Snap, Snap – The Addams Family Goes Gothic YA
Everybody’s favourite spooky family gets the Tim Burton treatment in Wednesday, Netflix’s sleek, gothic teen mystery set in a school for supernatural misfits. And honestly? I didn’t hate it.
While Burton may have softened since his Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands heyday, his stylistic fingerprints are all over this show—from the towering architecture of Nevermore Academy (shot in Romania, a perfect gothic backdrop) to the pale complexions, looming shadows, and deadpan one-liners. It’s creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky… mostly.
The real triumph here is Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday. She’s insufferably miserable in all the right ways—stone-faced, sharp-tongued, and oddly magnetic. Ortega doesn’t just imitate the character, she inhabits her with a fresh confidence, balancing the iconic bleakness with enough vulnerability to make her evolution feel earned. Watching her butt up against cheerful werewolf roommate Enid, overbearing adults, and awkward teenage suitors is a highlight. These collisions force Wednesday to (grudgingly) grow, and it’s deeply satisfying to watch.
That said, some of the original Addams charm is lost in translation. The show suffers from a noticeable lack of Gomez and Morticia, whose romantic, macabre energy gave the earlier versions of the family their heart. Luis Guzmán and Catherine Zeta-Jones do what they can, but they’re sidelined in favor of a Hogwarts-meets-Riverdale teen plot that, while entertaining, feels slightly overstuffed. The ancestral haunting subplot had the bones of something brilliant—it felt thematically in step with the Addams’ legacy—but the show’s insistence on playing it overly straight zaps some of the fun. A touch more self-awareness or camp might have balanced the tone better.
Still, the supporting cast shines. Emma Myers’ Enid is an absolute delight, balancing bubbly optimism with genuine emotional depth. Gwendoline Christie’s Principal Weems commands every scene with elegance and menace, and Hunter Doohan as Tyler does a commendable job walking the line between charm and deception. Then there’s Christina Ricci—returning to the Addams universe not as Wednesday, but as a teacher with secrets of her own. Her performance is both nostalgic and shrewd. Yes, her villainy is clearer on rewatch, but Ricci’s natural likability keeps you guessing, making the eventual reveal genuinely effective.
Visually, the show is gorgeous. The Romanian setting gives the show a real sense of place—misty forests, looming buildings, and dark corners that feel like they were pulled from a gothic fairytale. It’s the perfect frame for Wednesday’s grim worldview.
In the end, Wednesday is a stylish, slightly uneven, but thoroughly watchable reimagining of a classic. It’s less a love letter to the Addams Family and more of a spin-off that dabbles in the macabre while firmly planting itself in the YA genre. If Burton’s edge has dulled, Ortega sharpens it again with a performance that’s as cold and cutting as it is compelling.
In My Humble Opinion 