New Netflix series Wednesday is spooky, kooky, and super sleuthy, as it sees the titular Addams Family favorite find herself at the center of an intriguing, bloody mystery. Half-directed by Tim Burton, it's Enola Holmes told through a Chilling Adventures of Sabrina filter – and it's littered with twists, turns, and big reveals.
More 'whoisit' than 'whodunnit', the show sees Wednesday sent to Nevermore, an academy for vampires, werewolves, and other unusual youngsters, and before long, she has a run-in with a monster that seems to be offing folks all over town. Desperate to stop the killings or more accurately, simply sniff out the truth, the po-faced teen sets about discovering the true identity of the beast, also known as a Hyde.
With her investigation spread out across its eight episodes, Wednesday makes you wait for the answer, but you do get one, and we've gone into that (and more) below. There's a lot going on elsewhere, too, including a time-bending, resurrection subplot, so we wouldn't blame you if you missed a few details along the way – we're here to clear things up. It goes without saying, then, that this article is heavy on Wednesday ending spoilers, so if you've not finished the horror-comedy yet or purposefully looking to find out things ahead of time, then turn away now. Right, now that that's out of the way, let's get into this Thing...
Who is the monster in Wednesday? Ending explained
After discovering all of his paintings and sketches of the Hyde, and noticing the long scratches on his neck, Wednesday concludes that fellow Nevermore student Xavier Thorpe (Percy Hynes White) must be the Hyde – and alerts the authorities to her findings. In episode 7, the police arrest the incriminated teenager but things take a turn when Wednesday meets her love interest, local barista Tyler Galpin in the the coffee house, and the pair share a passionate kiss.
The smooch sparks one of Wednesday's all-too-telling visions, in which her therapist Dr. Valerie Kinbott (Riki Lindhome) is being savagely murdered by the monster. Her perspective flits between that of the creature and Kinbott's and after a few seconds, the former transforms back into a shirtless, bloodied Tyler, proving that he's the killer. Shocked by what she sees, Wednesday runs off.
A couple of nights later, Tyler protests his innocence in front of Wednesday's back-up; Bianca, Ajax, and the rest of the Nightshade Society in the woods. But as soon as he and Wednesday are alone, he can't help but goad her.
"At first, I'd wake up naked, covered in blood, no idea what happened. But over time, I started to remember everything. The sound of their screams, the panic in their eyes, and a fear so primal I could taste it," he confesses. "It was delicious."
He's not the only bad guy on the scene, however. Earlier in episode 7, Uncle Fester helped Wednesday find a diary from the hidden library, which revealed a Hyde must always have a master. In episode 8, we learn that Tyler is being ordered around by Christina Ricci's botany teacher Marilyn Thornhill, who is actually Laurel Gates, the missing sister of Garrett Gates, the student Wednesday's father was suspected of pushing to his death when they were back at school. (Initially, Wednesday had believed Kinbott to be the monster's master, and Laurel, but Tyler would have had to have been one heck of a Hyde to disobey the one whoever was controlling him).
In truth, Garrett died that fateful night because he accidentally exposed himself to the poison nightshade he'd snuck into the Rave'N Dance, having planned to pour it into the punch and kill the entire school. His reason for wanting to off his peers? Well, Garrett was the son of Ansel Gates, whose family are descendants of Joseph Crackstone, the religious zealot who founded Jericho, accused Wednesday's ancestor Goody Addams of being a witch and burned a crypt full of outcasts back in the 1600s.
Fortunately, Goody managed to escape and exacted her revenge on Crackstone by killing him and shutting his corpse in a sarcophagus only an Addams' blood (on a blood moon, no less) can open again. In short, the Gates now hate all non-human folk, a disdain that was passed down to Laurel and amplified, too, when her brother died and their bereft parents took their own lives.
Wednesday works out that Thornhill is involved in the violent goings on through her bee-keeping pal Eugene (Moosa Mostafa), who tells her that he saw the person who burned the Hyde's cave had on red boots the night he was attacked. (The teacher wears red boots every day).
What's the deal with Joseph Crackstone and Goody Addams?
Throughout the series, Wednesday's ancestor Goody, a fellow psychic, appears to her in her visions. First, she tells the teen to check out the Gates mansion, which is where Wednesday discovers that Laurel – presumed dead – is likely still alive, and preserving severed body parts from the Hyde's killings as trophies in the mansion's cellar.
It's worth noting that this is the first major instance where the monster's true identity is hinted at: Wednesday finds the basement with Tyler and her roommate Enid (Emma Myers), but when she drags Tyler's father Sheriff Galpin over to the residence to check it out, the place is empty. (In hindsight, we know that Tyler hid everything afterward).
Both Goody and Crackstone appear in episode 8, 'A Murder of Woes', after Thornhill uses Wednesday's blood, the body parts from Tyler's victims, and Goody's book of spells to open the latter's tomb and resurrect him. Reborn, a grudge-bearing Crackstone sets out to destroy Nevermore, but not before he stabs Wednesday, believing her to be Goody. As Wednesday lays bleeding out, Goody's spirit appears and insists on sacrificing her soul to save Wednesday so that she can save the school. All healed, Wednesday makes her way to Nevermore to face off against Crackstone.
What happened to Laurel and Tyler?
When his and Laurel's plan to intercept Wednesday at Jericho station doesn't work out, Tyler makes his way to Nevermore, and helps his master bring Wednesday to Crackstone's crypt. While Laurel sets her resurrection in routine, Tyler – in Hyde mode – slashes all of the local police car's tires.
