If you are seeing a lot of Gen Z wearing black, plaiting their hair into pigtails and giving you a Kubrick Stare, it’s all because of their new anti-heroine heroine, Wednesday. It has been just over a week since Tim Burton’s new series Wednesday debuted on Netflix but already tweens and teens are channelling the sullen and sardonic daughter of the Addams family.
Defined by the deadpan Christina Ricci in the 90s films, this time round Wednesday has been given a Gen-Z makeover. The series follows a now teenage Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) as she is banished to Nevermore Academy, a creepy boarding school, after an incident involving a school swimming team and a bag of piranhas. What ensues is an action-packed melodrama fusing the genres of murder mystery with horror and a dollop of teenage angst. It has swiftly become Netflix’s most popular show, beating the last series of Stranger Things.