Duh duh duh-dum *click* *click*. Netflix’s new series Wednesday has recently dropped some creepy and kooky details which will get all Addams Family fans donning their black outfits and braiding their hair in anticipation.
Wednesday is said to be a “coming of age” story, loosely based on the eerily charming daughter of Morticia and Gomez - Wednesday Addams. The series will follow her throughout her time at the Nevermore Academy, where she begins to discover her new-found psychic abilities. During all this, she must also explore new and complicated relationships with fellow students at the Academy; who have equally complicated pasts.
This coming-of-age show, written by Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar, is said to be a comedy following Wednesday as she tries to prevent a massive killing spree in her local town and solve the supernatural mystery that involved her parents 25 years ago... sounds very, comedic? Producers have suggested that the show will be ‘loosely’ based on the character we all know and love, leading us to believe that we will see a side to Wednesday we’ve never seen before. Could we see a more ‘normal’ Wednesday? Could this detract from the mysterious and kooky personality that has made the character famous in this first place?
Could we see a more ‘normal’ Wednesday?
Wednesday has been adapted for a manner of formats since its inception by cartoonist Charles Addams in 1938. Since then, we’ve had Lisa Loring in the original 1964 TV series, the famous film version in 1991 with Christina Ricci playing Wednesday, arguably the actress most closely associated with the character.
More recently, we have seen Wednesday in a new (spot)light on stage for the hit Broadway musical The Addams Family: A New Musical, as she navigates her ‘crazy’ crush on human Lucas Beineke, recently embodied by Carrie Hope Fletcher in the 2017 UK tour. But this new series may allow us to see Wednesday as an independent young woman, away from her family, a side we have never explored with her before.
Teddy Biaselli, Netflix’s Director of Original Series has described Wednesday as “the ultimate lone wolf”. He was extremely excited to get the chance to reboot the character, with the news only improving after hearing that “visionary director and lifelong Addams Family fan Tim Burton wanted to make his television directorial debut with this series”.
Tim Burton has a flair at bringing out the best and most empowering stories about "social outsiders such as Edward Scissorhands, Lydia Deitz, and Batman" said Biaselli. And now he brings his unique vision to Wednesday and her spooky classmates at Nevermore Academy. The show does not yet have a release date but is set to starting filming this year.
Stay spooky, folks!
