Wednesday Seasons 1 and 2
Less Creepy and Kooky and More Macabre and Mysterious
Da da da daaaa snap snap
I probably don’t need to sing the rest of the theme song. It’s ubiquitous to the Addams Family, and whenever someone hums the opening ditty and snaps their fingers twice, most people understand that we’re talking about the Addams Family. This particular family had been a popular mainstay of pop culture for a little over 80 years at this point, first drawn by Charles Addams for The New Yorker and serving as a hilarious subversion of the culture of the time.
Since then, the Addams Family has starred in various television shows, comic books (including reprints of the original 150 Charles Addams comics), video games, music, Broadway shows, and movies, with each well-received and some still held in high regard today.
“Wednesday” is another entry into the Addams Family franchise, and is a show that stars the titular character, Wednesday Addams, as a teenager who tries to survive Nevermore Academy while balancing her unwanted social life, several mysteries, and her relationship with her family – most notably her mother, Morticia.
The show debuted on November 16th, 2022, and became one of the most-watched Netflix shows in its history, winning several awards along the way. The show’s second season debuted its first half on August 6th, 2025, and the second half was released on September 3rd, 2025, and a renewed third season was announced soon after.
Since its first run, the show has developed a following and helped to increase interest in other Addams Family properties. It’s been lauded as one of the best Addams Family interpretations since the ’90s movies (“The Addams Family” and “The Addams Family Values,” respectively), and some have even said that this show is responsible not only for expanding the lore of the Addams but also for creating new, modern canon.
Yet is the show really that good, or was it only perceived as such because it was the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, when most people were still dealing with lockdowns, travel restrictions, and more?
Well, that’s the goal of this review: to cover casting choices, music, and cinematography, and to include my personal thoughts at the end. Stick around and see if it’s something that might interest you, especially if you’ve not seen it yet, plan to rewatch it for a refresher, or want to hear another person’s perspective.
As with most of my reviews, I aim to keep this one spoiler-free while discussing what the show is about and what might interest or turn off viewers, and I’ll add my own subjective opinions at the end. Let’s get started!
Casting and Crew
When it comes to the actors, a lot of them did exceptionally well. Jenna Ortega deserves all the praise that she gets for playing Wednesday Addams, as she not only nailed the looks perfectly, but also that attitude. Her performance closely mirrors the character’s evolution since the ’90s, when Christina Ricci played the role. While her monotone deliveries and one-liners can be grating at times (more on that in my personal opinions section), they are funny when they land and play off the other characters. However, I do find it best when she’s being more sarcastic.
Some viewers might not like how this interpretation of Wednesday Addams seems good at almost everything, and early Season 1 suffers from hyping the character’s abilities and intelligence in the first half. In the first few episodes, she’s not only amazing at fixing machines, sword fighting, cello, and language, but she’s also amazing at kung fu, potion-making, and improvisation. It makes sense for a loner character whose family centers on various skills to be… well… a jack of all trades, but this leaves little room for her to be shown up and develop when she’s better than her peers in many areas.
Though there were a few instances when she tried to show off to some of her classmates, she got a reality check that she’s not as good as she thought she was, which surprisingly paid off later.
As mentioned, Christina Ricci played Wednesday in the 90s films and set the standard for how the character has been portrayed since, and she appears in “Wednesday” as the Botany teacher and Dorm Mother. Early on, her role isn’t all that expansive, but it does get better after the season one midpoint. Her role as Marilyn Thornhill is a fun contrast, as the character is vivacious, inquisitive, and nerdy —everything Wednesday is not.
Though speaking of Wednesday’s opposites, Emma Myers plays Enid Sinclair, who is Wednesday’s werewolf roommate while at Nevermore, as well as her ‘best friend’ (or closest approximation to what the character would call a friend). There’s really not much to say other than she’s a fan favorite for a reason, and Emma Myers plays her exceptionally well. Cheerful, bubbly, and outgoing, she’s a saccharine foil to Wednesday’s gloominess, and whereas Wednesday is sarcastic and sardonic, Enid is generally honest and emotional.
