WARNING! This post contains minor SPOILERS for Wednesday season 1!While Wednesday primarily takes place at Nevermore Academy, the location of the Addams family’s home is still included. Wednesday mostly takes place at an entirely new location for The Addams Family characters, with the eldest daughter now being sent to the supernatural Nevermore Academy in the fictional county and town of Jericho, Vermont. Additionally, Wednesday utilizes the history and geography of New England for much of its story at Nevermore, including Puritan settlements and Uncle Fester’s crimes in Boston, Massachusetts.
Wednesday season 1 only gives a brief glimpse at the wealthy Addams family’s iconic mansion, which appears when she has flashbacks to burying her pet scorpion. Unless featuring a quick scene before Wednesday heads back to Nevermore Academy, it’s unlikely that Wednesday season 2 will return to the Addams family mansion or explore their lives with “normies” in their hometown. However, the teases from Wednesday season 1’s opening scene already give great insight into the type of community the family resides in, with other hints pinning down the state where they live in the Netflix series.
The Addams Family Is From New Jersey In Wednesday
In Netflix’s Wednesday, the kooky Addams family lives in New Jersey, which is about a six or seven-hour drive to Nevermore Academy in Vermont. While Wednesday’s season 1 premiere reveals that the Addams family mansion is located in New Jersey, the only depiction of their home life sees Wednesday and Pugsley attending school at the fictional Nancy Reagan High School before she’s expelled. The Addamses’ home state is confirmed by the New Jersey license plates on the car that Lurch drives, which aligns with previous adaptations of The Addams Family.
The Addams family almost always lives in the Northeast region of the United States, partially due to the gothic New England architecture and history that fit with the series’ mood. In The Addams Family’s 1960s sitcom, the family’s exact location is hard to pinpoint, but tiny details suggest a New England location. Similarly, small details from The Addams Family’s 1991 and 1993 movies indicate that Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, and Pugsley reside in New Jersey. This is also the case for The Addams Family’s 2019 and 2021 animated movie series, where Gomez and Morticia find their perfect home on the outskirts of New Jersey.
Why The Addams Family Have New Jersey Origins
The Addams family living in New Jersey in Wednesday isn’t random, as it connects to the characters’ origins. The Addams Family cartoonist Charles Addams is originally from Westfield, New Jersey, so their home state is a tribute to the characters’ creator. In fact, The Addams Family mansion design was inspired by a home located in Westfield, New Jersey, which was coincidentally located on Elm Street (via SlashFilm).
In addition to the New Jersey mansion location, Wednesday features several other clever Easter eggs related to Charles Addams. Jericho’s Weathervane Café is a reference to the Weathervane yearbook that Charles Addams drew cartoons for while a student at Westfield High School. Wednesday director and executive producer Tim Burton also mentioned that he has always been a fan of Charles Addams’ drawings and the Addams Family cartoons, which likely inspired his own macabre visuals and characters. As well as personal connections to the artist, many of Wednesday’s costumes and production designs are inspired by Charles Addams’ illustrations.
