‘Wednesday’ fans blame Tim Burton for the show’s worst character

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Wednesday season one.

Wednesday, the new reimagining of The Addams Family, has proved to be a huge hit with Netflix viewers this Thanksgiving week – thanks in large part to Jenna Ortega’s perfect performance in the title role. Unfortunately, not every member of the show’s cast of wacky characters makes a positive impact on the fandom. There’s one character in particular that everyone agrees is the worst. And director Tim Burton gets the blame.

The character in question is Xavier Thorpe (Percy Hynes White), one of Wednesday’s sweethearts on the show. Xavier, a fellow student at Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for outcast children, is portrayed as a grumpy, terrified teenager with an obsessive, possessive attraction to our gothic heroine. While this initially makes him a likely suspect for the town’s monstrous killer, the season ultimately lets Xavier off the hook and hints that Wednesday and Xavier could become an item in the next season.

Unfortunately, exactly zero viewers seem interested in that eventuality, which blows Xavier up for his unlikable personality and toxic demeanor. A viral hot take roasted the character as “gross,” labeled him “Incel,” and argued that he could be interpreted as “Tim Burton’s own production.”

Burton has notoriously littered his previous projects with weird male characters who still “get the girl” — see Edward with the scissor handsa film literally born from his doodles as a clumsy teenager.

In this case, however, he can be let off the hook. As those in the comments point out, Burton had nothing to do with scripting Wednesdaywith showrunner Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Kleinville) leads the author team. Still, it’s hard to overlook the connection between Xavier and other characters from Burton’s filmography, who may not have aged as well.