Entertainment Television

Secrets Unleashed: The Spellbinding Journey of Netflix’s Wednesday

Ashley - July 9, 2023

The re-imagination of the highly celebrated Addams family on Netflix’s hit series Wednesday has proven to be a hit! This show has captured a new generation of audiences with its spellbinding story filled with enigmatic yet relatable characters, and it has set a high bar for other coming-of-age supernatural fantasy series. Filled with beloved characters and established mythos nearly every viewer was already aware of, those involved in the making of Wednesday were under some serious pressure to succeed. They needed to do justice to the show’s long-established and celebrated history while creating a new story that would captivate new audiences. Such an enormous feat wouldn’t have been possible without serious dedication, commitment, and hard work from everyone involved. With Tim Burton leading the helm and Jenna Ortega devoted to creating an accurate yet unique portrayal of Wednesday Addams, this show quickly became a media sensation! Fans want to know the secrets behind the making of this bewitching show and the internet is prepared to share. Here’s everything we know about the behind-the-scenes making of Netflix’s Wednesday.

Secrets Unleashed: The Spellbinding Journey of Netflix’s Wednesday — Photo Credit: twitter.com

Thing Wasn’t CGI

Fans were absolutely shocked when these pictures were released on Netflix’s official Twitter. Thing, an essential part of the mythos of the original Addams Family series and an iconic element of the new series Wednesday, wasn’t created through the use of CGI. Instead, a prosthetic hand was created for this role, and Victor Dorobantu, a Romanian magician and internet personality, was cast to play its role. Dorobantu wore a blue chroma-key suit and headpiece while controlling the prosthetic to make it easy to edit him out of the final cut. This was a pivotal decision that gave Thing more of a believable personality. Its movements and appearance give a convincing performance that helps draw audiences into the magic of the story and become enthralled in the fantasy.

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A Perfect Full-Circle Moment

Casting Christina Ricci in the role of Ms. Thornhill delivered a beautifully meta full-circle moment for this cherished spin-off. Ricci played the young Wednesday Addams in the critically acclaimed 1991 Addams Family movie. Her casting not only provided the series with a natural bit of authenticity and pleased long-time fans of the series, but it was also a happy instance of fate! The original choice for this role was Thora Birch, star of The Walking Dead. However, personal matters prevented Birch from joining the production, which left the spot open for Christina Ricci. She immediately jumped at the opportunity to once again be involved in the mystical world of the Addams family, and fans were thrilled to see a familiar face.

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Tim Burton Grew Close With The Cast

As the director of critically acclaimed Gothic fantasy and horror films, Tim Burton seemed like the perfect choice to take on the challenge of bringing Wednesday Addams and the fantastical plot to life. Burton has done an outstanding job of creating the right atmosphere on the show that combines a bit of horror with fantasy, comedy, and a relatable coming-of-age journey. Everyone knows that actors, actresses, directors, and various production team members work long hours and even longer months to bring these types of productions to life. It only stands to reason that the main cast would become close with each other and the director, whom they work with diligently every day. Burton posted this adorable picture of himself with Ortega and Ricci while on the set of Wednesday and we love seeing how close the cast has become!

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Wednesday’s Distinctive Outfits

Wednesday Addams wouldn’t be the character we all know and love if she conformed to every expectation placed on her. Thankfully, the show took the direction of giving her a unique outfit that made her stand out from the crowd at school. Wednesday’s aesthetics and style are massive parts of what makes her character so recognizable. Fans have fallen in love with her Gothic style, and Tim Burton wanted to honor that while providing her with a little extra pizazz. The white lace on her outfits presents a different edge than the outfits tradition of this character, and fans are here for it! Not only does it provide an extra flare to her outfit, but it also helped symbolize the lighter elements of her personality blending seamlessly with the darkness.

