Wednesday and Harry Potter – 7 Similarities Between Them

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Who doesn’t like a good fantasy thriller?

At the end of 2022, Netflix produced one of the finest fantasy shows, Wednesday which was created by Tim Burton.

If you haven’t seen the show or have just started watching, I would suggest reading no further as it contains spoilers.

Just Like Harry Potter, Netflix’s Wednesday is also based on a young person with special abilties who has been sent to a Special boarding school.

A brief about Netflix’s Wednesday and Harry Potter

Wednesday is the story of Wednesday Adams, a fictional character created by Charles Addams.

As per her fictional biography, she is the daughter of Gomez and Morticia Adams. She also has a younger brother Pugsley.

In the show, she was sent to boarding school by her parents after an incident where she attacked the students who bullied her brother.

Whereas Harry Potter was an orphan who was staying in his Aunt and Uncle’s house. Her later receives a letter to join Hogwarts, where all the adventures take place.

Netflix’s Wednesday is a fun and thrilling ride that has lots of similarities with Harry Potter, lets take a look at it.

7 Similarities of Wednesday with Harry Potter

1. A Dangerous Intra-School Competition

We all are familiar with the intra-house Quidditch tournament and the Tri-Wizard tournament in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In the Tri Wizard tournament Harry took part in the inter-school contest which has a series of dangerous tasks to perform.

It may not be that same, but we got the same vibe in the first season of Wednesday, where Wednesday joined her roommate/friend in a canoe race. The race was an intra-school race, but cheating was allowed and Bianca, Wednesday’s rival was good at it.

Though not as dangerous as Triwizard, it will still remind Potterheads about the Great Lake task of the Tri-Wizard cup.

2. Takes Place at Boarding School – Nevermore and Hogwarts

Both Nevermore and Hogwarts are boarding schools where students with special abilities get admitted.

In Harry Potter, Harry receives a letter to join Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which was also the institute where his parents studied.

In the same way, Wednesday’s parents sent her to Nevermore, where they used to study.

The difference was that Harry was happy to be part of the school where his parents studied whereas Wednesday didn’t have much interest in becoming part of Nevermore.

3. Muggle and Normies

In the Harry Potter world, we are familiar with the word Muggle, who are people who don’t have any special magical powers. In the Harry Potter world, people who have powers are called witches and wizards. 

On Wednesday, we hear the term normies which identifies human beings who don’t have any peculiarity or any special characteristics, and human beings with some peculiarity or special abilities are labeled as outsiders.

4. Special Creatures

We have come across many supernatural magical creatures in the Harry Potter world, dementors, goblins, trolls, giants, werewolves, animagus etc.

While watching Wednesday Season 1, you can see a monster, which is called Hyde, killing school children. This is very similar to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, where Basilisk was responsible for petrifying several; students of Hogwarts.

And who would not remember the scene where Sirius Black, an animagus saves the Harry Potter trio from Prof lupin who had turned into and werewolf.

You can get the same feeling when Enid, Wednesday’ roommate and friend, turned into a werewolf to save her friend from Tyler who was the Hyde.

5. Prophecies 

Lord Voldemort, the villain of the Potter world had heard about a prophecy that a boy born at the end of July would be responsible for his death.

We can find certain similarities in Netflix’s Wednesday in terms of prophecy. As the show Wednesday find out a book that had some predictions and prophecies of the future.

6. Resurrections of the Villains

In both, the stories the followers resurrect the main villain. Peter Pettigrew, a Voldemort’s follower resurrected him in Harry Potter and Goblet of fire.

In Wednesday, the main villain Joseph Crackstone also gets resurrected at the end of Season 1, who was also resurrected by his follower, Marilyn Thornhill.

7. Evil Teachers

In the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer stone, Harry and his friends Ron, and Hermione tries to solve the mystery of events haunting Hogwarts for the sorcerer’s stone. 

In the climax the big surprise is revealed when Hogwart’s own Defense against the Dark arts teacher, Prof Quirell turned out to be the man behind all the evil activities taking place at the school and was hunting the sorcerer’s stone. He is the one who was carrying a part of his master Lord Voldemort.

Wednesday almost have some similarities with Harry’s Quirell. Like Harry’s Quirell, Nevermore has a wicked teacher as well. 

Marilyn Thornhill, whom we initially thought to be a very understandable and caring teacher turns out to be the one who has been controlling the Hyde and manipulating him into killing people.

She was a normie and a hater of the outcast. She uses spells to bring her ancestor Puritans, raging a war against the outcast.

Other than these noticeable similarities, there are a few more similar events you can notice. Few of the other similarities are the ball which is similar to Harry Potter’s Yule Balls. In both the stories parents were quite popular, and in both the stories there is a secret society, like Dumbledore’s army and Belladonna in Wednesday.

Many noticed the similarities between the two stories. However, co-creator Miles Millar said in his interview with the Hollywood reporter that the show is not any homage to Percey Jackson or Harry Potter, but both the show has the boarding school idea thing, so it was bound to be compared.

So, Should Warner Brothers go for a Harry Potter Web Series?

Harry Potter is one of the most successful franchises in cinema history, and it’s one of the most beloved book series as well. With the success of Wednesday, it’s easy to infer that a Harry Potter web series will work perfectly.

The movies were great but they missed out on certain things. A web-series can show us in much detail, as web series as it tends to run longer. They can certainly plan a season per book, and we would be happy to watch all 7 seasons.

Wednesday is certainly one of the finest shows I have seen. If you haven’t seen Wednesday, catch it on Netflix. And the Harry Potter Series is available on Prime

I have surely become a fan of Wednesday and am waiting for season 2.

So how do you like the show? Did I miss pointing out any similarities?

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