| “ | *sigh* That's enough. Tyler, honey, make momma happy and shut her up, permanently. | „ |
| ~ "Marilyn" revealing herself to be Laurel and the true mastermind behind the monster killings. |
| “ | My name is LAUREL!!! | „ |
| ~ Laurel snapping and attacking Larissa Weems when she and Wednesday unmasked her. |
| “ | I might not get to kill all the outcasts, but at least I'll get to kill you, Wednesday! | „ |
| ~ Laurel as she attempts to kill Wednesday, and possibly her last words. |
Laurel Gates, known by her alias Marilyn Thornhill, is the main antagonist in Season 1 of the 2022 Netflix TV show Wednesday. She and her family were the descendants of early 17th-century Pilgrims and Jericho founder Joseph Crackstone and were born into great wealth.
Due to Crackstone's passionate hatred of outcasts, his descendants (including Laurel) thought the same way and grew up hating them. She and her older brother were taught at a young age by their parents to despise outcasts, and were often abused by their father.
She was portrayed by Christina Ricci, who also portrayed Misty Quigley in Yellowjackets and Catwoman in Batman: Caped Crusader.
Biography[]
Background[]
Laurel Gates was the daughter of the wealthiest family in Jericho and descendants of the town's founder, Joseph Crackstone. She and her family revered Crackstone and loathed outcasts.
When Laurel was nine years old, her father asked her older brother, Garrett, to break into Nevermore Academy (a school for outcasts) during the 1991 Raven party to poison the food supplies with a bottle of nightshade to prove himself worthy of being his son (perhaps in response to his crush on Morticia Frump, an outcast). But while fighting a student named Gomez Addams over his infatuation with Morticia, Garrett accidentally broke the bottle and poisoned himself, with Gomez being charged with murder (although this was covered up by Noble Walker, the town sheriff at this time, because of the Gates’ influence over Jericho). This incident caused Laurel's family to fall apart: her mother committed suicide, her father overdosed on alcohol, and she herself was transferred to an overseas orphanage. However, the boat she was traveling on sank, and she was presumed dead by the authorities.
However, unknown to former Sheriff turned Mayor Noble Walker, she miraculously survived the sinking ship or faked her drowning and lived in hiding for many years. She eventually returned to Jericho, where she changed her identity and assumed the alias "Marilyn Thornhill", even going so far as to dye her hair auburn and wear glasses and contact lenses to make her eyes brown (as they are originally blue). She began to plot her revenge to kill all outcasts and destroy Nevermore Academy, doing what her brother and father failed to do. Laurel also planned to take revenge against the Addams family, who not only ruined her family, but also because their ancestor, Goody Addams, killed Crackstone.
In 2022[]
The murders of Jericho and mysteries of Nevermore[]
Laurel applied to enroll as a teacher at Nevermore, attempting to become the first "Normie" teacher. She was accepted by Principal Larissa Weems (presumably to promote outcasts and normies relations) and became a teacher of Botany and Herbology. While there, she began to scheme about destroying the school from the inside. She stole Nevermore founder's diary from the secret Nightshade library, and learned everything useful to know on the Hydes, a subtype of outcasts. The action of reanimation requiring multiple body parts, she used a plant chemical to brainwash a hidden Hyde named Tyler Galpin to do her bidding in Hyde form, while also using the traumatizing revelation that his deceased mother was a monstrous Hyde to unlock his Hyde form. She kept him locked up in a cave and tortured him with repeated dosages of plant-derived cocktails until he willingly became her servant. She commanded him to kill multiple people and bring back various body parts. Laurel also attempted to grow close to Wednesday Addams, Goody's descendant and Gomez's daughter, who had enrolled at Nevermore that year after being expelled from her previous school for her acts of vengeance. Wednesday witnessed Tyler, in Hyde form, kill her fellow student Rowan, and began investigating the monster killings. Eventually, Wednesday's leads help Noble Walker attempt to reveal vital information about the monster killings to her, Tyler’s father Sheriff Donovan Galpin and Larissa Weems. Fearing that she would get caught and her plans would derail, "Marilyn" ran him over with a Blue Cadillac and put him in a coma (eventually pulling his life support in his hospital room later). She ordered Tyler to kill psychiatrist Valerie Kinbott, who Wednesday falsely suspected of being Laurel Gates, and, knowing Wednesday was getting closer to the truth, planted false evidence in Xavier Thorpe's art shed in order to frame the art psychic Nevermore Student for the crimes.
