# Wednesday (TV series)

Wednesday is an American supernatural mystery comedy television series based on the character Wednesday Addams by Charles Addams. Created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, it stars Jenna Ortega as the main character, with Gwendoline Christie, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Hunter Doohan, Percy Hynes White, Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Georgie Farmer, Naomi J. Ogawa, Christina Ricci, and Moosa Mostafa appearing in supporting roles. Four out of the eight episodes of the first season were directed by Tim Burton, who also serves as executive producer. The first season revolves around Wednesday Addams, who attempts to solve a murder mystery at her new school.
Burton was previously approached to direct the 1991 film The Addams Family and was involved with a cancelled stop-motion animated The Addams Family film. In October 2020, he was reported to be helming a television series, which was later given a series order by Netflix. Ortega was cast in part to represent the character's Latina heritage. Ricci, who had played the titular character in the 1991 film and its 1993 sequel Addams Family Values, was asked by Burton to join the series in a supporting role. Filming took place in Romania between September 2021 and March 2022.
Wednesday premiered on November 16, 2022, and was released on Netflix on November 23 to predominantly positive reviews from critics, who praised Ortega's performance. Within three weeks of release, it became the second-most watched English-language Netflix series. It received two Golden Globe nominations: Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for Ortega. It also won four Primetime Emmy Awards, while receiving nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. In January 2023, the series was renewed for a second season, which is scheduled to premiere in 2025.

## Premise

Wednesday Addams is expelled from her school after dumping live piranhas into the school's pool in retaliation for the boys' water polo team bullying her brother Pugsley. Consequently, her parents Gomez and Morticia Addams enroll her at their high school alma mater Nevermore Academy, a private school for monstrous outcasts, in the town of Jericho, Vermont. Wednesday's cold, emotionless personality and her defiant nature make it difficult for her to connect with her schoolmates and cause her to run afoul of the school's principal Larissa Weems. However, she discovers she has inherited her mother's psychic abilities, which allow her to solve a local murder mystery.

## Cast and characters
### Main

* Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams, a teenager who possesses psychic powers.
** Ortega also plays Goody Addams, Wednesday's deceased ancestor from the 1600s, whom Wednesday sees in visions.
** Karina Váradi portrays a young Wednesday
* Gwendoline Christie as Larissa Weems (season 1), the shapeshifting principal of Nevermore Academy and a former student who was Morticia Addams's roommate.
** Oliver Wickham portrays a young Larissa Weems
* Riki Lindhome as Dr. Valerie Kinbott (season 1), Wednesday's Nevermore Academy-appointed therapist from the local town of Jericho.
* Jamie McShane as Donovan Galpin (season 1; guest season 2), Jericho's sheriff who is suspicious of Wednesday.
** Ben Wilson portrays a young Donovan Galpin
* Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin / Hyde, a barista at a local coffee shop and Sheriff Galpin's son who has a romantic interest in Wednesday.
* Percy Hynes White as Xavier Thorpe (season 1), a student of Nevermore Academy who has the ability to make his art come to life. He is also a psychic who gets visions through dreams.
* Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair, Wednesday's colorful werewolf roommate at Nevermore Academy who attempts to become her friend despite Wednesday's lack of interest.
* Joy Sunday as Bianca Barclay, a successful siren student at Nevermore Academy and Xavier's ex-girlfriend.
* Georgie Farmer as Ajax Petropolus, a gorgon student at Nevermore Academy who has a romantic interest in Enid.
* Naomi J. Ogawa as Yoko Tanaka (season 1), a vampire student at Nevermore Academy.
* Christina Ricci as Marilyn Thornhill / Laurel Gates (season 1), the botany teacher at Nevermore Academy, dorm mother of Wednesday and Enid, and Garrett's younger sister. Ricci previously portrayed Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values.
* Moosa Mostafa as Eugene Ottinger, a student at Nevermore Academy who has the ability to control bees.
* Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams, Wednesday's mother who attended Nevermore Academy when she was younger and possesses psychic powers similar to her daughter's.
** Gwen Jones portrays a young Morticia (née Frump) Addams
* Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams, Wednesday's father who also attended Nevermore Academy and is a suspected murderer.
** Lucius Hoyos portrays a young Gomez Addams
* Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams, Wednesday's younger brother.
* Victor Dorobantu as Thing, a sentient disembodied hand and relative of Wednesday who is sent by Wednesday's parents to watch over her at Nevermore Academy.
* Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo as Ritchie Santiago, a deputy of Sheriff Galpin.