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Emma Myers Loved This Outfit

Emma Myers portrays Enid Sinclar, Wednesday’s sunny and colorful Californian roommate at Nevermore Academy. Sinclar is a werewolf student at Nevermore Academy, and she posted a variety of behind-the-scenes photos of her on the set of Wednesday. She posted this photo on her Instagram account to share her love for this costume with fans. This is probably one of the easier costumes for an actress to wear during filming because it requires minimal time spent on makeup and prep. Without any prosthetics or intricate makeup, Myers didn’t have to worry about spending hours in a chair every day before filming as many actresses do on similar genre shows. We totally understand why Myers loves this outfit, and fans love the sneak peek she offers on her social media.

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Gwendoline Christie’s Outfits Inspiration

Fans loved Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones and they’re absolutely raving about her performance as Principal Weems! Perhaps you were used to seeing Christie encased in armor during her tenure on GoT, but she’s officially ditched the armor in favor of more casual and elegant attire. The costume designer who created the style for Principal Weems’ outfits, Colleen Atwood, gives credit to Tippi Hedren from the Alfred Hitchcock class, The Birds for her costume choices. The designer consulted Christie about the outfits she prepared and explained her inspiration. Christie was sold on the look, and statically shared her excitement with her fans on social media. In fact, Christie has even stated during interviews that her role as Principal Weems is the first time she felt beautiful on the big screen.

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A Beautiful Friendship

Working long hours together, the actresses on the set of Wednesday learned to rely on each other. They’ve become each other’s strength and support as they work together to bring these enigmatic characters and dynamic storylines to life. Despite an age gap of more than twenty years, Jenna Ortega and Gwendoline Christie formed a beautiful friendship behind the scenes of Wednesday. Jenna Ortega shared this adorable picture on her Instagram, and fans were thrilled to see the actresses supporting each other. Whether they spend their days running lines, filming scenes, or goofing off, Ortega and Christie have developed a friendship that will last for ages.

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Uncle Fester’s Bald Head Is Legit

Who doesn’t love Uncle Fester? Aside from Wednesday Addams herself, he’s become the top fan favorite of the series. This goofy, silly, and brave man has become a central character in this Gothic Netflix series, and we love learning all the juicy tidbits about the way the actor dedicated himself to the role. Most people would assume that Fred Armisen is wearing a bald cap to create Uncle Fester’s iconic look, but that isn’t true. Armisen wanted to give his all to the role and embody the character of Uncle Fester as accurately as possible. So, he literally shaved his head for this role! Fans love it when the actors portraying their favorite characters commit themselves so deeply to the role, and Armisen had done Uncle Fester justice throughout the series.

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Impressive Dedication To The Role

It seems Fred Armisen isn’t the only one who took his dedication to portraying his character as seriously as possible. Jenna Ortega posted this photo on Twitter of herself taking cello lessons, and we’re here for it! Many actors or actresses whose characters play a musical instrument will mimic playing the instrument while the sound is edited in later on in the process, but not Ortega! She started taking lessons when she was cast for the role of Wednesday Addams, and we’re seriously impressed. The montage in episode one that cemented Wednesday as a proficient cello player was actually played by Ortega. She’s dedicated herself to giving this role her all and we couldn’t be more thrilled.

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Visual Tricks Make This Series Even Better

Fans of the series must know that the production team has worked incredibly hard to bring the show and characters to life, but they may not realize the extent of some of the visual tricks used to create the right atmosphere for the series. A ton of different tricks and visual illusions were used to give the audience a sense of authenticity and it’s created an amazing experience for fans and those working on the show. In this picture, you can see that George Burcea, the actor who played Lurch, looks incredibly tall. While he is tall in real life, this is actually a bit of an illusion. The production team built two separate cars and positioned the second one on a downward slant on the driver’s side. They did this to help exaggerate Lurch’s height without being obvious about it, and the result is perfect!