Now, there was some controversy when Luis Guzman was announced to play Gomez Addams. Some claimed it was because Guzman’s performances tended to be a little more subdued than required to play Gomez, but a lot of the critique, unfortunately, fell to his appearance. It’s clear that Raul Julia’s portrayal of Gomez Addams still garners a lot of love, and while he lacks John Astin’s quick wittedness to quip in any dialogue seamlessly, Luis Guzman does a good job. In fact, his line delivery – especially when he jumps from Spanish to French, to Italian, and back to Spanish – is hilarious, especially when he has screentime with Morticia and Pugsley.
Yes, he doesn’t have Astin’s screen charisma or Julia’s energy, but what he does bring is a solid performance. Plus, out of all the actors who have portrayed him with a real-life adaptation, he looks closest to the original Charles Addams comics of the 30s. He’s short, squat, and looks like a bit of a goblin, but what Gomez Addams is supposed to have is the heart of a romantic poet, and a deep love for not only his wife, but his children as the patriarch of the Addams family, and Guzman brings that to his performance. In fact, the only real downside of his performance was that he didn’t have any screentime with Uncle Fester, which was the heart of the ’90s movies.
Speaking of Fester, Fred Armisen’s performance of Uncle Fester is a chef’s kiss. While I would have personally loved to see him in more than the handful of scenes we did get him in, it was probably for the best as “Wednesday” is supposed to be a darker take on Addams Family lore, and Fred Armisen is too likable to be caught up in the murder mysteries surrounding his niece. He’s funny, irreverent, and most of what he says is in line with the kookiness and whackiness of older Addams Family interpretations. While he made an excellent foil for the morose Wednesday, he could have overstayed his welcome. Considering how Season 2 ended, let’s at least hope that he’s in for more than an episode in Season 3.
Other than that, though, all of the other actors and actresses do amazingly well. Gwendoline Christie as Principle Weems oozed beauty, charm, and exasperation, Catherine Zeta-Jones makes a lovely Morticia Addams, Isaac Ordonez turns Pugsley Addams into a softer, but no less weird character in Season 2 (and honestly making me wish we saw more of him), and season 2 was full of well casted A-list celebrities such a Steve Buscemi, Christopher Lloyd. and Joanna Lumley.
Naturally, as a Tim Burton-directed show, it would have his signature touch all over it. If you’ve seen one Tim Burton movie or show, you know what to expect. Long shots of fog-filled woods or gothic castles and manors. Characters with dark bags under their eyes, who speak cryptically to one another. Dialogue full of gallows humor, making light of taboo subjects. Monsters, both human and inhuman, that are both dangerous and endearing. Drab colors contrasted against the occasional bright pastel. Instrumental music making use of low baritone strings, and instances of silence where the characters stare either at each other, or out windows, or into the mists. Tensions that build, and then in one moment it’s terrifying enough one cannot look away, and then in the next a joke, followed by a hollow laugh or a smirk.
All of that and more is present here, and while it is somewhat subdued because it’s easier to weave darker moments with more lighthearted moments when you have eight episodes as opposed to 2 hours, it is definitely there. Though some episodes take a bit longer to get that ‘feel’ right, due in large part to the fact that half are also directed by James Marshal, Paco Cabeza, Angela Robinson, and Gandja Monteiro. They do a good job of mimicking that Burton style, but it’s not quite as potent as when he’s directed the episodes.
This might also be due in large part to writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who wrote many—if not all—episodes alongside other writers, as well as the cinematographers and other talented crew members.
Sound and Music
Overall, it was good, but there’s a distinct difference between Season 1 and Season 2’s musical score.
In Season 1, you had a lot of instrumental music that was reminiscent of past Tim Burton-led productions. A lot of reed wind instruments accompanied by heavy, bass-like string instruments that were deep, reverberating, and evocative of some tension and dread hidden beneath the surface. It wasn’t uncommon to go for long pauses in the dialogue, with just the sound of a low, twining cello playing whenever the scene focused on Wednesday and her inner thoughts, or to hear a wood-based song playing in the background when we had scenes surrounding either Jericho or Nevermore.