### Recurring

* Tommie Earl Jenkins as Noble Walker (season 1), the mayor and former sheriff of Jericho.
** Ismail Kesu portrays a young Noble Walker
* Iman Marson as Lucas Walker (season 1), Noble Walker's son whose group of friends often runs afoul of Wednesday.

### Guest

* Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester, Wednesday's paternal uncle who possesses the ability to generate static electricity.
* George Burcea as Lurch (season 1), the Addams family's butler.
* Calum Ross (season 1) as Rowan Laslow, a student at Nevermore Academy who possesses telekinetic powers and causes trouble for Wednesday.
* William Houston (season 1) as Joseph Crackstone, Laurel Gates's Pilgrim ancestor and Jericho's founding father who is intent on killing all outcasts.
* Nitin Ganatra (season 1) as Dr. Anwar, a mortician who works at Jericho's mortuary.
* Lewis Hayes as Garrett Gates (season 1), a teenager who Gomez is suspected to have murdered during his time at Nevermore Academy and was Laurel's brother.

## Episodes
### Season 1 (2022)

| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | "Wednesday's Child Is Full of Woe" | Tim Burton | Alfred Gough & Miles Millar | November 23, 2022 (2022-11-23) |
| Wednesday Addams, a high-school student, finds her brother Pugsley tied up in a locker. She sees a psychic vision of his bullies, whom she then attempts to kill, resulting in her expulsion. Her parents, Morticia and Gomez, decide to enroll her in Nevermore Academy, their alma mater and a school for outcasts in Jericho, Vermont. Meanwhile, a hiker is killed by an unknown creature near Nevermore. Wednesday's parents release Thing, a sentient disembodied hand, to watch over her. She meets her roommate Enid, her complete opposite, and duels with Bianca, the popular girl, after Bianca bullies a boy named Rowan. Later, Wednesday is nearly killed by a falling gargoyle, but is saved by Bianca's ex-boyfriend Xavier. After escaping her court-ordered therapy session, Wednesday meets Tyler, a barista, who agrees to help her escape from Nevermore. However, she is apprehended by Principal Larissa Weems and taken back to the school. Later, Tyler and Wednesday meet at the local carnival, and Wednesday has a vision of Rowan's death. Rowan attempts to kill her but is murdered by a monster. |||||
| 2 | "Woe Is the Loneliest Number" | Tim Burton | Alfred Gough & Miles Millar | November 23, 2022 (2022-11-23) |
| Wednesday convinces a skeptical Sheriff Galpin that the perpetrator of the murders is in fact a monster. Suddenly, Rowan reappears unharmed. Wednesday doubts her sanity and decides to investigate the murders herself. She roams the campus inquiring about Rowan and is told that he has been expelled. Meanwhile, Weems grows worried about Wednesday's visions, keeping close tabs on her. Wednesday confronts a defensive Rowan as he leaves the school and sends Thing to follow him. Thing loses him and Rowan is revealed to be Principal Weems, who has shapeshifted into him. Wednesday has visions of a book belonging to an old students' society. In her search for the book, she overhears Bianca planning to rig the upcoming student tournament. Wednesday joins Enid to defeat Bianca and win the tournament. Later, Wednesday discovers a hidden library within the school, where she is captured. |||||
| 3 | "Friend or Woe" | Tim Burton | Kayla Alpert | November 23, 2022 (2022-11-23) |
| Wednesday finds herself tied up and surrounded by members of an elite students' society, including Bianca and Xavier. Wednesday frees herself and leaves the library, taking one of the books with her. Weems orders Wednesday to accompany the high school band to an upcoming town ceremony run by Mayor Noble Walker. A drawing in the purloined book leads her to an exhibition at a local fair, where she notices the painting of a girl she had seen in her visions. In the forest, Wednesday envisions the girl—believed to be an ancestor of hers—escaping the execution of the town's outcasts at the hands of its founder, Joseph Crackstone. Wednesday is ambushed by the monster, which she discovers, by its footprints, to be human. Back in town, Wednesday disrupts the ceremony by having Thing destroy a commemorative statue of Joseph Crackstone and is scolded by Principal Weems. While investigating a crime scene in the forest, police find a camera that captured photographs of the monster. |||||
| 4 | "Woe What a Night" | Tim Burton | Kayla Alpert | November 23, 2022 (2022-11-23) |
| Wednesday and Thing break into the coroner's office to copy the files of the monster's victims. In trying to identify a pattern, she finds that each victim has had body parts surgically removed. Wednesday becomes suspicious of Xavier and follows him into his art studio, where she discovers several drawings of the monster, which lead her to the monster's cave. There, she retrieves one of its claws and gives it to Sheriff Galpin for DNA matching. Wednesday and Tyler attend a school dance together. Meanwhile, classmate Eugene, who is privy to Wednesday's investigative work, witnesses a cloaked figure blow up the monster's cave. The dance is interrupted by Mayor Walker's son, Lucas, who triggers the building's fire sprinklers in revenge for Wednesday's disruption of the town ceremony. Wednesday senses that Eugene is in danger and heads into the forest, only to find him gravely injured by the monster. |||||
