From edits of the characters set to Casual by Chappell Roan on TikTok, to articles from Them apologising to lesbians because the creators have confirmed they aren’t going in a romantic direction with their relationship, and people saying the show is “queerbaiting” the audience — there is undeniably gay panic surrounding this season of Wednesday. And for the record, I get it (I mean, who hasn’t reposted an edit of them to Good Luck, Babe!).
But if I may, I’d like to throw something else into the conversation.
Wednesday Addams would be a better character if she were aromantic asexual.
Yes, you read that correctly. I wholly believe making her aromantic asexual would fix many of the core criticisms about this version of her character.
Some online feel Wednesday was somewhat defanged in her TV show adaptation. While Jenna Ortega plays the character masterfully, the story itself isn’t as biting or subversive as you’d expect from The Addams Family.
Wednesday, at her core, has always been about pushing boundaries and societal expectations. First introduced in 1944, she became a symbol of counterculture, vehemently rejecting traditional femininity. She wore black, was openly evil, deadpan, and had macabre interests. She wasn’t a female character audiences had really seen before — and that’s why she became so iconic. The Addams Family itself was a satire of all-American families, societal norms, and expectations.
In the 1990s, when being a bit gothic was becoming more normalised, Wednesday was fighting against romanticised ideas of Thanksgiving, highlighting how Native American people were victims of genocide, had their land stolen, and endured forced cultural assimilation. At a time when Thanksgiving in popular culture was treated as a warm and fuzzy holiday — all marshmallow stuffing, cosy sweaters, and turkeys on heads — Wednesday Addams refused to have the wool pulled over her eyes.
But Wednesday in the 2020s feels like a hollowed-out version of herself. Where she was once somewhat evil and maudlin, she’s now moral and softer. She was once the one causing trouble, but now she’s the one investigating it. She’s no longer an outcast — and when you’re Gen Z, wearing black and being deadpan aren’t exactly personality traits anymore. Wednesday is no longer a revolutionary feminist character because society has evolved over the 80 years since her inception. That said, updating the text and making Wednesday a woman of colour is a fantastic change, and one worth celebrating.
So how does Wednesday regain some of her famous anti-establishmentarianism? Make her aromantic asexual.
Another major criticism of the show — one that Wednesday’s actress Jenna Ortega shares — is that Wednesday shouldn’t be involved in a love triangle. On an episode of the podcast Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Jenna said, “Everything that she does, everything that I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all. Her being in a love triangle made no sense”. She’s been very vocal about her disdain for this storyline, and I couldn’t agree more.
Love triangles are a mainstay of the teen drama genre, from Belly, Jackie and Elena all thirsting after sets of brothers, to whatever the hell people were thinking trying to make Team Gale or Team Peeta a thing when there was clearly one correct answer. Love triangles are such an institution that the minds behind Wednesday probably didn’t even stop to consider whether the one in season one was necessary — or if it even made sense for the character.
But with Jenna calling into question the need for this plot device, and speaking on how nonsensical it was, things began to shift. In 2023, she told Variety that season two was “ditching any romantic love interest,” which she called great news — and I happen to agree.
Wednesday as a character has rarely been one to find interest in sex and romance, with the line from Addams Family Values coming to mind:
Morticia: Wednesday’s at that age when a young girl has only one thing on her mind.
Summer camp mum: Boys?
Wednesday: Homicide.
A moment that strikes a similar chord in Netflix’s Wednesday is during the first episode, when Wednesday tells Morticia: “I am not you, Mother. I will never fall in love, or be a housewife, or have a family.”
My girl is clearly aromantic asexual.
So why is it that I know without a doubt this potential storyline will never be explored?
Because the media scarcely depicts female asexual and aromantic characters.
Research conducted in 2019 found that more than one-quarter (27%) of asexuals in the US identify as women and almost three-quarters (72%) identify as genderqueer or non-binary. But women and gender diverse people are far less likely to be shown on screen as asexual. From Ca$h in Heartbreak High, to Isaac in Heartstopper, to Todd Chavez in BoJack Horseman, asexual and aromantic characters in leading roles are almost always played by white men.
According to the 2023-2024 GLAAD Where We Are on TV report, out of the 468 queer characters on US television in the 2023–24 season, only a scarce four were asexual — which, for those of you bad at maths, is one percent — and all four came from Netflix.
But despite Netflix also being home to Wednesday, I know in my bones the show will never honour the aroace subtext of the role.
This is an absolute shame, seeing as an aroace Wednesday Addams could do so much good — not just for the show, but for the world at large.
The first season of Wednesday is Netflix’s most popular English-language TV title ever, and is second most popular overall, with only season one of Squid Game outranking it. With millions upon millions of eyes on the show, imagine how beneficial it would be for the asexual and aromantic communities to have that level of awareness.
Asexuality and aromanticism are so under-discussed and so often met with vitriol and scorn. Research conducted in 2018 revealed asexual people in the UK are 10% more likely to be offered or undergoing conversion therapy than other parts of the queer community. According to a 2016 Australian study, 49% of asexual respondents had seriously considered suicide, and 14% had attempted it. Asexual women experience sexual hate crimes at higher rates.
While I’m endlessly grateful to Netflix for platforming and bringing to life a variety of asexual voices and characters over the past few years, I can’t help but feel Wednesday is a missed opportunity.
I understand that some asexual and aromantic people might fear the show and fandom could conflate Wednesday’s perceived lack of emotion with harmful stereotypes — furthering the narrative that we are cold, unfeeling freaks. But I think Wednesday — and Jenna’s performance — already shows a spectrum of emotion; it’s just not overt.
And if we really want to please the gays? Making Wednesday an aroace lesbian would be such thought-provoking representation — and lesbians could still have their Wenclair ship intact, just with an extra representation cherry on top.
So here’s to me praying that someday soon I’ll see an asexual female main character in a television show. But let’s just say I’m not holding my breath.