Just weeks before Wednesday returned for a ghoulish second season, Netflix renewed the Addams Family spinoff for an inevitable third outing. Wednesday is Netflix’s most-watched English language show of all time — with 252,100,000 views and counting — so it’s not like you needed psychic powers to see that coming.
As such, you also don’t need to be clairvoyant to figure that Netflix would want to milk that success further with another spinoff. The Addams Family is a beloved pop culture institution, after all, so there’s plenty of scope to create another show that spins out of this spinoff, and it’s not a stretch to assume that Uncle Fester is a strong possible candidate.
Fred Armisen made his debut as the newest Fester in episode seven of Wednesday’s first season, and his guest role has since been expanded in the fourth episode of season two. But before the Portlandia star returned to this kooky, spooky world, Variety reported way back in December 2023 that there were already plans to create a Wednesday spinoff starring him in the lead.
Everyone’s favourite bald uncle is the perfect choice to lead a spinoff, perhaps more than any other character, and Armisen certainly has the chops for it. As he himself said to Tudum, getting cast in Wednesday “was a real case of, ‘Oh, I’m the guy for this. This is something that I would really love to do.'”
Family values
That passion for Fester really shines through in season two when (full spoilers for season 2, part 2 follow) Wednesday’s uncle helps uncover the truth about someone named “Lois” who’s apparently been committed at Will Hill Psychiatric Hospital. Solving that mystery is almost secondary, however, to Fester just making the most out of getting committed himself.
Willow Hill chief Dr. Rachael Fairburn (Thandiwe Newton) dealt with a lot of unhinged patients in her time, but nothing could prepare her – or us – for Uncle Fester’s unique brand of madness.
During his admittance interview alone, Armisen rattles off gag after gag faster than Fester shoots lightning from his fingertips. Between the fake passports (“Fester Dubois,” “Fester Fiesta”) and flashbacks to a younger Fester wearing his “cuddle coat” straitjacket, Fester’s return in Wednesday season two immediately cements him as one of the show’s best characters.
It’s not just that he’s funny either. Fester fully embodies the uniquely morbid outlook that made The Addams Family so popular in the first place, yet he’s not in the immediate family, so he’s separate enough to carry stories of his own but still has potential to overlap with the others on occasion (much like Wednesday herself did in season one).
Combine all that with Fester’s lightning powers, which skew the plot into an entirely different direction, and there’s plenty going on to support a series of his own.
Back in black
Fester’s brief but memorable solo stint in the asylum easily proves that, whether he’s bonding with fellow inmates or hooking up with a lonely dinner lady. “Of all the women I’ve ever used, you’re my favourite,” he says, dead serious, before they passionately make out in the rain as inmates escape all around them.
Grossness aside, who wouldn’t want to see more of that?
Unfortunately, Gough and Millar recently told Collider that they’re too busy working on Wednesday to fully commit to any spinoff ideas just yet: “It’s not a priority at the moment,” Gough explained, “because, as we just said, it’s how do we get Wednesday back faster than we did in Season 2? So, we kind of went right from finishing Season 2 to jumping right into developing Season 3. So, it’s sort of all Wednesday all the time at the moment.”
While that’s good news for fans who don’t want to wait another three years to see Wednesday back on our screens, it doesn’t bode so well for Fester (or any other spinoff for that matter). Yet, talks are still being had, and it’s not like Gough just shot them down completely.
If characters can return from the dead willy nilly, so too can our hopes for an Uncle Fester spinoff. But whatever happens, expect to see a lot more of The Addams Family in the years to come. As it stands, Nevermore will never die, and neither will this franchise.
For more, check out our Wednesday season 2, part 1 review and keep track of when Wednesday returns to screens with our Wednesday season 2 release schedule.