| 5 | "You Reap What You Woe" | Gandja Monteiro | April Blair | November 23, 2022 (2022-11-23) |
| 32 years earlier, Gomez Addams was arrested at Nevermore on suspicion of killing Garrett Gates, a descendant of Joseph Crackstone. In present time, the Addamses visit Wednesday on Parents' Weekend at Nevermore. A family therapy session is cut short when Wednesday confronts her parents about the suspected murder. Meanwhile, Sheriff Galpin learns that the coroner committed suicide after admitting to fabricating Gates's autopsy report. Galpin concludes that Gomez is guilty and arrests him. In prison, Gomez reveals to Wednesday that he was covering for Morticia, who actually killed Garrett. Wednesday and Morticia dig up Garrett's grave to find that he had been lethally poisoned before he was killed, but are caught by police and arrested for the night. Later, they confront Mayor Walker, who reveals that Garrett intended to poison the entire school due to his father's hate for outcasts. Mayor Walker agrees to release Gomez after admitting to covering up Garrett's motive. Back at Nevermore, Principal Weems reluctantly admits to covering up Rowan's death by means of shapeshifting in an effort to evade controversy at the school. |||||
| 6 | "Quid Pro Woe" | Gandja Monteiro | April Blair | November 23, 2022 (2022-11-23) |
| Wednesday attempts to summon Goody, an ancestor and fellow psychic who killed Crackstone. During a surprise birthday party, Wednesday has a vision of Goody, who instructs her to seek out the Gates mansion. There, she witnesses Mayor Walker as he is leaving the building and sneaks into his car. After arriving back in town, Mayor Walker is hit by a car and severely injured. Principal Weems locks down the school and forbids Wednesday to leave campus. With Tyler and Enid's help, she escapes and returns to the Gates mansion. There, they discover that Laurel Gates, Garrett's younger sister, long believed to be dead, might still be alive. They find the severed body parts of the monster's victims in a cellar, but are forced to flee after being ambushed by the monster. Wednesday leads Galpin to the cellar, only to find it empty. At Nevermore, Wednesday convinces Weems not to expel her to further pursue her investigation. At the hospital, an unknown figure kills Mayor Walker. |||||
| 7 | "If You Don't Woe Me by Now" | James Marshall | Alfred Gough & Miles Millar and Matt Lambert | November 23, 2022 (2022-11-23) |
| At Mayor Walker's funeral, Wednesday notices a lurking figure and chases it into the forest. The figure is revealed to be Uncle Fester, who explains to Wednesday that the monster she has been investigating is a Hyde. Together, they retrieve a diary from the hidden library which reveals that a Hyde must always have a master. Later, they track and follow Xavier, who they witness meeting up with Dr. Kinbott, Wednesday's therapist, in the forest. After returning from a date with Tyler, Wednesday finds her dorm room vandalized, the diary stolen, and Thing gravely injured. Research into Laurel Gates reveals that she is both alive and the master of the Hyde. Wednesday initially suspects Dr. Kinbott, but Kinbott is killed by the Hyde. Police arrive to arrest Xavier, who Wednesday believes to be the Hyde. Wednesday meets with Tyler and kisses him but suddenly has a vision of him being the Hyde and runs off. |||||
| 8 | "A Murder of Woes" | James Marshall | Alfred Gough & Miles Millar | November 23, 2022 (2022-11-23) |
| Wednesday and her classmates kidnap Tyler, and Wednesday tortures him to try to make him confess. Appalled by her methods, her classmates alert Principal Weems, and Wednesday is arrested. At the police station, Tyler secretly confesses to Wednesday that he is the monster. Fed up with Wednesday's antics, Weems expels her from Nevermore. Wednesday, accompanied by Weems, visits Eugene at the hospital, whose description of the figure he saw at the monster's cave matches Ms. Thornhill, a teacher at Nevermore. Weems, disguised as Tyler, and Wednesday get Thornhill to confess that she is Laurel Gates and manipulated Tyler into killing the victims as part of her scheme to resurrect Joseph Crackstone and wipe out all outcasts. However, Laurel kills Weems and subdues Wednesday. Using Wednesday's blood, Laurel resurrects Crackstone and leaves Wednesday to die, but Goody appears and heals her. Enid, having finally transformed into her werewolf form, defeats Tyler in his Hyde form while Crackstone breaches Nevermore. With Bianca's help, Wednesday destroys and kills Crackstone, and Eugene helps defeat Laurel. Xavier is released from prison, Tyler is detained, and Wednesday departs Nevermore Academy, which is closing for the remainder of the semester. |||||