Of course, a lot of that changed in Season 2. While it did retain much of the Season 1 instrumental music, every other episode introduced an instrumental version of a popular song, or some darker, more melancholic remix that only retained some semblance to the piece it was derived from.
For example, in Episode 3 of Season 2, a remix of “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M. played in the background (no spoilers!) and fit the episode’s theme pretty well. Though there were some that I thought didn’t fit the theme, or felt slightly disrespectful. An example of that would be how in a later episode, there was a piano remix of the Cranberries’ “Zombie” playing in the background during a literal zombie attack, and knowing the history of the song and its connection to the Troubles of Ireland, I felt perhaps they should have gone with a different song… maybe something fun tied to Rob Zombie.
Imagine a piano ballad of “Living Dead Girl“. That would have been funny during a zombie outbreak, but I digress.
Other than that minor critique, the soundtrack and musical choices were excellent, as was to be expected of a Tim Burton production. It was reminiscent of the dark themes that he often toys with, and there were even a few moments in both seasons when you’d hear the familiar refrain of the Addams Family theme song play, usually when the entire family was on screen together.
When it comes to sound, however, what I really love is that they ACTUALLY give proper audio levels to dialogue, background noise, and music. I cannot tell you how annoying it is for many movies and shows now to have dialogue muddled to the point it sounds like I’m listening to characters speak underwater, only for background noise and music levels to be so off that I’m constantly turning the volume level up to listen to characters talk so I can understand what’s going on, only to turn the volume back down so the music doesn’t destroy my speakers.
Instead, they’re both at acceptable levels. Dialogue is spoken crisply and clearly by the characters, and the most significant critique I can give is that they often talk too quickly, with barely any time to pause between responses (a problem I tend to have with most Tim Burton productions). The characters speak in simple, easy-to-understand sentences that really only require a rewatch if you miss some of the world-building. Plus, it often works well with the sound design, particularly in heavily trafficked areas like carnivals, school hallways, or downtown Jericho, or in places that should be silent, such as dorm rooms, vast forests, or old ruins.
So clean sound effects and dialogue, with good music. What more can you like?
You’ll Like This If-
You’re a fan of the Addams Family.
Seriously, there’s a lot of stuff here that will make an Addams Family fan smile. One of the hallmarks of the Addams Family franchise is its malleability and adaptability to the times, allowing it to fit in anywhere, not just around Halloween or when you’re in a spooky but not scary mood.
Think of past iterations and what made them work well in the timeframe of their releases. The 60s sitcom worked well because it bucked the traditional trend of what was considered normal for the time, despite following many sitcom conventions. The 30s comics worked well because the characters broke cultural norms and did things that were unexpected, crazy, or macabre. The 90s movies worked because they bucked the conformity of the religious right’s expectations of what a loving family should look like, and the 2019 animated film continued that tradition. That’s not even mentioning the various comic books, cartoons, and special guest appearances the Addams Family has shown up in over the years as well.
Plus, if you’re a Tim Burton fan… well, it just adds to the charm!
Part of what makes “Wednesday” work well —and why it’s so popular —is the easter eggs that litter the series, as well as the fact that it offers something for people who might not have been into the Addams Family to begin with. It’s a show that could easily work without them starring in it, as the heart of the show is about the murder mystery of season 1 and the family drama of season 2. It’s a dark, mysterious show full of world-building, rewarding eagle-eyed viewers and attentive watchers, while also revealing secrets and more on a second or third watch.
There’s a lot there that’s intriguing and full of lore. I personally was thrown off when, in episode one, a character referred to Wednesday’s first school as a “normie” school, because I’m deep into internet culture and thought it was the regular usage of the word “normie” till it was revealed that in Wednesday’s world, there are two types of people. “Normies” (normal, ordinary people), and “Outcasts” (people with supernatural abilities). From there, the show naturally progresses into its story, while giving you a basic overview of several types of outcasts that are present in Nevermore Academy, and revealing others as the show goes on.
