WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Wednesday season 1!While Gomez attended Nevermore Academy in his youth, Wednesday confirms that the quirky Uncle Fester Addams was never a student. Wednesday season 1 reveals that the Addams family has a long, important history at Nevermore Academy, beginning with Goody Addams killing Joseph Crackstone and forming the Nightshades society in the 17th century. As Wednesday continues the Addamses’ legacy at Nevermore in the Netflix series, she learns more about her influential family members and ancestors who attended the school as outcast teens, including her parents Gomez and Morticia, who were wrapped up a 1990 murder mystery. Missing from Morticia and Gomez’s Nevermore experience, however, was Fester.
Similar to how Pugsley Addams doesn’t go to Nevermore with Wednesday, Fester divulges that he wasn’t able to attend Nevermore with his brother Gomez. When Fester visits in Wednesday episode 7, he tells his favorite niece that while he didn’t go to Nevermore, he used to occasionally drop in on Gomez. When visiting young Gomez and Morticia one night, Uncle Fester went to the Nightshades Library and read the diary of Nathaniel Faulkner, who did substantial research on the dangerous Hyde monster. Considering he’s extremely knowledgeable about the school’s history, has a family legacy at the academy, and mastered his supernatural power to generate electricity, Uncle Fester’s failure to attend Nevermore is surprising.
Uncle Fester Might’ve Been Too Troublesome For Nevermore
Fester Addams suggests the reason why he didn’t attend Nevermore with Gomez is that he was too troublesome and didn’t have good grades, as he remarks that Gomez "got all the brains." Wednesday's Uncle Fester is a career criminal who commits armed robbery, is often arrested for his crimes, and even elected to get several lobotomies, indicating he was too unruly for Nevermore Academy to handle even in his youth. Wednesday's troublesome nature nearly had her expelled by Principal Weems several times over the course of Wednesday season 1, with Uncle Fester being far more notorious for not following rules.
Uncle Fester not attending Nevermore with Gomez as a teenager also could have been because he was already at a different institution. Fester tells Wednesday that he saw a Hyde in 1983 during his “vacay” at the Zurich Institute for the Criminally Insane. It’s implied that Fester himself was a patient during this time, so Nevermore likely wouldn’t have accepted the character despite his family legacy. Since Wednesday’s supernatural Nevermore Academy is meant to be a prestigious school for successful students, Gomez Addams' acceptance was apparently due to his good grades, typical rule-following, and career aspirations as a lawyer and businessman.
Did Gomez’s Arrest Keep Fester From Going To Nevermore?
Another explanation for why Fester never went to Nevermore Academy could be Gomez’s arrest in 1990. While a student, Gomez was arrested for the murder of Garrett Gates, who was actually killed by his own vial of nightshade poison. Since charges against Gomez were dropped, he was able to graduate from Nevermore the following year, but the scandal may have impacted the school’s decision to admit his criminally-inclined brother Fester. Though Wednesday Addams was eventually accepted into Nevermore 30 years later, her status as an excellent student makes her less risky than Fester.
It’s unclear whether Fester is older than Gomez in Netflix's Addams Family adaptation, but if Gomez is the younger brother, then his arrest likely wouldn’t have impacted Fester’s enrollment. Wednesday also implies that Fester may have never wanted to attend Nevermore, as schools and formal institutions aren't where he thrives. While Wednesday is Fester’s favorite family member, Pugsley seems to be closer to Fester in terms of disposition, as Wednesday’s brother stated he thought he would be the first one placed behind bars. If Pugsley proves to be more troublesome with worse grades than Wednesday’s title character, he could follow in Fester’s footsteps by not attending Nevermore.