### Season 2

The first four episodes are written by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar, Matt Lambert, Valentina Garza, and Lauren Otero, respectively. Tim Burton directed four episodes; Paco Cabezas and Angela Robinson also directed this season.

## Production
### Development

During pre-production on The Addams Family (1991), Tim Burton was approached to direct, but ended up passing on it due to scheduling conflicts with Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), resulting in Barry Sonnenfeld taking the job. In March 2010, it was announced that Illumination Entertainment had acquired the underlying rights to the Addams Family drawings. The film was planned to be a stop-motion animated film based on Charles Addams's original drawings. Burton was set to co-write, co-produce, and possibly direct the film. In July 2013, it was reported that the film was cancelled, which, according to Burton, was due to the studio favoring a computer-animated approach over the stop-motion technique.
Showrunners Miles Millar and Alfred Gough started developing story ideas in 2019. They subsequently acquired the rights to the intellectual property before writing a pilot script, which they sent to Burton. To their surprise, Burton immediately became interested upon receiving the script. Commenting about his decision to join the project, Burton stated that he could relate to the titular character's worldview and that the script "spoke to me about how I felt in school and how you feel about your parents, how you feel as a person. It gave the Addams Family a different kind of reality. It was an interesting combination". Feeling creatively drained after Dumbo (2019), Burton considered retiring from the industry, being left to his own "feelings and things" during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the offer to make Wednesday reconnected his love to filmmaking and served him as a "health camp". Millar stated that it was "very important" to the creative team not to emulate the prior films and 1964 television series. Millar and Gough decided to make the juxtaposition of "outcasts" and "normies", as well as criticism of colonial Americans, major themes in the series.
In October 2020, Wednesday was initially announced as an unnamed Addams Family project being helmed by Burton. The series's production would be handled by MGM Television, with Burton as director. Gough and Millar would serve as showrunners, while Gough, Millar, and Burton would also be executive producers alongside Gail Berman, Jon Glickman, and Andrew Mittman. In February 2021, Netflix gave the production a series order consisting of eight episodes. In August 2021, Kayla Alpert was added as an executive producer and 1.21, Tee and Charles Addams Foundation, and Glickmania were also producing the series. 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.
On possible future seasons, Gough and Millar commented in an interview with Variety, "when we sit down to create a show, it's looking at multiple seasons, ideally. That's never expected, but that's the anticipation that hopefully the show is successful." They further stated that they had "a pretty clear runway" of how future seasons could unfold. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gough and Millar stated that the second season would expand upon the friendship between Wednesday and Enid while also evolving Wednesday's relationship with her mother, Morticia. Ortega stated that the season would "lean into the horror aspect" while "ditching any romantic love interest for Wednesday". Preparations for a second season commenced in December 2022, following Amazon's acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In January 2023, the series was renewed for a second season, with Ortega now also serving as producer.