And if world-building and intriguing lore aren’t your thing, you might enjoy the cinematography instead. Other than what I detailed above in its own section, the world of “Wednesday” is dark and gothic, with forests that seem to stretch on forever, distant, fog-tipped mountains in view, and castles that seem almost fairy-tale-like.
Seriously. Nevermore is a constant presence, as it’s where 90% of the story takes place, but the long, winding halls, stony facade, gargoyles, clock towers, and wrought-iron Victorian fencing make it feel like a European castle despite being set in Vermont. There’s plenty of hidden passages, secret libraries, and a few hidden organizations that haunt the halls of Nevermore. In contrast, Jericho is brighter and feels more like your typical small town full of old Americana.
All in all, if you found the reasons listed earlier intriguing, it is worth watching for fans of dark shows, teen drama, and immersive worlds to get lost in.
You’ll Not Like This If-
You’re an Addams Family Purist.
Yes, I know above I said that if you’re a fan of the Addams Family, you’ll enjoy “Wednesday“, but hear me out here.
What makes the Addams Family franchise work is that it’s funny, and the family is tightly knit, working together to overcome obstacles and survive in a normal world despite their different views of society. Even in the movies, the conflicts usually revolve around the Addams Family being somehow separated or the world trying to fit around the Addams Family and their kooky, strange ways. Yet at the end of the day, their strength comes from their love of one another, even if they’re weird as hell.
“Wednesday,” by contrast, doesn’t feel like any other Addams Family show. In fact, it could have worked as an original IP with Tim Burton attached, given how it doesn’t feel as weirdly charming or slightly grotesque as other movies or shows with the characters. The draw of this show is about a weird, melancholic, macabre teenage girl solving mysteries while estranged from her overbearing and judgmental mother.
Don’t get me wrong; the show IS funny, and it does have the Addams Family charm to it, especially when they’re all together on screen, but the themes that usually make the Addams Family work as well as it has is that the characters get along with one another and that despite it all they’re a loving family that support one another.
Instead, Gomez, Pugsley, and Thing feel more like their usual interpretations, as does Morticia, despite her fractured relationship with Wednesday (which doesn’t really feel natural, given how attentive and helpful she is to Wednesday’s needs). Uncle Fester is gone, though he seems as irascible as usual when he does show up (his eluding the feds being the excuse for the limited screen time), and Wednesday is… well, her usual self, albeit now with mom issues.
The only one from the original cast who is vastly different is Grandmama, a billionaire businesswoman who runs a casket and funeral home empire and is openly antagonistic towards Gomez and any pretenses of family. A far cry from the straw-haired, wild-eyed witch brewing all manner of hexes and curses from her basement cauldron, and who always had her witches’ grimoire handy or a vexatious scream to those that displeased her family. Or the calmer, more subdued woman from the ’60s sitcom.
That alone might drive many viewers away, as the family being together is often the draw, but other factors might drive viewers away as well.
The dialogue also tends to be an issue. For those expecting naturally flowing dialogue between characters, heart-to-heart moments, and forward narratives that propel the story through open discussion and scenes where characters try to solve problems or build the world, they might be disappointed. While there IS a lot of that, there’s also an equal amount of dialogue that feels like it’s just trying to be clip-farming.
What’s clip-farming? It’s typically quick, snappy, and quotable dialogue, delivered in a way that lets viewers ‘clip’ it for 6-20 second shorts on YouTube or TikTok. Wednesday typically does this by setting up her own quotes, where, in the middle of dialogue, she’ll say something and then follow it with something she thinks might be a zinger.
Here’s an example that’s not a spoiler. Later in Season 2, she’s talking with a Doctor in an insane asylum, and the discussion turns to treatments for a particular patient. The psychiatrist says they’ve tried everything, and Wednesday replies with “If you can’t kill them with kindness… try lethal injection.”
