WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Wednesday season 1!Wednesday season 1 hints at how the title character can finally solve The Addams Family’s oldest mystery regarding Thing. When Enid meets the Addams family’s loyal living hand Thing (played by Victor Dorobantu), she asks what happened to the rest of him. Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday Addams responds that she has no idea where the rest of Thing’s body is, as it remains one of the oldest Addams family mysteries. Since Wednesday already solved a huge Addams family murder mystery in season 1 of the Netflix series, the truth of what happened to Thing’s body could be her next big case.
Since the hand-servant Thing also has no idea where his body is, there’s seemingly no way to solve the mystery unless his body suddenly appears. However, Wednesday season 1’s exploration of Wednesday Addams’ powers indicates she can use her psychic gift to discover Thing’s past. When Wednesday touches an object or person, she’s often overwhelmed with psychic visions that allow her to see moments in the past or future connected to whatever she’s touching. If she can better hone her psychic power in Wednesday season 2, the main character of Tim Burton’s Addams Family show can touch Thing to have a vision about what happened to his body in the past, thus finally solving the great family mystery.
Has The Addams Family Ever Revealed Thing's Origins?
Wednesday's Thing is severed above the wrist with sutures that suggest someone magically brought the hand to life, but his body is a mystery in every Addams Family movie and TV show. It’s possible that the rest of Thing’s body is still alive, and that one Addams family member discovered the chopped-off hand and reanimated it. However, not much is confirmed about Thing in Netflix’s Wednesday, the original Addams Family sitcom, or the 1990s Addams Family movies, so his origins are just as mysterious as the rest of his body.
The original sitcom suggests that Thing has been in the Addams family’s service since Gomez was a child, and may descend from a line of hand servants considering a portrait of his parents depicts two hands. The sitcom writers also envisioned Thing as a mysterious full-bodied creature, who was too abhorrent to be seen except for its tolerable hand (via MeTV). Netflix’s Wednesday appears to give a more human background for Thing, which indicates a sinister past will be revealed when discovering why the hand was severed.
How Thing Came Back To Life In Wednesday
In Wednesday season 1, episode 7, the title character discovers that someone has stabbed and killed Thing in her room. The 16-year-old Wednesday Addams immediately takes Thing to Fester, who is able to bring him back to life after numerous attempts of using his electricity. Fester’s ability to shock Thing back to life indicates that some type of heart or physical life source is what keeps the hand alive, and that he can be resurrected again should he be attacked in Wednesday’s future.
Thing being brought back to life in Wednesday season 1 does suggest that the hand was originally animated in a manner similar to Frankenstein’s monster. Thing may have been discovered by The Addams Family characters as a severed hand of someone they knew, with one of Wednesday’s kooky ancestors likely using electricity or other supernatural powers to give him life. It’s even possible that Fred Armisen's Uncle Fester originally found Thing and brought him to life, as Wednesday reveals that the pair has a long criminal history together.