Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Jen Maravegias | Miscellaneous | September 19, 2025
Netflix’s Wednesday is a messy show. But the one thing they got right this season was the body swapping between Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) and Enid (Emma Myers). The how and why of it might have been muddy, but the performances were spot on and were the bright spot of the season.
Hollywood has a long tradition of body swap movies that probably predates Jodi Foster and Barbara Harris’s original Freaky Friday in 1972. But that’s as good a starting place as any, since it’s probably the best known and has had a recent reboot and a sequel to the reboot.
There’s also Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin’s comic masterpiece, 1984’s All of Me, which opened the door to the late 80s boom of body swap comedies. Like Father, Like Son in 1987, Vice Versa in 1988, and the ill-conceived Feldman/Haim vehicle Dream A Little Dream in 1989.
In 1997, John Woo directed Nicolas Cage and John Travolta in the king of modern body swap movies, Face/Off. In the 2000s, there have been two Jumanji movies where body swapping between the characters was a major focus. And, in 2020, body swapping got the horror/comedy treatment in Freaky.
It’s harder to find live-action series that have pulled off successful body-swapping episodes.
There’s a second season Gilligan’s Island episode where a mad scientist swaps everyone’s bodies for one another. Buffy the Vampire Slayer did it in ‘Who Are You,’ when Buffy and Faith swapped bodies. In Community’s ‘Basic Human Anatomy’, Troy and Abed kind of swap bodies to help Troy process his feelings about his relationship with Britta.
Supernatural did it in a season 11 episode when Castiel (Misha Collins) and Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) swapped bodies. Heavenly body swapping also happened in the season one finale of Good Omens.
Dollhouse did it, and there are a few episodes of different Star Trek shows that have tried it. And I just rewatched an episode of Eureka where Deputy Jo Lupo (Erica Cerra)had her body swapped with a scientist.
It wasn’t particularly successful because, while Lupo’s character had been well established, the scientist involved was a one-off. She only ever appeared in this one episode. There was no juxtaposition of personality or character traits established before the swap. Jo’s inhibitions were just a lot lower, and she wanted to make out with Fargo (Neil Grayston).
Physicality is the core of a good body swap escapade. Adapting your costar’s mannerisms, vocal inflections, and idiosyncrasies recognizably without veering into caricature is a talent in itself. It requires strong character work from everyone involved before and during the body swap.
The actors also need to be fully committed to the bit. Steve Martin is a perfect example of this commitment. He’s a gifted physical actor, and his physicality helped make All of Me a classic. He gave us fantastically funny moments, like this one that I was reminded of while watching Wednesday and Enid’s body swap scenes:
That commitment to the bit is also what saved the back half of Wednesday’s second season from being a complete wreck. Wednesday and Enid are diametrically opposed forces of nature from the beginning of the series. There are a lot of flaws with the show’s writing but the actors turned in strong character work.
@zloomyx kapan lagi wednesday boombayah💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼 #jennaortega #blackpink #fyp #wednesday #foryoupage ♬ BOOMBAYAH - BLACKPINK
Ortega’s body-swap performance stands out because Enid is more boisterous and energetic than we’re used to seeing in any of Ortega’s roles. But Myers’ performance of Wednesday-as-Enid has an ominous precision to it that should also be celebrated. Especially since she told Jimmy Fallon that she didn’t think she could pull off playing Wednesday Addams back in 2023.
@fallontonight #EmmaMyers shares how she prepared for her role as Enid in #WednesdayNetflix. #FallonTonight #WednesdayAddams ♬ original sound - FallonTonight
Whether Myers channeled her secret, inner goth or spent a lot of time studying Ortega’s performance, she did a great job with the swap. Slap a black wig on her and she’s definitely an honorary Addams.
Body swapping is a trope that has most successfully been applied to broad comedies in need of a gimmick. But some of the most successful uses have crossed genre lines into action, sci-fi, and horror. It works every time, even when the material it’s working with isn’t the best.
It’s obvious Wednesday is never going to fully embrace much of the classic Addams Family portrayals that we love from the TV show or the 90s movies. But at least they served up one of the most classic tropes of all time this season.
All episodes of Wednesday are available to stream on Netflix.