Not only that, but often the side characters, such as Bianca, Enid, Ajax, Eugene, and Agnes, talk at each other, but don’t talk TO each other. They’ll say something – or early on in Season 1, talk about Wednesday – that feels less like dialogue, and more like they’re trying to quote farm or drop exposition.
Honestly, if you’re looking for genuine human emotion and dialogue instead of Wednesday, then you’ll find those sections only in small spurts here and there. Coupled with the gothic atmosphere, the few genuine scares, and some story elements that unfold too quickly, this might be a more frustrating show to watch than an enjoyable one if you’re not into the aesthetics and prefer something brighter, colorful, or more normal comedy rather than black comedy.
Though, watch an episode or two to get an idea for yourself, and don’t be afraid to turn it off if it’s not giving you the entertainment you want.
Personal Thoughts
I rather enjoyed “Wednesday” and thought it was a solid 7/10. What I enjoyed most about the show was its perfect blend of creepiness and darkness, and how they made it bingeable.
Yes, I don’t think I was the target audience, being that I’m a 40-year-old man in a hoodie, drinking late-night coffee, and watching it between chapters of reading, but the show had a lot that made it quite fun to watch. The characters were fun, and I really enjoyed the side characters and their development. Especially Enid’s development, though I fully admit I’m biased, as she was a werewolf.
But what entirely drew me in was the world-building. You see, most of the Addams Family IP is built chiefly on the comedy of the characters. They’re ooky, kooky, creepy, and mysterious, and much of the humor comes from how they interact with the rest of the world around them and challenge what is considered “normal” in their surroundings.
We’re talking about how Gomez is seen via the lens of his neighbors, who are all country club old money types, or high-and-dry businessmen and Fathers who try very hard to conform to the other men of the country club, how Morticia is so dark, solemn, yet just as excited about her children and hobbies as she tries to fit in with the other mothers and wives around her. How Wednesday and Pugsley bully, abuse, torture, and even sometimes maim one another in front of their peers, who are easily disturbed by their antics. How Fester… well, Fester is in a category all his own.
The point is, the fun of the family is that they don’t fit in, and that works for them because they don’t see a problem with it.
Yet at the same time, that’s just it. There’s nothing beyond that; they’re just weird, macabre, and gothic. They’re not ghosts, monsters, or demons or anything supernatural or paranormal. Before “Wednesday,” they were just regular, weird humans. But after the show debuted, there’s a whole world for them to play in. Other outcasts who are just like them, possessing supernatural powers that they can’t explain, as well as psychic and magical abilities that they could potentially harness and use, or outlandish histories that they take part in. This makes me wonder about the rules of the world they now inhabit and the community they technically belong to now in the show’s canon.
Here, the fun is figuring out exactly what the lore is. How werewolves work and what the limits of the siren’s abilities are. What the monster haunting the woods in Season 1 is, since it’s not a werewolf. What Nevermore is, how it came to be, and how it contrasts to the normal people of Jericho, who look at the outcasts with suspicion, derision, and sometimes even outright fear.
While the world is fun, delightfully dark, and makes for a good watch in 3-4-episode spurts every day, some downsides keep it from being a 10/10 show. Some of which I did mention in the above section.
Let me explain my personal thoughts. While the dialogue felt more clip-farming than genuine, meaningful discussion, there were a few scenes that genuinely moved me. Such as when Enid managed to get Wednesday to come out of her shell a little bit and, in her own way, explain what it was about Enid that she enjoyed as a friend. There was also another scene later on at a large party that had me grinning as well, simply because it felt cathartic to have the side characters work together to solve a mystery instead of it being Wednesday who saved the day again.
One thing I heavily disliked about the dialogue throughout the show, though, was how Wednesday would occasionally say something just because it was dark. An example of this was early on when one of the characters explained a situation as being bad, and Wednesday replied, “This is terrible. And not good terrible like Ivan.”.
