Fall means back to school and the start of spooky season, and those craving a dark academia version of Harry Potter need look no further than Netflix’s 16-episode fantasy series, which also serves as a love letter to Edgar Allan Poe. Of all the streaming platforms, Netflix seems most enamored with the American writer, as their library also contains The Fall of the House of Usher, a Mike Flanagan horror series based on several of Poe’s works, and The Pale Blue Eye, a 2022 mystery film featuring a fictionalized version of Poe played by Harry Melling.

Meanwhile, Netflix’s Wednesday, which is executive-produced by Tim Burton, may be an Addams Family show, but it’s just as appreciative of Poe as it is of the creepy and kooky clan created by Charles Addams. Premiering in 2022, Wednesday centers on Morticia and Gomez’s titular teenage daughter, who, after being expelled from public school, is sent to Nevermore Academy for Outcasts. Essentially, Nevermore is best described as “if Poe designed Hogwarts.”

Now is the time of year when Poe and Harry Potter fans alike are rereading their favorite stories, and those who are looking for something new to add to their repertoire should check Wednesday out. With Wednesday season 3 not expected to premiere until the back half of 2027, seasons 1 and 2 make the perfect autumnal catch-up.

Wednesday Has So Many Edgar Allan Poe References

Poe is so important to Wednesday that he’s even a canonical character — though he never appears on screen. Instead, the Netflix teen series reveals that the author of “The Raven” was actually Nevermore Academy’s most celebrated student. The name of the school itself is a line in Poe’s most famous poem — “Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore‘” — and Nevermore proudly displays a statue of the writer in its cloisters.

Speaking of ravens, they’re everywhere in Wednesday. Not only do the actual birds appear constantly throughout the series, but Wednesday’s psychic abilities make her a “Raven” — as opposed to a “Dove” — and the school’s big annual dance in season 1, where Wednesday performs her iconic showstopping number, is called the Rave’N.

Nevermore Academy also honors Edgar Allan Poe by naming their yearly high-stakes boat race competition the Poe Cup. These are just some of the Poe references in Wednesday, but the best of all may center on Wednesday herself. Though the antiheroine is actually quite critical of Poe, referring to him as a “drug-addled madman​​​​​,” she shares his love of literature, writing macabre, Gothic tales herself. Wednesday may hate to hear it, but imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery.

It’s Spooky How Much Wednesday Is Like Harry Potter

While Wednesday‘s Poe references and allusions are obviously intentional, its myriad similarities to Harry Potter aren’t a shoutout to J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world. Still, one would be forgiven for thinking as much.

Like the Boy Wizard himself, Wednesday is a highly talented Outcast who doesn’t fit into the regular normie world. She attends a special school to hone her magical abilities, immediately making an enemy of a privileged classmate and finding a good-natured best friend — even if Wednesday doesn’t welcome Enid with open arms the way Harry does Ron. As in the Harry Potter books, each season of Wednesday sees her uncover a lethal threat connected to her school.

In 2022, The Hollywood Reporter blatantly asked Wednesday‘s creators if they took inspiration from Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, another popular YA book series. Co-creator Miles Millar said, “It wasn’t any homage to Percy Jackson or anything like that, or Harry Potter, but as soon [as] you get to boarding school, the comparisons are there.”

That’s a fair point. Every genre has its tropes, and magical coming-of-age stories are no exception. Plus, nobody could accuse Wednesday of being a Harry Potter knockoff; it has its own clear aesthetic, personality, and vibe. Edgar Allan Poe is just the beginning.

Release Date

November 23, 2022

Network

Netflix

Showrunner

Miles Millar, Alfred Gough

Writers

April Blair