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Wednesday Addams is heading to Netflix!
The Addams Family’s death-obsessed daughter will be at the center of her own live-action show, in the aptly titled Wednesday. Streaming giant Netflix has already ordered eight episodes.
Wednesday is being helmed by none other than Tim Burton himself, who will direct and executive produce the series. In addition to Burton, showrunners and writers Al Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville) will executive produce.
The coming-of-age young adult TV series centers around everyone’s favorite maiden of macabre, Wednesday Addams. But this time around, she’s heading to the peculiar Nevermore Academy. She’ll no doubt have some fun with her fellow spooky classmates. But, she’ll also be tapping into her sixth sense to solve mysteries.
According to Netflix’s Original Series Director Teddy Biaselli, Wednesday is “a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery.”
Biaselli also dropped a further description of the show: “Wednesday attempted to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships of the strange and diverse student body.”
Several actresses have portrayed the iconic character over the years, including Lisa Loring, Chloë Grace Moretz, and — my personal favorite — Christina Ricci. I’m definitely excited to see who will don the braids and all-black ensemble next!
The character was originally introduced by cartoonist Charles Addams in The New Yorker in 1938. Though, at the time, she was unnamed. None of the Addams Family characters were named until the 1960s TV show was developed. Since then, we’ve seen them across plenty of TV shows and movies — both live-action and animated.
Wednesday will actually be one of Burton’s first full projects for TV. The legendary director has never quite crossed over to the small screen — save for a few small projects here and there. Burton directed a 1986 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, a revival of the original series of the same name. He also served as an executive producer on the animated TV series Beetlejuice that was loosely based on the film.
We know Tim Burton for his feature films, like Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Mars Attacks, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Corpse Bride. Clearly, he has a knack for the creepy and the kooky (mysterious and spooky!). Biaselli praised the director for his ability to tell “empowering stories about social outsiders like Edward Scissorhands, Lydia Deetz, and Batman.”
And now, he’s bringing that unique vision to the ever-spooky Wednesday, as she graduates into a full-fledged leading lady.
The coming-of-age comedy also marks a familiar territory for Millar and Gough. The show creators already successfully explored the coming-of-age story of another iconic character, Superman, with their hit series Smallville.
Biaselli noted, “When we first heard Al Gough and Miles Millar’s pitch for Wednesday we were struck, like an arrow from a crossbow, right in our hearts. They nailed the tone, the spirit, and the characters, but gave us a fresh way into this story.”