### Casting

The creative team sought a Latina to play the role of Wednesday Addams to align with character Gomez Addams's heritage, an aspect of the character that was already worked into the series' script. In May 2021, Jenna Ortega, who is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, was cast in the role. Millar stated that, upon their first Zoom call together, the creative team knew that "nobody else on this planet" was better suited to portray the character. Ortega said that she was initially hesitant about joining the project due to her past work in teen-oriented Disney Channel shows and her plans to prioritize film over television work, but decided to join in after meeting Burton through Zoom. In the beginning of August of that year, Luis Guzmán was cast to guest-star as Gomez Addams, and Catherine Zeta-Jones was cast as Morticia Addams in an undisclosed capacity. Later that month, Thora Birch, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Hunter Doohan, Georgie Farmer, Moosa Mostafa, Emma Myers, Naomi J. Ogawa, Joy Sunday, and Percy Hynes White were announced to be cast as series regulars. Myers initially auditioned for the titular role before she was cast as Wednesday's roommate Enid.
In September, Gwendoline Christie and Victor Dorobantu were added to the cast in starring roles while Isaac Ordonez, George Burcea, Tommie Earl Jenkins, Iman Marson, William Houston, Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo, Oliver Watson, Calum Ross, and Johnna Dias Watson were cast in recurring roles. In December 2021, Birch left the series, leaving the status of her character, dorm mother Tamara Novak, unclear. In March 2022, it was announced that Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday Addams in the film The Addams Family and its sequel Addams Family Values (1993), was cast as a series regular, replacing Birch in a similar role. Commenting on her casting, Ricci stated, "I was really flattered to be asked and to be asked by Tim [Burton]", with whom she had previously collaborated on Sleepy Hollow (1999). Ricci was almost unable to accept the role due to possible scheduling conflicts with Showtime series Yellowjackets. In October, a trailer revealed Fred Armisen to be portraying Uncle Fester, and Ricci's role was confirmed as Marilyn Thornhill.
In April 2024, Steve Buscemi joined the cast of the series as the new principal of Nevermore Academy, alongside Thandiwe Newton in an undisclosed role. In May, the cast for the second season was announced, with Buscemi playing Barry Dort, Billie Piper as Capri, Joanna Lumley as Grandmama, Newton as Dr. Fairburn, alonsgide Evie Templeton, Owen Painter, Noah Taylor, Christopher Lloyd, Frances O'Connor, Haley Joel Osment, Heather Matarazzo, and Joonas Suotamo in undisclosed roles, while Zeta-Jones, Guzmán, Ordonez, and Lewis-Nyawo were promoted to series regulars. In November, Lady Gaga joined the cast in an undisclosed role.

