Woe to everyone who binged season 1 of Wednesday! What will we do while we wait for season 2? Lie in our crypts and count ravens outside the window? Work dark magic to make season 2 come sooner? Those are good ideas, but you can avoid wasting away into a wraith by watching some similar TV. Like these 15 shows!
Some of these series are super spooky. Others are New England private school dramas, or fantastical murder mysteries. Some are critically acclaimed dramas, while others are just light, silly fun. But each of them should scratch your itch for more Wednesday vibes.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Let’s get the obvious series out of the way first. Is Wednesday kind of a carbon copy of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina? Well, they’re both 16-year-old witchy types who somehow manage to be outcasts even at schools for outcasts, so yes, Wednesday and Sabrina would have a lot to talk about if they met. Sabrina Spellman is torn between the dark world of immortal witches and the human world she’s most comfortable in, and she has to carve out a path for herself while trying to outwit Satan.
Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew, based on the classic mystery series by Caroline Keene, focuses on the titular teenage sleuth as she solves weekly chilling mysteries. Get ready for demons, ghosts, and jump scares galore. Although the show received mixed reviews during its four-season run, it’s perfect if you’re in the mood for a plucky girl detective.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
One of the best shows of the ’90s, Buffy focuses on Buffy Summers, one of the few young girls in each generation to be chosen as a slayer. Buffy and her scooby gang of friends fight vampires, demons, monsters, and other beasties that come out of the Hellmouth in the innocent-looking town of Sunnydale.
Angel
After you’ve binged a couple of seasons of Buffy, you can head on over to the beloved spinoff Angel. Angel, the centuries-old vampire cursed with a soul, solves paranormal mysteries in Los Angeles while struggling with his undying love for Buffy.
The Magicians
What if Wednesday and her friends were in graduate school instead of high school? It might go a little something like this! Quentin Coldwater discovers that the magical academy from his favorite book series is real, and looking to enroll him as a student. Once there, he discovers how volatile a school filled with budding magicians can be.
Stranger Things
If you haven’t gotten on the Stranger Things bandwagon yet, now’s your time! A group of kids in Indiana discover that their town sits on top of a portal to the Upside Down, an alternate dimension full of horrific monsters. You’ll have to watch four seasons to get to that Kate Bush song everyone’s obsessed with, but the ride is worth it.
The Umbrella Academy
The Umbrella Academy is more of a superhero show than a horror show, but if you like watching young people solve mysteries in a dysfunctional environment, then this is the series for you. An eccentric billionaire adopts a group of kids born under mysterious circumstances and raises them to be superheroes. After he dies, the kids come together to solve the mystery of his death and prevent the apocalypse.
Charmed (1998)
When the Halliwell sisters discover a book of shadows in their ancestral home, they discover that they’re witches, each with her own unique power, and they’re destined to fight supernatural baddies. There are two Charmed series to choose from: the original 1998 shows, or the 2018 reboot.
What We Do in the Shadows
Maybe it’s the sumptuous goth atmosphere of Wednesday that you’re craving more of. If so, get thee to Staten Island! What We Do in the Shadows centers on a group of vampires who are living as housemates in a dilapidated mansion, drinking blood and partying hard. The ever-burning romance between vampires Laszlo and Nadja rivals that of Morticia and Gomez. There’s nothing like a good haunted power couple.
Los Espookys
Renaldo and his friends have a weird idea for a business: they stage supernatural events to try and trick people into thinking exorcisms, aliens, and other spooky things are real. Think of them as a reverse scooby gang. Plus, Fred Armisen helped create the show and appears as a recurring character.
Yellowjackets
In Yellowjackets, a plane full of high school soccer players crashes in the woods, and the girls are forced to do whatever it takes to survive. The show is split into two timelines—the 1996 survival story, and the survivors in the present day—and features Wednesday veteran Christina Ricci. The tone of Yellowjackets is much darker and more mature than Wednesday, but it’s a must-see for horror fans.
Gilmore Girls
I know what you’re thinking. This feel-good family comedy is the polar opposite of spooky shows like Wednesday! Hear me out, though. If what drew you to Wednesday were the lush New England atmosphere, mother-daughter tension, and private school drama, then Gilmore Girls has plenty to offer. It even features the small-town coffee shop where all the characters gather to gaze at the fall foliage outside of the windows! In Gilmore Girls, Lorelai and her daughter Rory deal with school bullies and nosy parents as they each pursue their passions in Hartford, Connecticut.
Daria
Maybe what you love about Wednesday is her relentlessly deadpan, no-nonsense demeanor. If that’s the case, you’ll love Daria, the MTV Beavis and Butt-Head spinoff from the ’90s. Cynical teen Daria Morgendorffer navigates the vapid suburban nightmare that is her life, dealing with her bubbly sister and the various characters at her high school in Lawndale.
Carnival Row
Carnival Row takes place in a fantastical version of Victorian England, where fairies and other mythical creatures are real. After their homeland is left in tatters, those creatures immigrate to the human world, where they live as oppressed refugees. At the center of the tension is Inspector Rycroft “Philo” Philostrate (Orlando Bloom), who works to solve a string of murders.
Fate: The Winx Saga
I’ll be frank: this show isn’t great, but if you’re desperate for more supernatural boarding school adventures, then it’ll do. Based on the Nickelodeon animated series, Fate: the Winx Saga focuses on Bloom, a fairy who’s enrolled in Alfea, a magical boarding school in the Otherworld. Bloom and the other students hone their powers while dealing with the threat of monsters called the Burned Ones.
(featured image: Netflix)
