Wednesday is a Netflix supernatural comedy horror television series based on the character Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family. The Addams Family is a fictional family created by cartoonist Charles Addams that originally appeared in a series of 150 unrelated single-panel cartoons in 1938. They have since been adapted to other media, such as television, film, video games, comic books, a musical, and merchandise. They were originally published in The New Yorker over a 50-year period from their inception.
The Addams Family are an odd wealthy aristocratic clan who delight in the macabre and are seemingly unaware or unconcerned that other people find them bizarre or frightening. They consist of the Gomez and Morticia Addams, son Pugsley, daughter Wednesday, Uncle Fester, Grandmama, butler Lurch, and the disembodied hand helper, Thing. We often saw Pugsley’s pet octopus, Aristotle, Gomez’s Cousin Itt, Morticia’s pet lion Kitty Kat and her man-eating plant Cleopatra, Green of the Nile.
The TV series stars Jenna Ortega as Wednesday who is sent to Nevermore Acadamy (where her Mom and Dad went) after being expelled from high school after dumping live piranhas into the school’s pool while the boys’ water polo team is practicing in retaliation for the team bullying her brother Pugsley.
The only person who gets to torture my brother is me.
Wednesday Addams
While attending Nevermore Academy, Wednesday Addams attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a killing spree by a weird monster, write her novel, and solve the mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago, all while being forced to see a therapist. She has some help from other students and Thing, who her parents left to help her out.
I know I’m stubborn, single-minded, and obsessive. But those are all traits of great writers… And serial killers.
Wednesday Addams
I don’t need your help or your pity. I already have a mother and a therapist. That’s enough torture, even for me.
Wednesday Addams
Cast
- Ortega, Jenna as Wednesday Addams – (born September 27, 2002) Iron Man 3, Insidious: Chapter 2, The Babysitter: Killer Queen, Scream, Scream 6, TV episodes of CSI: NY, Days of Our Lives, Richie Rich, Stuck in the Middle, Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous, Wednesday
- Varadi, Karina as young Wednesday – TV episodes of Wednesday
- Christie, Gwendoline as Larissa Weems – (born 28 October 1978) The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Zero Theorem, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, The Personal History of David Copperfield, TV episodes ofGame of Thrones (Brienne of Tarth), Wizards vs Aliens, Star Wars Resistance, The Sandman, Wednesday
- Wickham, Oliver as young Larissa Weems – TV episodes of Wednesday
- Lindhome, Riki as Dr. Valerie Kinbott – (born March 5, 1979) Million Dollar Baby, Pulse, Changeling, My Best Friend’s Girl, The Last House on the Left, Powder Blue, Much Ado About Nothing, Fun Size, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, The Lego Batman Movie, Knives Out, TV episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Big Bang Theory, Bones, Criminal Minds, Nip/Tuck, House, Enlightened, New Girl, Monsters vs. Aliens, House of Lies, Modern Family, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Wednesday
- McShane, Jamie as Donovan Galpin – Hostage, Today You Die, Gridiron Gang, Mr. Brooks, Pride and Glory, Thor, The Avengers, Argo, TV episodes of Angel, Six Feet Under, Becker, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The X-Files, Alias, Firefly, Tremors, ER, Monk, Nip/Tuck, 24, Deadwood, Dragnet, The West Wing, Cold Case, Numb3rs, Criminal Minds, Sons of Anarchy, House, NCIS, Castle, Breaking Bad, CSI: NY, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Star Trek: Picard, Seal Team, CSI: Vegas, Wednesday
- Wilson, Ben as young Donovan Galpin – TV episodes of Wednesday
- Doohan, Hunter as Tyler Galpin – (Born January 19, 1994) TV episodes of Westworld, Cagney and Lacey, Wednesday
- White, Percy Hynes as Xavier Thorpe – (born October 8, 2001) Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, TV episodes of Saving Hope, The Twilight Zone, Wednesday
- Myers, Emma as Enid Sinclair – (born 2 April 2002) TV episodes of Wednesday
- Sunday, Joy as Bianca Barclay – TV episodes of MacGyver, Wednesday
- Farmer, Georgie as Ajax Petropolus – Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, TV episodes of Wednesday
- Ogawa, Naomi J. as Yoko Tanaka – TV episodes of Wednesday
- Ricci, Christina as Marilyn Thornhill – (born February 12, 1980) Mermaids, The Addams Family, Addams Family Values, Casper, Now and Then, Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain, Little Red Riding Hood, That Darn Cat, The Ice Storm, The Opposite of Sex, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Sleepy Hollow, The Man Who Cried, Miranda, Monster, Cursed, Black Snake Moan, Speed Racer, Alpha and Omega, The Smurfs 2, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, The Matrix Resurrections, Monstrous, TV episodes of The Laramie Project, Malcolm in the Middle, Ally McBeal, Joey, Grey’s Anatomy, Saving Grace, The Good Wife, Wednesday