### Filming

Principal photography for the first season took place between September 2021 and March 2022 in the Southern Carpathian town of Bușteni, Romania. Filming locations included Cantacuzino Castle, serving as the setting for the fictional Nevermore Academy, Politehnica University of Bucharest, Sinaia railway station, the Bucharest Botanical Garden, Monteoru House, and the historic Olga Greceanu Mansion in Dâmbovița County, standing in for the Gates mansion. Exterior shots of Cantacuzino Castle were supplemented with computer-generated imagery. Other settings, including the entire town of Jericho, were constructed at Buftea Studios. Production designer Mark Scruton based his set design primarily on Charles Addams's original cartoons and drew inspiration from Burton-directed films such as Beetlejuice (1988) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).
Ortega called her work on the series "very stressful and confusing" and "the most overwhelming job I've ever had" due to the production's fast-tracked shooting schedule. To prepare for her role, Ortega learned to play cello and took canoeing, fencing, archery, and German lessons. According to actress Joy Sunday, the canoeing lessons were especially strenuous, involving the entire cast and some dozen stuntmen racing each other for an hour daily, with days starting as early as 5:30 am. Ortega avoided talking to Ricci about playing the character during filming to achieve her own unique rendition of the role. She choreographed her dance to the Cramps' "Goo Goo Muck" herself, taking inspiration from Siouxsie Sioux, Bob Fosse, and goth dance club footage from the 1980s. Ortega sought to make Wednesday's characterization consistent, down to changing lines that she felt were unfitting of the character, and with more depth. She stated "you can't lead a story and have no emotional arc because then it's boring and nobody likes you." Scenes featuring Thing, played by Romanian magician Victor Dorobantu, were achieved using a mixture of practical and special effects; Dorobantu wore a blue chroma-key bodysuit that would be edited out in post-production, leaving only his hand exposed. To create the illusion of a severed hand, a prosthetic stump was applied to Dorobantu's hand.
The second season began filming in May 2024 in Ireland. Ortega's schedule for the show was discussed with the filmmakers of the Scream franchise prior to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, leading to Ortega's departure from the upcoming Scream 7 due to the scheduling conflict. By August 2024, they had completed four episodes. Filming for the second series had wrapped by early December 2024 and is set to release in 2025.

### Music

In December 2021, it was reported that longtime Burton collaborator Danny Elfman joined the series to compose the original theme and co-compose its score with Chris Bacon. The score features a selection of the series's original score composed by Elfman and Bacon as well as several pop songs, including cello renditions of "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones, "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica, and "Physical" by Dua Lipa. The score also incorporates a number of classical works, including The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi, Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto, The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns, Gnossienne No. 1 by Erik Satie, and "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
Led by two singles, Wednesday's 48-track soundtrack was released by Lakeshore Records on November 23, 2022, and a four-track extended play featuring covers of classical and pop songs was released on November 30. In his review of the series, Tony Sokol of Den of Geek called the score "a major character, not only thematically, but as an emotional delivery system", making "the chills creepier, the jokes funnier, and the tingles tangible". Linda Codega of Gizmodo called the cello segments "memorable" and the score "occasionally-magnificent". Writing for IGN, Amelia Emberwing described the combination of Elfman's score with Burton's material as "[going] together like peanut butter and jelly" and the score overall as "a stunner".

## Release

A first teaser trailer for Wednesday was released on August 17, 2022, followed by a full trailer on October 9 and the unveiling of the series' opening sequence on November 8. Wednesday premiered on November 16, 2022, at Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles. Its eight episodes were released on Netflix on November 23, 2022. In December 2022, Netflix released a promotional video to its Twitter account depicting Thing, a sentient disembodied hand appearing in the series, roaming the streets of New York City and capturing the reactions of passersby. The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment in March 2024.

## Reception
### Audience viewership

According to data from users of TV Time collected by Whip Media, Wednesday had the second-most pre-release followers of any Netflix original series on the platform, behind only The Witcher; it ultimately debuted at number one on Netflix in 83 countries. The series holds the record of most hours viewed in a week for an English-language Netflix series with a total 341 million hours watched in its first week of release, amounting to more than 50 million households, and passing prior record holder Stranger Things 4's 335 million hours. Nielsen Media Research reported a combined watch time of 6 billion minutes within its first week of release, making it the second-biggest streaming week ever recorded by the firm. Three weeks after its release, it became the second-most watched English-language Netflix series in the history of the platform, reaching an estimated 150 million households and totaling 1 billion viewing hours by December 2022. Jacob Stolworthy of The Independent called the series's popularity "unprecedented" and suggested that it could jumpstart development of several other spin-off television series.

### Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 73% approval rating and an average rating of 6.9/10, based on 102 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Wednesday isn't exactly full of woe for viewers, but without Jenna Ortega in the lead, this Addams Family-adjacent series might as well be another CW drama." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 66 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Ed Power of The Daily Telegraph gave Wednesday four out of five stars and called it "an addictively rococo romp that unfolds like a cross between Euphoria and Hotel Transylvania". John Anderson of The Wall Street Journal commended Ortega's "charismatic performance" and called the series "often delightful, despite its deliberate darkness". In his "B"-review for The Detroit News, Tom Long deemed the series visually appealing and described Ortega's deadpan as "just as elastic as it needed to be" and her performance overall as "consistently [pushing] outside the caricature enough to keep things lively". Writing for RogerEbert.com, Cristina Escobar similarly praised Ortega's deadpan humor and commended the series' "satisfactory" ending. While finding that the series would not be "what real fans of Charles Addams and his characters are looking for", Mike Hale of The New York Times called the series "tolerable" despite "satisfying only on the level of formulaic teenage romance and mystery" and compared it to the Harry Potter franchise. Commenting on its tone, Jesse Hassenger of TheWrap described the four episodes directed by Burton as feeling more like Veronica Mars than Sleepy Hollow. Nick Hilton of The Independent gave the series two out of five stars and criticized the series's tone as "relentlessly quippy Gen Z" and its performances as "more two-dimensional than the New Yorker comic strip in which the characters first appeared".