His way back to the tomb is intercepted by Wednesday and her lycanthrope bestie Enid, though, who finally "wolfs out" thanks to that blood moon and starts fighting Hyde-Tyler. Fortunately, for Enid, Tyler's father shows up and incapacitates him with a shotgun before he can do any major damage. The sheriff then sends a heavily restrained Tyler off with a bunch of doctor-looking types in a van. He transforms into a Hyde in the last few seconds of the episode, however, so it's likely we'll see him again in a potential season 2.
Following the beast's battle, Wednesday rushes to Nevermore to take on Crackstone. The pair fight in the fire-filled courtyard and it looks, for a moment, like Crackstone is going to kill Wednesday but Bianca (Joy Sunday) shows up just in the nick of time and plunges a sword through the bigoted pilgrim's chest. Elsewhere, an escaped Xavier helps evacuate the students from the school. Remembering something Goody told her, Wednesday seizes her moment and stabs Crackstone in "his black heart", which causes his reanimated body to disintegrate.
Just as our heroes breathe a sigh of relief, Laurel shows up with a gun. "I might not get to kill all the outcasts, but at least I'll get to kill you, Wednesday," she growls, but she's interrupted by a bee landing right at the end of her pistol. With that, Eugene shows up with a swarm of the insects, and makes them sting them all over, before Wednesday stomps on Laurel's head. That's the last we see of the antagonist. Did Wednesday kill her? We'll have to wait and see.
What about the prophecy in Wednesday?
In Wednesday, episode 1, Wednesday is attacked in the woods by a fellow student named Rowan, who claims his mother saw a vision of Wednesday destroying the town and instructed him to take her out. Just before he can do so, though, the Hyde murders him. We know now that it's because Laurel needed Wednesday alive for the resurrection, but at the time, the Addams figured that the creature must be on her side.
Later on in the season, Wednesday finds an ancient illustration which depicts herself squaring off against Crackstone amongst a fiery blaze. Like Rowan, those aware of its existence have interpreted it to mean that Wednesday will bring about Jericho's ruin, but it's clear now, that it was a flashforward to her saving it from Crackstone instead.
Wednesday often relies on her own visions to help her get to the bottom of things and, up until now, she's always taken them at face value. But perhaps they aren't so matter-of-fact as she's come to believe? When you don't have context, they can be easily misconstrued, it seems.
Is Principal Weems dead?
When Wednesday finally figures everything out in episode 8, she has Principal Weems (Gwendoline Christie) accompany her to confront Thornhill in the conservatory. But shapeshifter Weems doesn't look like Weems at the start of the scene, she's actually posing as Tyler to help Wednesday get a confession out of Thornhill, aka Laurel Gates.
Their plan works, as Wednesday deduces that must have Laurel "unlocked" Tyler's Hyde using a plant-derived chemical at first, before manipulating him and informing him that his mother was institutionalized for being a Hyde. The youngster also posits that Kinbott came close to finding out the truth about Laurel's control over Tyler, and that's why Laurel had her killed.
"Tyler confessed everything to me," Wednesday claims, as Laurel scoffs: "Ugh, that's enough. Tyler, honey, make Mama happy and shut her up," which prompts Weems to reveal herself.
"Don't make this any more difficult than it already is, Marilyn," the headmistress whimpers, angering her corrupt colleague. "My name is Laurel," she shouts, as she stabs Weems in the neck with nightshade poison. Weems falls to the ground, starts frothing at the mouth, and appears to stop breathing. But Gwendoline Christie isn't so convinced that's the last we'll see of her character.
"We haven't seen her put in the ground, have we?" the actor said in an interview with Digital Spy recently. "I feel like Larissa Weems would not really be prepared to entertain or be dominated by anything as commonplace as death."
Will there be a Wednesday season 2?
Showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have previously hinted that more seasons of Wednesday could be on the cards. In an interview with Collider, the duo revealed they have a rough idea as to where to take the Addams Family spin-off in the future – and that they're open to being influenced by fans going forward, too.
"We've laid out what a potential season 2 could look like," Gough told the publication. "It's a roadmap, where I know how to get there on the interstates, but there might be some fun back roads that we can explore, as well."
During another chat with TV Line, Millar said: "We felt like we just touched the surface with those characters and the actors are so amazing in those roles. Catherine is, I think, an iconic Morticia. The relationship between Wednesday and Morticia is also essential to the show, and the idea that Wednesday is trying to forge her own path outside the family is important. [We] definitely want to feature the family as we did this season in a couple of episodes if we were to get a second season."
It would certainly be a surprise if Netflix doesn't greenlight one more chapter at the very least. As of writing, Wednesday holds the record for most hours viewed in a week for an English-language series on the streamer, with 341.2 million hours.
It also tees up another foe for Wednesday as she receives an ominous "I'm watching you" text and GIF on her drive home from Nevermore. "My very first stalker," she jokes in a voiceover. "Maybe this forced vacation will be more interesting than I imagined. Unlike my novel, not every thread has been tied up, nor every question answered. Secrets are still lurking in the dark corners of Jericho. Were Laurel Gates and Tyler just pawns in a bigger game? Will today's stalker become tomorrow's nemesis? I know the suspense is killing you."
All episodes of Wednesday are streaming now. If you're keen to see what else is on offer on the platform, take a look at our guide to the best Netflix shows.
