Tim Burton’s new Netflix seriesWednesdayis the latest addition toThe Addams Familycanon. The show centers around its titular protagonist Wednesday Addams, who is sent to a boarding school called Nevermore Academy by her well-meaning parents. Though she finds herself among Outcast peers, Wednesday struggles to settle into the mysterious school and ends up uncovering a deadly local mystery.
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Wednesdayis already proving to be a popular addition to the iconicAddams Familyfranchise and is the first television adaptation in many decades. Living up to the success of the more recent movies is no small feat and, as a result,Wednesdaychanges several details to set itself apart.
8Aging Up
One of the changes that the new Netflix series makes is Wednesday’s age. In most adaptations of the kooky family, Wednesday is often anywhere between six and thirteen years old. In the 1991 classicThe Addams Familyshe is ten. Its more popular sequel,Addams Family Values, portrays Wednesday as somewhere around the age of thirteen.
InWednesday,the Addams’ eldest child is sixteen, which is perhaps theoldest iteration of the character seen yet. Due to Wednesday being older than in other portrayals, viewers are exposed to a deeper exploration of her character. Wednesday is shown to have a wide array of hobbies and skills, and much of the show explores her relationships with other people.
7Psychic Visions
Though they’ve always been kooky, spooky, and all kinds of ooky, the Addams familyhas always been portrayed as regular people who just happen to have very macabre interests. The franchise has never shied away from mentioning aspects of the supernatural but, aside from a few slapstick gags and mythical jokes, The Addams have always been decidedly human. There have beenhints that Wednesday has some otherworldly abilitiesin previous adaptations, but nothing too far from the ordinary.
InWednesday, this is changed to suggest that Wednesday comes from a long line of powerful Addams psychics. The show introduces audiences to Wednesday’s powers in the very first episode, where she has a vision of Pugsley being bullied when she touches him. The show confirms that Morticia also has psychic visions and that this trait has been inherited through the generations of Addams right back to the days of colonization.
6A World Divided
One of the bigger changes that the Netflix series makes is the explicit divide between regular folk and those who live on the more supernatural side. Known as Outcasts, the Addams are joined by many more families of werewolves, vampires, sirens, and more. The regular world, also called Normies, have full knowledge of these beings’ existences, and their hatred of them runs deep.
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The town of Jericho, near which Nevermore Academy resides, has a long history of the division between Normies and Outcasts. From the Pilgrim era to the modern age, Jericho’s average citizens either distrust or outright hateNevermore and its students. This is a significant change to theAddams Familymovies, which show the world as largely unaware of the supernatural elements within it.
5Creative Outlets
The character of Wednesday Addams has appeared in as many different adaptations as the wider Addams Family has. As a result of this, there have been some subtle character changes throughout her history. But one particular trait thatWednesdayadds is her leaning toward creative hobbies. In the new series, Wednesday is an aspiring writer and an expert at playing the cello.
These traits docompliment her spooky personalityquite well but are definitely a new addition to the canon. In the previous movie adaptations, Wednesday’s creativity lent itself more to violent theatrical productions or elaborate torture methods.
4Mother-Daughter Tension
Historically,The Addams Familyhas served as a keyexample of healthy familial relationships– torture aside. WhileWednesdaydoesn’t change too much about how the Addamses treat each other, it does introduce tensions between Wednesday and Morticia in particular. When she is sent to Nevermore, Wednesday rejects it as just another ploy by her parents to force her into following in Morticia’s footsteps.
A strained mother-daughter relationship is noticeably absent from the previous movie adaptions, with Wednesday and her mother often portrayed as relatively close and respectful of each other’s interests. In this particular instance,Wednesdayhas more in common with the Broadway musical adaptation, which also highlights the strain between Morticia and Wednesday as she grows up.
3Thing Gets A Makeover
One keyAddams Familycharacter with a large role in the new series is Thing, a disembodied hand that helps the Addams with various tasks. InWednesday,Thing is sent to keep an eye on the eldest Addams as she attends Nevermore Academy. She quickly discovers Thing’s presence and gets him to pledge his undying loyalty to her instead of her family.
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Thing looks very different in this adaptation than in previous ones, with several long stitches and discolored fingers and nails. This indicates that Thing is more of a Frankenstein attachment of pieces rather than just a simple disembodied hand as he appears in the movies. This darker look for Thing mirrors the tone ofWednesday,whichleans more toward the teen horror genrethan previous adaptations.
2Sibling Soft Spot
Along with exploring the relationships Wednesday has with other people, the new Netflix series gives audiences a deeper look into her feelings about her brother Pugsley. The two have always been portrayed as inseparable, butWednesdayshows that there may be some softer feelings present underneath the torture.
In her treatment of Eugene, a fellow student who Wednesday says reminds her of her little brother, audiences see a more nurturing side to the traditionally cold and detached character. She defends both Eugene and Pugsley from bullies and offers them comfort during hard times. Even though these actions are offered through what appears to be gritted teeth, it is still a much softer version of Wednesday Addams than audiences see in the movies.
1Wardrobe Update
Though Tim Burton’sWednesdaykeeps to thetraditionally gothic Addams aesthetic, Wednesday herself is given a considerably modern update to her style. Set in the contemporary age, audiences see Wednesday in a variety of black and white clothing. There are still nods to her traditional collared dress, butWednesdayprovides an undoubtedly more modern interpretation of the Addams' goth chic.
This is a noticeable change from theAddams Familymovies, in which Wednesday is either always in her black collared dress or in something else with old-world gothic charm. She also dresses entirely in grayscale in the new series, whereas in the movies she occasionally dons some form of color – though usually only under duress.
