The Addams Family
Wednesday is a Netflix series built around Wednesday Addams, the deadpan daughter of Gomez and Morticia Addams from the characters created by cartoonist Charles Addams. Alfred Gough and Miles Millar created the show and serve as showrunners, while Tim Burton executive produces and directs episodes. Jenna Ortega plays Wednesday, and Danny Elfman and Chris Bacon handle the score.
The show premiered on November 23, 2022 and became a massive hit for Netflix. It stars Ortega as a girl expelled from her school after dumping piranhas into the pool, who then lands at a private academy for outcasts. Netflix lists Wednesday Season 1 as the most viewed English-language series in the platform's history, and the first season picked up four Emmy awards.
Wednesday Season 1 Story: Nevermore Academy and the Hyde
After the piranha incident, Gomez and Morticia enroll Wednesday at Nevermore Academy, the boarding school in Jericho, Vermont where they met as students. Nevermore takes in outcasts, werewolves, vampires, sirens, and gorgons, and Principal Larissa Weems, played by Gwendoline Christie, keeps the school's reputation in check while dealing with Wednesday's habit of breaking every rule in sight.
Wednesday's psychic visions pull her into a string of killings in the woods around Jericho, all tied to a monster known as the Hyde. Along the way she gets an unwanted roommate in Enid Sinclair, a werewolf who hasn't been able to wolf out yet, plus a ghostly guide in her ancestor Goody Addams. Thing, the Addams family's disembodied hand, tags along as her sidekick for the season.
Wednesday Season 1 Ending Explained
The Hyde turns out to be Tyler Galpin, the sheriff's son and barista Wednesday spent much of the season getting close to. Tyler is controlled by Laurel Gates, who spent the season posing as botany teacher Marilyn Thornhill. Laurel's goal is to resurrect Joseph Crackstone, the pilgrim who massacred outcasts in Jericho centuries earlier, and use him to wipe out Nevermore.
Laurel kills Principal Weems, and Crackstone briefly comes back before Wednesday defeats him with help from Goody's spirit. Enid finally wolfs out during the finale to fight Tyler and save Wednesday. The season ends with Wednesday receiving anonymous stalker texts on the phone Xavier Thorpe gave her, setting up the mystery for Season 2.
Wednesday Season 2 Story and Release Dates
Wednesday Season 2 was released in two parts, with Part 1 arriving on August 6, 2025 and Part 2 following on September 3, 2025. Netflix renewed the show for Season 3 before Season 2 even premiered.
The season opens with Wednesday returning to Nevermore after a vision shows Enid dying because of her. Steve Buscemi joins as new principal Barry Dort, Joanna Lumley plays Grandmama Hester Frump, and Pugsley starts attending Nevermore. Billie Piper plays music teacher Isadora Capri, and Evie Templeton plays Agnes DeMille, an invisible student obsessed with Wednesday who turns out to be the stalker from the end of Season 1. Lady Gaga also makes a cameo appearance in Part 2.
Wednesday Season 2 Ending Explained: Enid, Isaac, and Aunt Ophelia
The main threat of Season 2 is Isaac Night, played by Owen Painter, and the Addams family ultimately takes him down, with Thing delivering the killing blow. Enid saves Wednesday during the final fight, but the transformation leaves her stuck in her werewolf form.
The finale sends Wednesday and Thing off with Uncle Fester on his motorcycle to track Enid down. Wednesday also chooses to let Tyler live, which keeps the Hyde in play for the next season. The last big reveal centers on Ophelia Frump, Morticia's long-missing sister, who is shown locked away and writing the words "Wednesday must die," a thread Season 3 picks up directly.
Wednesday Cast: Jenna Ortega, Emma Myers, and the Addams Family
Jenna Ortega leads the series as Wednesday Addams, with Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Morticia Addams, Luis Guzmán plays Gomez Addams, and Isaac Ordonez plays Pugsley. Victor Dorobantu performs as Thing, and Fred Armisen plays Uncle Fester.
Hunter Doohan plays Tyler Galpin, Joy Sunday plays siren Bianca Barclay, and Jamie McShane plays Sheriff Donovan Galpin. Georgie Farmer, Moosa Mostafa, and Naomi J. Ogawa round out the Nevermore students as Ajax, Eugene, and Yoko. Season 1 also featured Gwendoline Christie as Larissa Weems and Christina Ricci as Marilyn Thornhill, while Season 2 added Steve Buscemi, Joanna Lumley, Billie Piper, Evie Templeton, and Owen Painter.
Wednesday Season 3 Release Date, Cast, and Paris Setting
Wednesday Season 3 began filming near Dublin, Ireland in February 2026 and wrapped on September 30, 2026, with Netflix marking the occasion by releasing a photo of Ortega at a typewriter. Deadline has reported a 2027 premiere, though Netflix has not announced a specific date. The production also spent time shooting in Paris.
Eva Green joins the cast as Aunt Ophelia, and Winona Ryder comes on as Tabitha, reuniting with Burton and Ortega after Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Lena Headey, Andrew McCarthy, James Lance, Chris Sarandon, Noah Taylor, Oscar Morgan, and Kennedy Moyer are also confirmed as new additions. Ryder's casting gives the show another link to Stranger Things, where she played Joyce Byers. Miles Millar has teased more Addams family members and family secrets in the new season.
How Wednesday Connects to The Addams Family and Christina Ricci
Wednesday is the latest version of a family that started as single-panel cartoons by Charles Addams in The New Yorker in 1938. The characters moved to television with the 1964 sitcom The Addams Family, then to film with Barry Sonnenfeld's The Addams Family in 1991 and Addams Family Values in 1993, followed by animated movies in 2019 and 2021.
Christina Ricci played Wednesday in both Sonnenfeld films, and her role as Marilyn Thornhill in Season 1 of the Netflix series works as a passing of the torch from one Wednesday to the next. The Netflix show is the first live-action take to put Wednesday at the center of the story instead of the family as a whole. The creators have also floated a possible Uncle Fester spinoff, though they've said it's not a priority right now. Either way, I can't wait to see what else is coming.
