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Is she… you know… kooky and spooky? I’m referring, of course, to the iconic Addams Familycharacter Wednesday Addams, who takes center stage in Netflix’s new Tim Burton-directed teen series, aptly titled Wednesday. The show follows a teenage Wednesday (played to deadpan goth perfection by Scream breakout Jenna Ortega) as she heads to a supernatural boarding school in hopes of harnessing her burgeoning psychic powers. Unfortunately, she soon discovers that, even amongst literal monsters, she’s still an outcast.
As a perpetual outsider, Wednesday has long been seen by some as a queer icon. And many were hoping that in this series, the character would actually be queer. Spoiler alert: That doesn't play out explicitly. But many fans have quickly zoomed in on the love interest potential of her werewolf roomie Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers), who is eager to befriend her curious new classmate, social norms be damned.
Although the bubbly, colorfully dressed Enid is Wednesday’s polar opposite in more ways than one, one of the best parts of the show is watching their unlikely bond grow in the face of murder mysteries and bug-eyed monsters — you know, typical high school stuff. It’s the perfect opportunity for a queer opposites-to-lovers storyline perfectly befitting Wednesday, who’s historically found boys’ interest in her to be pitiable at best. Fans quickly began shipping Wednesday and Enid on TikTok, and even gave them a couples’ name: Wenclair. The duo’s ship name has so far racked up over 417 million views on the app since the show premiered five days ago.
In a recent interview with Elite Daily, Myers shared how she and Ortega often acknowledged their characters’ connection during filming. “I would always say, ‘And they were roommates,’” she said, referencing an iconic Vine video. (In more recent years, the phrase has become popular in online fandoms, implying that “they were roommates!” led to a romantic pairing.)
“Jenna and I would say that all the time to each other,” Myers added. “And that’s all that needs to be said — I think that gets the message across.”
But in classic teen show fashion, Wednesdayside-steps the show’s core relationship and plays it safe, dropping Wednesday freaking Adams into a love triangle between two boys whose characters are about as interesting as cardboard cutouts.
It’s a missed opportunity that stings particularly hard given how seemingly eager Netflix was to target Wednesday Addams’ queer fanbase. Ahead of the show’s premiere, the streamer hosted a party dubbed “Wednesgay,” in which several RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni were challenged to show off their best Wednesday Addams looks. Fans shared the event’s poster on Twitter, but many were disappointed upon realizing that the series’ only canonically queer characters are fellow classmate Eugene’s barely present moms.
To make matters worse, fans noticed that Netflix appeared to be hiding tweets suggesting that Wednesday could be queer. For example, the Twitter account PopCrave recently shared a screenshot of responses to a tweet from Netflix promoting the show, showing that many responses containing the word “gay” had been hidden. Granted, not all of them were exactly celebratory.
Given Wednesday’s domination of Netflix’s Top 10 TV chart, a Season 2 renewal in the near future feels likely. Hopefully next season we get the spooky queer romance that fans deserve.
Let Wednesday Addams Be Gay
Is she… you know… kooky and spooky? I’m referring, of course, to the iconic Addams Familycharacter Wednesday Addams, who takes center stage in Netflix’s new Tim Burton-directed teen series, aptly titled Wednesday. The show follows a teenage Wednesday (played to deadpan goth perfection by Scream breakout Jenna Ortega) as she heads to a supernatural boarding school in hopes of harnessing her burgeoning psychic powers. Unfortunately, she soon discovers that, even amongst literal monsters, she’s still an outcast.
As a perpetual outsider, Wednesday has long been seen by some as a queer icon. And many were hoping that in this series, the character would actually be queer. Spoiler alert: That doesn't play out explicitly. But many fans have quickly zoomed in on the love interest potential of her werewolf roomie Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers), who is eager to befriend her curious new classmate, social norms be damned.
Although the bubbly, colorfully dressed Enid is Wednesday’s polar opposite in more ways than one, one of the best parts of the show is watching their unlikely bond grow in the face of murder mysteries and bug-eyed monsters — you know, typical high school stuff. It’s the perfect opportunity for a queer opposites-to-lovers storyline perfectly befitting Wednesday, who’s historically found boys’ interest in her to be pitiable at best. Fans quickly began shipping Wednesday and Enid on TikTok, and even gave them a couples’ name: Wenclair. The duo’s ship name has so far racked up over 417 million views on the app since the show premiered five days ago.
In a recent interview with Elite Daily, Myers shared how she and Ortega often acknowledged their characters’ connection during filming. “I would always say, ‘And they were roommates,’” she said, referencing an iconic Vine video. (In more recent years, the phrase has become popular in online fandoms, implying that “they were roommates!” led to a romantic pairing.)
“Jenna and I would say that all the time to each other,” Myers added. “And that’s all that needs to be said — I think that gets the message across.”
But in classic teen show fashion, Wednesdayside-steps the show’s core relationship and plays it safe, dropping Wednesday freaking Adams into a love triangle between two boys whose characters are about as interesting as cardboard cutouts.
It’s a missed opportunity that stings particularly hard given how seemingly eager Netflix was to target Wednesday Addams’ queer fanbase. Ahead of the show’s premiere, the streamer hosted a party dubbed “Wednesgay,” in which several RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni were challenged to show off their best Wednesday Addams looks. Fans shared the event’s poster on Twitter, but many were disappointed upon realizing that the series’ only canonically queer characters are fellow classmate Eugene’s barely present moms.
To make matters worse, fans noticed that Netflix appeared to be hiding tweets suggesting that Wednesday could be queer. For example, the Twitter account PopCrave recently shared a screenshot of responses to a tweet from Netflix promoting the show, showing that many responses containing the word “gay” had been hidden. Granted, not all of them were exactly celebratory.
Given Wednesday’s domination of Netflix’s Top 10 TV chart, a Season 2 renewal in the near future feels likely. Hopefully next season we get the spooky queer romance that fans deserve.