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The Long Clean Ups

When you have a werewolf on the team, you know there will be some messes on occasion. Emma Myers, who portrays Wednesday Addam’s werewolf bestie at Nevermore Academy, posted this adorable photo on her Instagram after a long day of filming. Her legs were covered in dirt from her character’s werewolf antics. It takes a long time to scrub someone down back to beauty base zero, so this was the perfect opportunity for a photo op. Emma captioned the photo to explain that they were actually using shaving cream to scrub the dirt off her legs! Most people would just use soap and water, but who are we to second-guess this impressive team? Perhaps shaving cream works more quickly and efficiently. Put shaving cream on your list of cleaning hacks to try the next time you run around in the dirt like a werewolf!

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A Very Long Way From Home

With great power comes great responsibility. We know that quote is from an entirely different franchise, but it definitely applies here. Tim Burton was under a lot of pressure to create absolute perfection as the hype around Wednesday grew larger and more intense with every passing day. The director wanted to give the series a solid level of authenticity, which is why he chose Romania as the default filming location. The atmosphere and rich history and mythos of Romania was the perfect choice for a show like Wednesday, and we have to say that his hard work paid off! The entire crew had to make a lot of sacrifices to spend months in a foreign land so very far away from home. It wasn’t easy, but the sacrifices, dedication, and hard work created unbreakable bonds between the crew and a compelling, unforgettable show.

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Eat Your Turkey And Watch The Show

Do you remember the epic Thanksgiving scene? Long-time fans of the Addams family will know that scene was actually a throwback to the 1991 film when Christina Ricci played the iconic role of Wednesday Addams. In the movie, Wednesday sets her camp’s Thanksgiving play ablaze in a defiant display of anti-colonialism. The rejection of settler colonialism continues to be a major theme in Wednesday, and they recreated that iconic scene in the episode “Friend or Woe.” Wednesday sabotages a tourist attraction and calls out the white-washing of history she sees happening. The actress wanted to encourage fans to watch the episode due to its importance in a social justice sense and also because of the wonderful full circle moment it provides the series. She posted this Tweet with the caption, “Eat your turkey and maybe watch the show. Please don’t let this outfit be for nothing.”

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Easter Eggs Galore

You can’t have a visionary like Tim Burton as the director and producer on set without expecting some artistic surprises. The legendary creator is well-known for his sneaky habit of throwing Easter eggs into the background of his work. This photo only shows one example, but there are dozens sprinkled throughout Wednesday that die-hard fans of Burton’s work will recognize. In this photo, you can see some actual weathervanes on the back of the Weathervane coffee shop. Look closely and you’ll also notice the iconic headless horseman from Sleepy Hollow and the classic top hat from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Don’t deprive yourself of the glorious excitement of finding hidden Easter eggs throughout the series. There’s no better time to binge-watch every episode to find what you might have missed than right now!

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Making A Serious Show With Unserious People

When filming wrapped for season one, Joy Sunday posted this photo on Instagram and captioned it with, “I spent 7 months in the past year making a spooky kooky show with some deeply unserious people. Thanks to the entire Wednesday cast for an unforgettable experience in a foreign land.” Joy Sunday, who plays the Siren Bianca on Wednesday, posted this photo to express how much she’d enjoyed filming with her fellow cast members. It must be a relief to work with people who are just as goofy and silly as you are. Filming such a massive project, especially one with frequently creepy and serious undertones could take a toll on the cast. That’s why it’s so important to have a vibrant group of people who are able to joke around and have a great time together.

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The Iconic Stare

Wednesday Addams has always been known for her creepy demeanor and intense personality, but Jenna Ortega managed to take it up to eleven for her performance on Wednesday. Ortega wanted to give Wednesday Addams a character trait that was unique, spooky, and still true to the character’s original mannerisms. While Ortega did a lot to bring this character to life and give her some special quirks, this one has to be the most noticeable. Wednesday Addams has always been known for her iconic deadpan stare, but Ortega amplified the spookiness of this by refusing to blink! It wasn’t an intentional piece of Ortega’s portrayal, but while working hard to embrace her character’s personality, she realized she’d filmed an entire scene without blinking. She and Tim Burton discussed this and decided to bring that trait to the forefront, and it’s become one of the most recognizable aspects of Wednesday’s character.