Like… Yeah, Wednesday, we get it. Ivan the Terrible was a horrible person —or, in your case, a good, horrible person, or whatever. Which brings me to another personal opinion that kept me from being fully immersed in the show’s storyline.
Wednesday as a person talked about how she admired serial killers and referenced evil historical figures as people to aspire to. This really wasn’t that much of an issue in Season 1, as we opened on the first episode with her attempting murder, and the mystery surrounding what is going on at Nevermore and Jericho personally involved Wednesday. So her figuring out the murder mystery made sense. Yet in Season 2, the storylines were rushed, and she felt like she had no personal connection to any of them aside from maybe the first one (that was solved rather too quickly for my tastes). We opened Season 2 with her hunting down a serial killer for no reason, just to go full Dexter on him, and afterward, she’s been shown to take an interest in the murders happening around Jericho.
Why, though? The people that were murdered, she didn’t particularly like, and she went out of her way to involve herself, which only led to more issues for her that were entirely her fault.
Don’t get me wrong; it was entertaining, but it felt like she had to be involved for plot convenience. One of the characters even calls her out on it, suggesting she did it purely to prove how much smarter she was than everyone else… though that point was never brought up again, which felt like a wasted opportunity for character development.
Overall, Season 1 was better on a storyline level, while Season 2 was better on a technical level, and despite those flaws, I am looking forward to Season 3.
If You Like This, You’ll Also Like
If you’re a fan of the Addams Family, no matter what form they take, then there’s honestly so much media you can pick up. Between the old New Yorker Comics of the 1930s, the sitcoms of the 60s, the movies of the 90s, the animated shows, new sitcom-style shows, comics, and even fan content, you’re sure to find so much to occupy your time.
Of course, not every one of those will be as dark as “Wednesday“. With Tim Burton’s brand of dark and macabre, this show stands out as one of a kind, and nothing else quite matches its darkness yet. Still, you’ll get a variety of Addams Family content that suits your current tastes, or you can explore what else the family has in store for you.
And if you run out of Addams Family content? In that case, there’s always the Munsters, which is similar, being a sitcom-style show about a weird, creepy family of monsters—only this time they’re classic monsters like Frankenstein’s Monster, Vampires, Werewolves, and a normal teenage girl.
But if you’re looking for more media content to consume that’s exactly like “Wednesday” in terms of tone, wit, eerie, creepy vibes, or a mystery to solve or anything else, there’s quite a collection out there to sink your teeth into, including the rest of Tim Burton’s directorial offerings.
Let’s look at some that someone who enjoyed “Wednesday” can get into.
Movies and Shows:
- – Umbrella Academy (2019)
- – Stranger Things (2016)
- – The Order (2019)
- – Hemlock Grove (2013)
- – Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
Books, Comics, and Graphic Novels
- – Ninth House
- – A Deadly Education
- – The Secret History
- – Emily The Strange: Lost Days
- – Supermutant Magic Academy
- – Miss Peregrin’s Home For Peculiar Children Series
Video Games
- – Slay The Princess
- – Homicipher
- – Fallen London
- – Hogwarts Legacy
- – What Remains of Edith Finch
- – The Last Door
Fan Projects
- – Adult Wednesday Addams (2013)
Final Words
Overall, “Wednesday” was a fun show. It had an excellent, well-picked cast, the music was great, the mood and setting were thrilling to watch at night, and while the dialogue and character interactions weren’t the best, it had its moments that were fun and engaging. Plus, the story was compelling – even if Season 2 suffered from rewrites where it was obvious three or four ideas just got mashed together.
All in all, it was a great way to spend a week, watching from the first episode to the last, and it’s easy to see why some people would choose “Wednesday” as their comfort show.
At the end of the day, if you’re still interested in checking it out for the first time or finding reasons to rewatch it, there are worse ways to spend a weekend. Be sure to turn off the lights, keep your phone handy and close by, and have plenty of snacks in arm’s reach, and enjoy. That’s how I watched it, and how I’ll be preparing myself when Season 3 releases.