Exposition and defeat[]
With Xavier imprisoned and all suspicion of her being cleared off, Laurel was able to assemble all the body parts needed. However, after visiting a hospitalized injured victim of the monster killings, Eugene Ottinger, Wednesday was able to find out her identity as the true mastermind and is confronted by her and Principal Larissa Weems, the latter disguising herself as Tyler to get Laurel to expose her plans. In a panic, Laurel attacked Weems and kidnapped Wednesday to use her blood to bring back Crackstone. Once summoned, she and Crackstone began their assault on Nevermore Academy while having Tyler deal with Wednesday. But her attempted genocide against Nevermore proved fruitless as Wednesday's roommate, Enid Sinclair, was able to defeat Tyler and save Wednesday from near-death, leading her and multiple other students (such as Xavier and Bianca) to retaliate against Crackstone and ultimately destroy him for good. Enraged that her plans were ruined, Laurel took out a gun and attempted to kill Wednesday. However, a now-healed Eugene Ottinger used his psychic powers to control his pet bees to attack her, pacifying her as Wednesday knocked her unconscious. After this event, her fate is unknown: either she was arrested and presumably about to stand trial for her crimes against Jericho and Nevermore, or that Wednesday killed her.
Personality[]
| “ | Good evening, girls. Oh, sorry about the mud. I wanted to make sure that Wednesday was settling in. | „ |
| ~ Laurel introducing herself to Wednesday Addams. |
While acting as a normie teacher at Nevermore, Laurel appears to be very kind, friendly, and understanding, always keeping an open ear for any trouble a person might have and willing to help them out. She also pretends and plays with an extroverted approach, always trying to start a conversation and make a joke, sometimes even lightly teasing others. She also says that she cares immensely about what others think and is in actuality very anxious about fitting in (though she could just have said this to try and relate to Wednesday). Laurel also assumed the role of a mother to her students from Ophelia Hall dorm, calling them her "girls" and offering a plant to every new student, trying to match the right flower to each of her "girls". She acts supportive to everything, simulating admiration toward her boss Larissa Weems and even Wednesday. Laurel also goes to give safety advices to Wednesday, telling her not to put herself in danger.
| “ | Joseph Crackstone was a visionary, dedicated to protect normies from outcasts, until his life was cut short by your ancestor, Goody Addams. And then, to add insult to injury, they stole his land to build that abomination of a school. | „ |
| ~ Laurel’s hate towards outcasts and Nevermore. |
Behind all that, Laurel was an extremely vicious, immoral, egotistical, xenophobic, manipulative sadist who was ready to do any immoral acts, as the end goal was achieved. Very proud of her family heritage, she was fanatically dedicated to Joseph Crackstone and his cause, willing to eradicate every outcast on Earth and believing herself above the law and everyone else, normies like outcasts. To do the dirty work, she drugged Tyler Galpin and ordered him to murder many innocents, considering them as just "pawns in a bigger game" just to collect their body parts as trophies to complete Crackstone’s resurrection ritual she found in Goody Addams’s book of shadows she stole from Pilgrim World in Jericho. Yet, Laurel was capable of posing as a kind person for more than a year and seemed to appreciate behaving in her true self once the mask was down. When exposed by both Wednesday and Larissa (shapeshifted into Tyler), she tried to play comedy, but when everything was against her, she immediately ordered “Tyler” to kill Wednesday. When it was revealed that it was Larissa, she was horrified but quickly put herself together and hatefully poisoned Larissa with a Nightshade syringe before knocking Wednesday out with a shovel, contemplating her two victims before dragging Wednesday to Crackstone’s crypt. Laurel thus showed she never cared for any friendship she made at work and how sadistic, untrustworthy and heartless she was. There, she sadistically brags herself with her plan and on how she foiled everyone, before injuring her student to collect her blood and perform the resurrection ritual. Once the ritual was completed, she let Crackstone stab Wednesday, and they go to Nevermore, where the pilgrim dismissed her, having enough of her chatting. Even when Crackstone was defeated, Laurel came back with a revolver, decided to kill Wednesday even tough she couldn’t kill all the outcasts but just as an act of vengeance for Wednesday ruining her plans.
Victims[]
- Dr. Anwar (shot in the head)
- Mayor Noble Walker (ran over with a blue Cadillac, then later pulled his life support and left him to die)
- Thing (impaled with a hunting knife from behind and pinned to a wall; narrowly resuscitated by Uncle Fester and stitched back together by Wednesday Addams)
- Principal Larissa Weems (possibly; injected in the neck with a dose of nightshade)
Quotes[]
| “ | Comuna rubra tinseret, mia cue nates, tachere benedicteret, contradeles esquientia e inaturae, dormens non ae, expiritus complet pectora. Resurgué, resurgué, resurgué. | „ |
| ~ Laurel’s incantation in Latin for resurrecting Joseph Crackstone. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Laurel is the only character in the season whose fate wasn't confirmed. Whether she was arrested or killed will likely be answered in season 2. Christina Ricci stated that not even she knows if Laurel is alive or dead.
- If she is indeed dead, the Gates’ line would end.
- After her defeat in the Season 1 finale, dialogue through Wednesday implies that she and Tyler were being used by another force. Whether this is true or not is unknown and likely will be answered in Season 2.
- She is played by Christina Ricci, who ironically played Wednesday Addams in the 1991 live-action movie The Addams Family and the 1993 sequel Addams Family Values. It was Ricci's breakthrough role as an actress.
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 Villains
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