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A Dream Come True

Tim Burton always dreamed of working on a project related to The Addams Family. In fact, he’d tried twice in the past to be part of such a project, but it didn’t work out. He almost got chosen to produce the 1991 film, but had to turn the opportunity down due to working on the massive Batman Returns project. It took two more decades before Burton finally got the opportunity he’d been waiting his entire life for. When he was chosen to co-produce and direct Wednesday, Burton’s life-long dream was finally fulfilled. It only took three attempts and multiple decades, but he got there eventually, and he’s proven himself to be the perfect choice for this position. It just goes to show that you can never give up on your dreams because you never know when the perfect opportunity will come knocking on your door.

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Always Cast A Magician

We already mentioned how impressed we were with Victor Dorobantu’s uncanny ability to bring Thing, the creepy severed hand, to life in Wednesday. The Romanian magician has a natural talent for creating spooky yet realistic movements with this prosthetic hand. It turns out his predecessor, who played the mischievous hand in the 1991 film, was also a magician! Christopher Hart, the man who brought Thing to life in the ’90s movies, had a similar talent for giving this lifeless hand a life-like personality. When you learn this information, it proves another full-circle moment for Wednesday that feels more like destiny than a happy accident. Dorobantu and Hart have done amazing jobs bringing this creature to life, and we have to wonder if it’s because they’re both magicians and know something the rest of us don’t. We’re both impressed and a little spooked- which is exactly how it should be for a series like this!

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The Viral Wednesday Dance Was Improvised

Even people who haven’t watched the series know of the iconic Wednesday dance. The dance went viral on various social media platforms, and massive credit was given to Jenna Ortega for choreographing the dance. However, while speaking about the dance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Oretga mentioned she was only given two days to choreograph the dance. She said, “[Burton] was like, ‘I know you’ve got it. You’ve been working on it. I’m not even worried about it. I trust you.’ And I said, ‘Oh, yeah, you know, it’s all so good.'” That’s a lot of trust for the famous director to put in his cast, but it worked out beautifully. Ortega managed to pull off an impressive dance that stole the attention of audiences worldwide, and created an internet sensation to boot!

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Breaking Records

It shouldn’t come as any surprise to fans of the series that Wednesday broke some serious records when it was released. Before this series, the biggest talk of the town was Stranger Things. Stranger Things was the first record-breaking show on Netflix to ever come out, and it set a precedent for other shows to hit if they wanted to be a media sensation that decimated records. Wednesday blew up when it was released, which isn’t too surprising considering all the hype surrounding this show during filming and production. The fourth season of Stranger Things previously held an astonishing record of 335.01 million hours viewed, and it seemed that show would hold onto that record for quite some time. However, once Wednesday came out, it shattered that record with an unbelievable 341.2 million hours of watch time. Since then, the watch time of Wednesday has surpassed a billion hours, which is absolutely insane to think about.

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The Intense Bloody Dance Scene

Acting isn’t always the most comfortable experience, especially when you have gallons of fake blood draining down on you while wearing party attire. It’s always fascinating for fans to learn about the behind-the-scenes moments that helped bring these iconic moments to life. This intense, bloody dance scene went down as one of the most epic moments in the history of the series, and that is thanks to the direction of Tim Burton and the dedication of the actresses and actors involved. Just moments before the scene was filmed, Burton went onto the floor and carefully went over exactly how he wanted each moment to go. Jenna Ortega took his directions to heart, which allowed her to create such an intense moment with ease.

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A Professional At Every Stage

Reading through this list, you’ve probably come to the conclusion that Jenna Ortega is an amazing, one-of-a-kind professional that takes her dedication to the role to the next level. Along with creating the epic “no-blinking” look for Wednesday Addams, choreographing a viral dance scene in two days, and acing a scene that involved fake blood pouring over her while making it look effortless, we have another example of Ortega making her job look easy, even though we know it’s anything but that! During this scene, Ortega needed to maintain intense eye contact with the Hyde monster. That doesn’t sound too bad until you take into account the super bright lights burning her retinas and the cameras capturing her every movement. Ortega flew through this scene with ease and didn’t even flinch despite the harsh lighting and immense pressure. She truly is the perfect choice for this role!