### Accolades

Accolades received by Wednesday :
| Award | Year | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
| AACTA International Awards | 2023 | Best Comedy Series | Wednesday | Nominated | [98] [99] |
| Art Directors Guild Awards | 2023 | Excellence in Production Design for a One-Hour Period or Fantasy Single-Camera Series | Mark Scruton (for "Woe is the Loneliest Number") | Nominated | |
| Astra TV Awards | 2023 | Best Streaming Series, Comedy | Wednesday | Nominated | [101] [102] |
| Astra TV Awards | 2023 | Best Actress in a Streaming Series, Comedy | Jenna Ortega | Nominated | [101] [102] |
| Astra TV Awards | 2023 | Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Series, Comedy | Christina Ricci | Won | [101] [102] |
| Astra TV Awards | 2023 | Best Directing in a Streaming Series, Comedy | Tim Burton (for "Wednesday's Child is Full of Woe") | Nominated | [101] [102] |
| Astra TV Awards | 2023 | Best Writing in a Streaming Series, Comedy | Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (for "Wednesday's Child Is Full of Woe") | Nominated | [101] [102] |
| Astra Creative Arts TV Awards | 2023 | Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series | Catherine Zeta-Jones | Nominated | [101] [102] |
| Astra Creative Arts TV Awards | 2023 | Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Costumes | Wednesday | Won | [101] [102] |
| Astra Creative Arts TV Awards | 2023 | Best Main Title Design | Wednesday | Nominated | [101] [102] |
| British Academy Television Awards | 2023 | Best International Programme | Wednesday | Nominated | |
| British Academy Television Craft Awards | 2023 | Best Make Up and Hair Design | Tara McDonald | Nominated | [104] [105] |
| Critics' Choice Super Awards | 2023 | Best Horror Series | Wednesday | Won | |
| Critics' Choice Super Awards | 2023 | Best Actress in a Horror Series | Jenna Ortega | Won | |
| Critics' Choice Super Awards | 2023 | Best Actress in a Horror Series | Christina Ricci | Nominated | |
| Costume Designers Guild Awards | 2023 | Excellence in Contemporary Television | Colleen Atwood and Mark Sutherland (for "Wednesday's Child is Full of Woe") | Won | |
| Directors Guild of America Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series | Tim Burton (for "Wednesday's Child is Full of Woe") | Nominated | |
| Golden Globe Awards | 2023 | Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy | Wednesday | Nominated | |
| Golden Globe Awards | 2023 | Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy | Jenna Ortega | Nominated | |
| Golden Reel Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Achievement in Music Editing – Broadcast Long Form | Michael T. Ryan (for "A Murder of Woes") | Nominated | [110] [111] |
| Golden Trailer Awards | 2023 | Best Fantasy Adventure for a TV/Streaming Series (Trailer/Teaser/TV Spot) | "Nero" (Trailer Park, Inc.) | Won | [112] [113] |
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | 2022 | Best Main Title Theme – TV Show/Limited Series | Danny Elfman | Nominated | |
| Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards | 2023 | Best Period and/or Character Make-Up | Tara McDonald, Nirvana Jalalvand, Gabriela Cretan | Nominated | |
| MTV Millennial Awards | 2023 | Killer Series / Movie | Wednesday | Nominated | |
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | 2023 | Best Show | Wednesday | Nominated | |
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | 2023 | Best Performance in a Show | Jenna Ortega | Won | |
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | 2023 | Best Hero | Jenna Ortega | Nominated | |
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | 2023 | Best Duo | Jenna Ortega and Thing | Nominated | |
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | 2023 | Best Musical Moment | "Goo Goo Muck" | Nominated | |
| National Television Awards | 2023 | New Drama | Wednesday | Won | |
| Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | 2023 | Favorite Family TV Show | Wednesday | Won | |
| Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | 2023 | Favorite Female TV Star (Family) | Jenna Ortega | Won | |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Main Title Design | Aaron Becker, Joseph Ahn, James Ramirez, Lee Nelson, Eric Keller and Hsien Lun Su | Nominated | |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music | Danny Elfman | Won | |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic) | Tara McDonald, Freda Ellis, Nirvana Jalalvand, Tamara Meade, and Bianca Boeroiu (for "Woe What A Night") | Won | |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) | Danny Elfman and Chris Bacon (for "Woe Is The Loneliest Number") | Nominated | |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Contemporary Costumes for a Series | Colleen Atwood, Mark Sutherland, Robin Soutar, Claudia Littlefield and Adina Bucur (for "Wednesday's Child Is Full Of Woe") | Won | |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Cinematography for a Series (One Hour) | David Lanzenberg (for "Woe What A Night") | Nominated | |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour Or More) | Mark Scruton, Adrian Curelea, and Robert Hepburn (for "Wednesday's Child Is Full Of Woe") | Won | |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series Or Variety Program | Brett Chan and Jason Ng | Nominated | |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Single Episode | Tom Turnbull, Kent Johnson, Jesse Kawzenuk, Oana Bardan, Craig Calvert, Ed Englander, John Coldrick, Brodie McNeill, and Jason Troughton (for "A Murder Of Woes") | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Comedy Series | Wednesday | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series | Jenna Ortega | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series | Tim Burton (for "Wednesday's Child is Full of Woe") | Nominated | |
| Saturn Awards | 2024 | Best Fantasy Television Series | Wednesday | Won | [121] [122] |
| Saturn Awards | 2024 | Best New Genre Television Series | Wednesday | Nominated | [121] [122] |
| Saturn Awards | 2024 | Best Performance by a Younger Actor on Television | Jenna Ortega | Won | [121] [122] |
| Saturn Awards | 2024 | Best Guest Star in a Television Series | Catherine Zeta-Jones | Nominated | [121] [122] |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series | Jenna Ortega | Nominated | |

## In popular culture

Following the release of Wednesday, Wednesday Addams's dance from the series and its fan recreations to Lady Gaga's song "Bloody Mary" went viral on video sharing service TikTok, with Kim Kardashian, Amelia Dimoldenberg, Marina Diamandis, Madonna and Gaga herself also participating in the trend. This resulted in a large increase in plays of the song on Spotify and on-demand streams in the United States, surging by 415 percent in the week after the series's release. Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva recreated the dance during a December 2022 competition. Earlier that same month, "Bloody Mary" was sent to French radio as a single, 11 years after the release of Born This Way, the album it was featured on. The 1981 song "Goo Goo Muck" by the Cramps, which plays during the original dance scene, also saw a surge in popularity. According to Billboard, on-demand streams of the song in the United States increased from 2,500 to over 134,000, and Spotify streams increased by 9,500 percent since the series was released. Janelle Zara of The Guardian stated that the viral dance trend "may have single-handedly revived Gothic subculture for Gen Z".

## Spin-off

A spin-off series centered around Uncle Fester has been in early development on Netflix as of December 2023.