Summary

• The Netflix series Wednesday resurrects a character from a funny Addams Family comic strip scene, taking inspiration from a nanny character.
• Gwendoline Christie plays Principal Weems in the series, drawing inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock films for her character's look.
• The show pays tribute to the original Addams Family works by incorporating lesser-known characters and making references that require viewer knowledge.

The Addams Family has existed for more than 75 years across comics, TV, film, and stage. In that time, it's built a huge cast of characters for future adaptations to draw from. For the Netflix series Wednesday, the team behind the streaming hit resurrected a character from one of the comic's funniest scenes.

In a 1956 strip printed in the New Yorker magazine, Morticia and Gomez Addams are having a date night, leaving the children with a nanny, Miss Weems. Though she looks to be the pinnacle of contrast to the Addamses, she doesn't seem too afraid of their warning to keep her back to the wall all night.

While not a nanny in the Netflix series, she likely inspired Principal Weems of Nevermore Academy, played by Gwendoline Christie.

Principal Weems Draws on Multiple Horror References

From Nanny to Femme Fatale to Principal

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gwendoline Christie said that when got the call to play Principal Weems, Tim Burton told her she had freedom to make her whatever she wanted. Christie wanted to make Larissa Weems an outcast among outcasts, and someone who was always second best next to her roommate, Morticia Frump. Though her short, silver hair and long, classic trenchcoats do look very similar to Miss Weems of the comic, Christie said she and costume designer Colleen Atwood turned to another master of horror for her look: Alfred Hitchcock. Kim Novak and Tippi Hedren, two famous blondes with iconic style who appeared in Hitchcock films, provided an inspiration for Weems' look.

Wednesday is a series that loves its references, so every character doesn't just come from one place. Miss Weems is the children's nanny in the comic, but Wednesday and Pugsley are older in the Netflix series, so giving a different authority figure her name makes sense. Outside the core Addams Family, there are many more lesser-known characters to bring into the show. Charles Addams created many extended family who showed up for holidays, or were mentioned via portraits and photo albums. One comic featured an Uncle Eimar, locked behind a jail door with only a hand visible through the bars. Paying tribute to the original works leaves plenty of names and characters up for grabs.

Making References Has Always Been Part of the Addams Family

Erudite by candlelight, the Addams Family (snap, snap)

While the spooky and kooky Addamses draw much of their humor from acting outside the norm, many jokes depend on the reader's knowledge. In one of the many gags where Morticia knits a sweater for a future Addams baby, she tells Grandmama Frump they're thinking of biblical names, like Cain or Ananias. Many Americans might recognize Cain, but the other name is an obscure story from the New Testament. Similarly, Wednesday pulls many references in naming its locations and characters, like Nevermore Academy and Ophelia Hall. Eagle-eyed viewers will always be rewarded in any good Addams Family media with Easter eggs - though knowing the Addamses, those eggs might be rotten.

Wednesday Season 1 is streaming now on Netflix.