Born in a magazine cartoon
The ADDAMS family began in single-panel cartoons drawn by Charles Addams for The New Yorker magazine from 1938. They were a spooky, gloomy family living in a crumbling mansion, and they found normal life strange. The characters had no names until a television series was made in 1964, when Addams named them. The daughter became WEDNESDAY, after the old nursery rhyme that says Wednesday's child is full of woe. Her parents are GOMEZ and MORTICIA, her brother is PUGSLEY, her uncle is FESTER, and the family's tall butler is LURCH.
THING, a hand that scuttles about the house on its fingertips, has been part of the family since the 1960s.
A dance she made up herself
The Netflix series Wednesday, first released in 2022, sends Wednesday away to NEVERMORE Academy, a boarding school for OUTCAST students such as werewolves, sirens and psychics. It was partly directed by Tim Burton, famous for his gothic films, and it became one of the most-watched series in Netflix's history within weeks. The actor Jenna Ortega, who plays Wednesday, made up the character's jerky, unblinking dance at a school party herself, and people copied it in millions of videos online. She also learned to play the CELLO for the role, which Wednesday plays alone in her room.
In the series, Thing is played by a real person: a Romanian magician called Victor Dorobantu, whose hand was filmed with the rest of his body covered in blue so it could be removed on computer. The show was filmed in Romania.
Clicking fingers and a family of actors
The first Addams Family television series, in 1964, was filmed in black and white and ran for two series. Its theme song, with its famous finger clicks, was written by the composer Vic Mizzy, and people still click along to it. In two films in the early 1990s, Wednesday was played by the young actor Christina Ricci, whose deadpan performance shaped how people imagined the character for a generation.
When the Netflix series was made, Christina Ricci returned in a new role, as a teacher at Nevermore called Marilyn Thornhill, a nod to fans of the films. A second series of Wednesday was released in 2025.
A school named after a poem
The school's name comes from The Raven, a famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe from 1845, in which a mysterious bird answers every question with the single word nevermore. In the series, Poe is a former pupil of Nevermore, and a RAVEN is a recurring symbol. Poe, who is also credited with inventing the detective story, appears on our famous authors page. Wednesday herself, sharp, clever and unbothered by what anyone thinks, spends the series solving a mystery.
Her roommate, ENID, a cheerful werewolf, is her opposite in every way, from her rainbow-coloured half of their room to her love of hugs. BIANCA is a siren, XAVIER an artist whose paintings come to life, and TYLER, the son of the local sheriff, has a secret, as a monster called a HYDE. The headmistress is Larissa WEEMS. The nearby town of JERICHO was founded by PILGRIM settlers, including the sinister Joseph Crackstone, and hides the dark history of GOODY Addams, Wednesday's ancestor. The mood of the whole show is GOTHIC.