A new feature piece in Vanity Fair has offered first-look photos and new details about “Wednesday,” the upcoming Netflix mystery-drama series take on “The Addams Family”.
The project hails from “Smallville” creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough along with veteran filmmaker Tim Burton who will direct four of the show’s eight-episode first season.
The story begins with a number of murders plaguing the small town where Wednesday Addams has been sent to Nevermore Academy, a prestigious boarding school for outcasts. Death and decay are not unsettling for her, they’re soothing at a time when she is learning to live on her own.
In this version, Wednesday is not a morose little girl but a more independent, albeit still gloomy high school teenager. Millar tells the outlet it was important to all, especially Burton, this not be a remake or a reboot that’s trying to be the movies or the 1960s TV series. Rather its very much its own thing.
That’s resulted in some adjustments – one being they wanted the silhouette of the family to be more akin to the Charles Addams cartoons – so Gomez is notably shorter than Morticia and Luis Guzman plays it less suave than Raul Julia’s version but he’s still “incredibly debonair and romantic” says Millar.
Gough says the first season will heavily deal with Wednesday’s relationship with Morticia and ask “How do you step out of the shadow of a mother as glamorous as Morticia?”.
It also explores how the rest of her family’s cheerfulness and enthusiasm is exhausting for her: “Wednesday’s not scared of sharks or creepy crawlies or anything, but she’s afraid of emotion. Their overt displays of affection drive Wednesday crazy.”
The photos don’t include Uncle Fester, who is conspicuously missing from the photos. Asked who is playing him, Gough says they’re keeping that secret as long as they can: “We have no comment on Uncle Fester. Just watch the show.”
Exclusive: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, Jenna Ortega, and Isaac Ordonez suit up as the Addams Family in this first look at ‘Wednesday,’ the new @Netflix series from Tim Burton. https://t.co/9yNodVgqrp
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) August 16, 2022
“It’s not trying to be the movies or the ’60s TV show,” Miles Millar tells V.F. “That was very important to us and very important to Tim.”