- Mostafa, Moosa as Eugene Otinger – TV episodes of Wednesday
- Dorobantu, Victor as Thing – (born March 5, 1997) a magician TV episodes of Wednesday
- Lewis-Nyawo, Luyanda Unati as Ritchie Santiago – TV episodes of Wednesday
- Marson, Iman as Lucas Walker – TV episodes of Wednesday
- Jenkins, Tommie Earl as Noble Walker – Patriot Games, The Bourne Identity, Reign of Fire, Agent Cody Banks, TV episodes of Galavant, Roots: A New Vision, Roots: A History Revealed, Shooter, Law & Order True Crime, General Hospital, Wednesday, Star Trek: Prodigy
- Kesu, Ismail as young Noble Walker – TV episodes of Wednesday
- Ordonez, Isaac as Pugsley Addams – A Wrinkle in Time, TV episodes of Wednesday
- Zeta-Jones, Catherine as Morticia Addams – (born September 25, 1969) The Mask of Zorro, The Haunting, High Fidelity, Chicago, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, The Terminal, Ocean’s Twelve, The Legend of Zorro, Rock of Ages, Red 2, TV episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Wednesday, National Treasure: Edge of History
- Jones, Gwen as young Morticia Addams – TV episodes of Wednesday
- Guzmán, Luis as Gomez Addams – (born August 28, 1956) *batteries not included, Crocodile Dundee II, True Believer, Black Rain, The Hard Way, McBain, Boogie Nights, Out of Sight, Snake Eyes, One Tough Cop, The Bone Collector, The Count of Monte Cristo, Welcome to Collinwood, Anger Management, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, War, Cleaner, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Yes Man, Old Dogs, Arthur, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, The Last Stand, Turbo, Don Quixote: The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha, TV episodes of The Equalizer, Miami Vice, Hunter, Law & Order, Walker, Texas Ranger, NYPD Blue, seaQuest DSV, OZ, Frasier, Wednesday
- Hoyos, Lucius as young Gomez Addams – TV episodes of Paw Patrol, Little Charmers, Heroes Reborn, Between, Wednesday
- Burcea, George as Lurch – (born January 15, 1988) – a Romanian film and theater actor TV episodes of Wednesday
- Houston, William as Joseph Crackstone – (born 19 July 1968) The Odyssey, North and South, Sherlock Holmes, Clash of the Titans, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Dracula Untold, Brimstone, TV episodes of Wednesday
- Ross, Calum as Rowan Laslow – TV episodes of Wednesday
- Armisen, Fred as Uncle Fester – (born December 4, 1966) Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, Cop Out, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Zoolander 2, The Lego Ninjago Movie, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, Clerks III,TV episodes of Saturday Night Live, Crank Yankers, 30 Rock, The Sarah Silverman Program, Parks and Recreation, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Modern Family, The Jim Gaffigan Show, Robot Chicken, The Last Man on Earth, The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show, Wednesday
The series is 8 episodes, four of which are directed by Tim Burton (Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows, Big Eyes, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Dumbo), who also serves as executive producer.
Use the words ‘little’ and ‘girl’ to address me again and I can’t guarantee your safety.
Wednesday Addams
Wednesday was created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Spider-Man 2, Herbie: Fully Loaded, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Hannah Montana: The Movie, I Am Number Four, Smallville). 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.
Jenna Ortega actually auditioned for the role of Wednesday while filming the horror movie “X” in Wellington, New Zealand. Right after shooting her death scene for the film, the actor hopped on a Zoom call with “Wednesday” executive producer and director Tim Burton. Although Christina Ricci previously played Wednesday in two films in the 1990s, Ortega never once spoke to Ricci about the role while they were on set together.
So I had stage blood and glycerin sweat in my hair and a massive cut on my face and had been up for over 24 hours. I got on the Zoom and he actually laughed. It made me laugh. I thought it was endearing.
Jenna Ortega
Jenna Ortega is amazing. She is so brave, so cool, and really doing the part justice. Wednesday is her part now.
Christina Ricci
Per Variety, Wednesday is the new record holder for the most hours viewed in a week for an English-language TV series on Netflix. Stranger Things Season 4 previously held the record with 335.01 million hours viewed, while Wednesday totaled 341.2 million hours.
Further Reading
Sources
Wikipedia
IMDB
Rotten Tomatoes
Instagram
Insider
Seventeen
Buzzfeed