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The Whole Crew Became Close

We’ve talked a little about some of the relationships that were forged between the main cast on this series. However, they weren’t the only ones who created tight bonds. The entire crew who worked on Wednesday became unimaginably close as they worked long hours and even longer days in a foreign land. They learned to trust each other and rely on each other for everything. These bonds will last a lifetime, and we have tons of pictures that show us just how close the hard-working members of this cast became. It’s wonderful to see everyone gathered together, having a great time, even in the middle of filming a series that requires such intensity and dedication.

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Fighting For True Love

We don’t have to keep trying to convince you that Jenna Ortega is a dedicated actress who deeply respects her character and wants to portray her as authentically as possible. Ortega has been very vocal about the things she agrees and disagrees with in terms of storylines for her character, and one of the biggest disagreements she’s had with director Tim Burton is the love story. Wednesday’s love triangle with Xavier and Tyler doesn’t appear to suit Wednesday’s character, and Ortega hasn’t been shy about expressing her dissatisfaction with this plot. She’s expressed that the true love story should be between Wednesday and her cheery roommate, Enid. However, Ortega has also stated that she’d be happy with her character remaining single for a while. We’ll have to wait and see what happens!

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Awkward Moments Are Unavoidable

We discussed some awkward filming moments earlier, like the bloody dance scene and the damaging bright lights Ortega had to stare into, but this is a funnier awkward moment from behind the scenes of Wednesday that we had to share. Filming moments like these where Thing interacted with Wednesday created some awkward situations. Victor Dorobantu put himself into some awkward and uncomfortable positions to create the perfect scene where Thing was crawling on Wednesday or on her bed without the rest of his body getting in the way. Sometimes he was crouched down for hours at a time to film these scenes! This is true dedication, and the results are stunning! Dorobantu did an amazing job creating realistic movements for Thing despite the awkward positions he had to get himself into.

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Emergency Blankets Were A Necessity

Filming in Romania presented some unique challenges to the cast and crew of Wednesday. They had to adjust to living in a foreign land for long periods of time where they didn’t speak the language or know anyone. Being away from their friends and families for so long must have taken a toll on the cast and crew, but one of their biggest discomforts was the weather. Emma Myers, the actress who portrayed Enid, shared this photo on her Instagram to give fans an inside look into what it was like filming in Cantacuzino Castle. The temperatures in Busteni, Romania were frigid, and after being splashed with cranberry juice for a scene, the actors donned these emergency blankets. The blankets reflected their body heat and helped contain it to keep them warm despite the punishing temperatures.

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Bringing The Hyde Monster To Life

The Hyde monster is an iconic creature in Wednesday and a massive part of the mythos associated with the Addams family. It’s not easy to bring such a massive, intimidating creature to life. Thankfully, we have some behind-the-scenes pictures that show exactly how this was done. The man who helped bring the Hyde monster to life has to get fully suited up to bring this monster to life. The creators of the series hired a stunt double and made him wear a special outfit. This helped make the CGI production much easier. Part of his outfit included tall sticks he stood on to keep the image that the monster was taller than every other creature on the show.

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Final Tribute To Jenna Ortega

We’ve spent a lot of time discussing how much of a hardcore, dedicated actress Jenna Ortega is, and we’d like to wrap this list up with one final tribute to the amazing actress. Earlier, we mentioned how the actress learned to play the cello for her role, but we neglected to mention all the other impressive skills she learned for the sake of her character. Along with learning how to play a very complicated instrument, the young actress also took fencing, archery, canoeing, and German language lessons! Her dedication to her character and bringing authenticity to the role is truly astonishing. This actress is destined for an amazing career, and we’re so glad the role of Wednesday Addams has brought her to the forefront of the entertainment industry.

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