WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Wednesday season 1!Wednesday’s Easter eggs are easier to spot, others became obscured in darker lighting, but Netflix’s official production images help clarify the presence of the series’ subtle movie references.
One of the best Easter eggs regarding Tim Burton’s 1988 horror-comedy Beetlejuice was featured in Wednesday season 1, episode 7. When Tyler and Wednesday are watching the “horror movie” Legally Blonde at Crackstone’s Crypt, the duo are eating popcorn from white-and-black striped bags, which mimic the design of Beetlejuice’s iconic striped suit. Since the lighting in Wednesday’s episode is much darker than in production images, the contrast of the white and black stripes appears more gray, thus losing the effect of the Beetlejuice design on the popcorn bags. Considering Tyler and Wednesday were watching a movie in a crypt, which is similar to the cemetery Beetlejuice frequented, ’s Tim Burton Easter egg was particularly fitting.
Wednesday’s Other Tim Burton Easter Eggs Explained
The hidden popcorn bags are just one of Wednesday’s many Easter eggs aimed at Tim Burton’s past projects, including a Beetlejuice-inspired shrunken head in Principal Weems' office. Wednesday’s production designer Mark Scruton told Netflix’s Wednesday's Marilyn Thornhill actress Christina Ricci) and Willy Wonka’s hat from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Netflix’s Addams Family TV show also has clever Easter eggs from Tim Burton’s past movies at Uriah’s Heap in Jericho. As Enid and Ajax brush the fur of the stuffed roadkill, Wednesday reveals that some of the mice are dressed up as celebrities or movie characters. In addition to mice dressed as Elvis, Evel Knievel, and Freddy Krueger, Netflix’s production designer explains that a few of the animals in the taxidermy shop are wearing costumes based on Tim Burton characters. In an interesting paradox, this suggests that Tim Burton exists within Wednesday, and clearly has an unspoken influence on the town of Jericho.
Wednesday’s Monster Brings Back Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Style
As Beetlejuice explored the afterlife and the terrifying transformations of ghosts to scare the living, Tim Burton created some bizarre monster designs. One design from Beetlejuice is strikingly reminiscent of Tyler’s Hyde monster in Wednesday. The big eyes, wild hair, and sharp teeth of the Hyde resemble the scary snake that Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice turns into when proving to Adam and Barbara that he can frighten the Deetz family out of their house. While this similarity is most likely coincidental, Wednesday’s monster design refreshingly brings back the brilliantly wacky style of Tim Burton’s scariest creatures from the 1980s.