Wednesday Behind-the-Scenes Shots Reveal Thing Was Played by a Real Actor, and Fans Are Losing It

Wednesday season 1 took over Netflix when it premiered on November 23, shattering streaming records with ease. Within its first week, Wednesday beat out Stranger Things Season 4 and is currently the most-watched English-language TV show on the platform.

As the show's fanbase continues to grow, Netflix has started sharing behind-the-scenes tidbits about how the series was brought to life — and you'll never believe the special effects magic that went into filming Thing's scenes.

Related: Will There Be a Wednesday Season 2?

ICYMI: Thing, the living dismembered hand who has been a part of the The Addams Family since their 1930s cartoon conception, plays a pretty big part in Tim Burton's 2022 Netflix series Wednesday. When Wednesday is sent to Nevermore Academy, her father Gomez tasks Thing with the responsibility of watching over her safety. But soon enough, Wednesday wraps Thing up in her sleuthing and the two become the mystery-solving duo we didn't know we needed. Thing is arguably the MVP of the entire first season, and has quickly become beloved by fans.

“I love so many things about Wednesday but I absolutely ADORE Thing wearing this lil party hat,” wrote one fan on Twitter, while others called him “the sweetest character” and “the star” of the whole series.

Even more reason that the behind-the-scenes images of Thing are so mind-blowing. The new pics reveal that Thing, who was presumed by many to be entirely CGI animation, was actually played by a real actor named Victor, who is also a magician.

You can see Victor and series star Jenna Ortega filming their scenes together, with Victor wearing a blue special effects bodysuit. The only part of his body that was exposed was… well, his hand. Victor can be seen wheeled along on a camera dolly, hiding the rest of his body behind corners and under tables, and crouching behind Jenna.

It's shocking to see that Victor was in such uncomfortable positions IRL, as his hand-acting was anything but — he's already received praise from fans for the emotional expression and personality of his character.

"It's a really hard process, because you have to show emotion through a simple hand that doesn't have a voice or subtitles," Victor told Entertainment Tonight earlier this month. "It's a lot of hard work to show emotion through a hand. I know a lot of people won't understand, but after they see the season, they will get it."

They definitely get it now. “I'm laughing cause Jenna really had this man with her every time Thing was on scene??? This is amazing,” wrote one fan in reaction to the behind-the-scenes shots. “I'm obsessed with the special effects for Thing on Wednesday, the prosthetic stump is awesome, a combination of practical and VFX is so nice," wrote another.

"The whole process was very hard. Thing was created from scratch," Victor elaborated to Popsugar. "We just improvised and we tried to make it natural."

While speaking to Screen Rant on the day of the show's premiere, Jenna Ortega shared that Tim Burton's vision for Thing always involved a real actor and that Victor “would spend hours in hair and makeup every day just getting that hand on.” 

“We'd shoot some stuff with him, and other times we would shoot with absolutely nothing there,” said Jenna. "We'd shoot with the stand-in hand there; never did the tennis ball. I was either working with an actor and responding to him or I was looking at nothing… It was so funny because the Thing language was just made up on the day. Every day we’d show up and go, Ahhh… That looks right. I feel like I kind of know what he’s saying.'”

Us, too, bestie. Us, too.