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Wednesday: Did Principal Weems die?
Principal Weems did die by the end of the first season of Wednesday, after she was stabbed during her stand-off with Marilyn Thornhill.
The new Wednesday series has elements that will attract both new fans and old fans to the franchise
One of these elements is the incredible cast of the show. This includes Gwendoline Christie, who plays Principal Weems in the first season of the show, before she sadly died in the final episode.
Is Wednesday worth the watch?
When it was first announced that the newest entry into the The Addams Family franchise would be a Netflix series that focuses on Wednesday Addams and that is directed by Tim Burton, it was clear that the show would have lofty expectations to live up to.
The star-studded cast of the Wednesday series has definitely drawn in many new and old fans.
Although the show has faced some criticism for being too similar to other teen shows, fans have also been pleasantly surprised that there is a murder mystery at the centre of the plot.
Moreover, the show also includes a few references and nods to some of the previous The Addams Family films and shows, which makes it well worth the watch for long-time fans of the franchise.
Wednesday: Did Principal Weems die?
One of the members of the show’s star-studded cast that surprised and delighted fans the most when the first episode of Wednesday premiered on 23 November 2022 was Gwendoline Christie, who is most well-known for her roles in the popular Game of Thrones series and Star Wars: The Last Jedi film.
Christie plays the role of Principal Larissa Weems, the head of Nevermore Academy and a powerful shapeshifter.
Principal Weems is one of the most important characters in the show and fans got to see the relationship between her and Wednesday grow from apprehensive at first, to close allies by the final episode of the first season.
Sadly, in this final episode, titled “A Murder of Woes” Principal Weems dies in Wednesday’s arms after she is stabbed with Marilyn Thornhill’s poisoned syringe.
Earlier in this episode, Wednesday and Principal Weems had planned a scheme by which Weems would transform into Tyler in order to trick Thornhill into revealing her evil plan to control the Hyde monster in order to resurrect Joseph Crackstone.
Even though this plan did work exactly as they had hoped, Thornhill reacted quickly and stabbed Principal Weems as soon as she transformed back into herself.
How does Wednesday and Principal Weems’s relationship evolve on the show?
When Wednesday first arrives at Nevermore at the start of the first season of the show, she is hell-bent on escaping the school.
For this reason, and because of the tumultuous history that Principal Weems has with her ex-roommate and Wednesday’s mother, Morticia, Principal Weems serves as an obstacle in Wednesday’s way at the beginning of their relationship.
However, as the two characters start to learn more about each other, it is clear that they develop a mutual respect for each other, even though Principal Weems still keeps key information about the Hyde monster to herself in order to protect the school’s reputation.
Principal Weems even defends Wednesday’s actions in front of the staff and police.
By the end of the first season of Wednesday, Principal Weems and Wednesday had become close allies, who trusted each other enough to try and trick Thornhill together in the end.
Did Gwendoline Christie know about the shocking end of the first season?
In an interview where Gwendoline Christie describes her excitement about getting the role of Principal Weems and working with Tim Burton and some of the cast members on Wednesday, Christie revealed that she knew what was going to happen to her character, even if the scripts were not written out yet.
Christie and the creators of the show said that they felt it was important that she knew her full arc and fate in the show to be able to play such a complex and shifting character accurately from the very start of the show.
What is the significance of Principal Weems’s death on the show?
It shocked many fans of the series when Principal Weems was already killed off in the first season of Wednesday. However, it turns out that this is exactly what the creators of the show wanted.
The Wednesday showrunners, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, explained in an interview that they wanted Principal Weems’s death to really feel impactful for Wednesday’s character.
They wanted it to emphasise the sacrifices that her character will need to get used to moving forward and they wanted to add gravity to the series as a whole.