ended up that way after she and Pugsley had played with the guillotine, one of the usual home appliances the Addams Family had laying around.

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This was an interesting play on the old sibling rivalry trope of "my brother ripped my doll's head off." The kids play the game again in the 1990s films, and the doll still appears along with the new baby in the family, Pubert.

8 Has Superhuman Strength

Wednesday Addams Family Jenna Ortega Netflix portrayal

This is a fun fact about Wednesday Addams that fans of the sitcom know, and even then, only the ones that were paying close attention. Viewers got to see Wednesday throw Gomez in what looks like a judo move, which makes sense because we see he and Fester engaged in the same horseplay most of the time.

The audience sees a lot of physical humor when it comes to certain characters, especially Gomez and Fester in the live-action reboots of the 1990s. Whether or not there are any similar feats in the Tim Burton adaptation of the show remains to be seen, but the story so far has focused more on Wednesday's psychic abilities than her fighting stance.

7 Aspired To Be A Ballerina

wednesday dancing split image lurch black and white ballerina

Everyone lost their minds over that fantastic dance scene, but it wasn't just the hot moves. That black dress with the trim that recalled a ballerina's tutu wasn't a mere coincidence. In the classic sitcom, Wednesday Addams dreamed of being a ballerina. In one iconic scene, she teaches Lurch a few moves, and he's donned the tights and all to make sure he gets it right.

The old episode is entitled, "Lurch Learns To Dance" and it first aired in 1964. Almost 60 years later there's another dance scene with Wednesday and her favorite monster, although it wasn't Lurch this time.

6 Raises Spiders

wednesday Cropped (1)

A fun fact about Wednesday Addams from the vintage show that hasn't seen much of a revisit is that one of Wednesday's favorite hobbies is raising spiders. She even had a favorite that she named Homer, perhaps a reference to the classical poet known for his tragic stories of the Trojan War and its aftermath.

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In the 1960s that might have seemed strange, but in the modern era, a child that collects insects, lizards, or arachnids isn't weird at all. That might be the reason Homer and his peers have been left out of later versions but his name lives on in the Latin American translation of the show as the localization of Gomez.

5 Appeared In A Scooby-Doo Crossover

addams family scooby doo crossover

It was a different time when crossovers weren't the cliche they are now. Hanna Barbara made a whole bunch of cartoons, and they lived in the same universe, so it wasn't weird at all when those meddling kids ended up in the Addams Family foyer.

They aren't even solving mysteries, at least at first, but house-sitting for their neighbors and co-workers, making this a creative attempt at an early fourth-wall break. Once Wednesday goes missing, however, it's time for the kids in the Mystery Bus to do what they do best. The last two episodes of Wednesday were a similar "if it weren't for those meddling kids" plotline.

4 Merlina

Wednesday and Enid

Localization is an interesting trend for viewers who are interested in how other cultures or languages would translate a TV show differently than others. For example, in the European Spanish version of the show, Wednesday's name is a simple, direct translation, Miercoles.

In Latin America, however, she was named Merlina, perhaps because they wanted to put more emphasis on her connection with the occult. She isn't the only character who got a similar treatment in the continental version. Thing was changed to "Fingers," Lurch became "Long" and Gomez is "Homero."

3 Has Psychic Powers

Wednesday The Addams Family Nicole Fugere (1998-1999) Addams Family Reunion and The New Addams Family

In the 1994 movie, Addams Family Values, the moment that Uncle Fester gets engaged to the murderous Debbie, Wednesday wakes in her Camp Chippewa bed as if from a nightmare. This is one of the hints at her psychic powers. The more mature version of Wednesday in the 1977 television special, Halloween with the New Addams Family, also had psychic powers.

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It's never been more than referenced or used as a convenient plot device, but the new series changed that. One of the main reasons that Wednesday is attending the Nevermore Academy is to learn more about her psychic abilities.

2 The Bermuda Triangle

Addams Family Best Dance Scenes In The Franchise Fester and Gomez Mamushka 1991

The Addams Family seems to have many fond memories of the Bermuda Triangle. Gomez and Morticia took their second honeymoon there, for example. However, none of them have studied the area to the extent that Wednesday has, with the possible exception being her own Uncle Fester.

Wednesday's interest in the Bermuda Triangle wasn't just a convenient invention to tie in with the plot of the 1991 movie. It's also a part of her character in the live-action series The New Addams Family that aired in the late 1990s.

1 Nevermore Is The New Hogwarts

Nevermore_Academy_Wednesday Addams

There are all kinds of witching and wizarding schools out there despite a certain famous one getting most of the attention. One of these is the Nevermore Academy, and it caters to families with similar values as the Addams Family along with those that have genetic leanings towards supernatural beings like werewolves and gorgons.

The name is a reference to the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe, and it looks like a dark and depressing place. Wednesday's Gothic-revival look fits into this environment perfectly, which is why the story relies on Wednesday's deduction skills as opposed to the "fish out of water" trope on which Burton so often relies.

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