Netflix’s Wednesday (2022): Audiences can never seem to get enough of the Addams family; the family was introduced as panel cartoons in The New Yorker in 1938, and they and their macabrely funny adventures became widely popular among the audiences. The unusual family has appeared in various films and television series since its inception, both animated and live-action, and has become a pop culture phenomenon.
The family returns again on our television screens soon, courtesy of Netflix; this appearance will however be a spin-off focusing on the character and adventures of the death-obsessed, chillingly dead-pan sardonic teenaged daughter of the Addams’s, Wednesday Addams. The series is created by showrunners Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, who have previously given popular television series like ‘Smallville’.
Tim Burton is one of the executive producers and has also directed four episodes of the eight-episode miniseries. Showrunner Miles Millar states that “Tim Burton and Wednesday Addams are a marriage made in heaven.” The portrayal of Wednesday Addams by Christina Ricci in The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993) gained immense popularity among the audiences, and they have unsurprisingly been waiting for more of the morbidly genius teenager. This television series seems to be a gothic and macabre reinterpretation of the high school movie genre.
What is ‘Wednesday’ About?
The series is a horror comedy narrativization of Wednesday Addams trying to navigate high school. After an incident involving flesh-eating deadly Piranhas in her former school, Wednesday is transferred to a boarding school for outcasts, Nevermore Academy, where her parents met and fell in love, to finally be among peers who understand her. At Nevermore Academy Wednesday finds enough mysteries and surprises to occupy her as murder and mayhem rage and she vows to find the truth.
The official synopsis on Netflix describes the series as “Smart, sarcastic and a little dead inside, Wednesday Addams investigates a murder spree while making new friends — and foes — at Nevermore Academy.”
Related: 10 Best Movies Of Tim Burton
Who is in Wednesday’s Cast?
The television show has cast the original and much-loved character original to Addams’s family while there are also new characters to join Wednesday’s adventures in this new story. Jenna Ortega is cast in the titular role of Wednesday Addams, the teenage daughter of Gomez and Morticia Addams.
Jenna helms the show and has previously appeared as a young version of Jane in the Television show ‘Jane the Virgin’ and as Ellie Alves in the Netflix show ‘You’. Academy Award-winning Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones appears as Morticia Addams.
Luis Guzmán is cast as Gomez Addams, Morticia’s besotted husband, Guzman has had a prolific career spanning four decades and is known for his work in award-winning films like ‘Traffic’ and ‘Magnolia’, he was also cast as Columbian drug lord José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha in the Netflix series ‘Narcos’.
Comedian and ‘Saturday Night Live’ veteran, Fred Armisen joins the cast as lovable but eccentric Uncle Fester. Gwendoline Christie of ‘Game of Thrones’ fame joins the show as a new character Larissa Weems.
Actress, comedian, and musician, Riki Lindhome are cast as Dr. Valerie Kinbott, fans would remember her for her role in Knives Out. Jamie McShane as Sheriff Donovan Galpin was recently seen in the television series Lincoln Lawyer.
‘Wednesday’: From the mind of Tim Burton
There is an undeniable influence of Tim Burton on the visuality of ‘Wednesday’. Burton has made a career of telling macabre tales and has an immediately recognizable visual aesthetic, his influence runs deep in how the ‘Wednesday’ looks and feels like. Netflix shared an exclusive sneak peek into Tim Burton’s impact on the color, style, and narrative of the series, you can see the video here:
When is ‘Wednesday’ Releasing?
The dark, morbid, gothic horror-comedy series is all set to start streaming to our television screens in late November. A little later than Halloween, which probably would have been the apt time to see the Addams again, the series premieres near Thanksgiving. Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’ will hit the television screens come Wednesday, 23rd November 2022.
Watch the Trailer for ‘Wednesday’ (2022)
Netflix shared the teaser trailer for ‘Wednesday’ on YouTube on 17th August 2022. The trailer shows Wednesday Addams being transferred to Nevermore Academy to be with peers who understand her and where she might take a stab at being social, and we all know how much she likes stabbing. Here she finds mystery, mayhem, and murder. You can watch the dark eccentric teaser here:
Netflix dropped the trailer for the show on YouTube on 9th October 2022. The trailer gives more information about Nevermore Academy and its students. The Academy is full of secret societies, hidden libraries, and a homicidal monster.
The trailer also gives us more of a sardonic psychotic Wednesday who is allergic to color and deep down enjoys people not liking her. She is our dark macabre heroine and won’t stop until she finds the truth. You can watch the dark and quirky trailer here and mull over what other surprises are in store once the show releases:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q73UhUTs6y0