Talk about a dream team (or nightmare team?): Tim Burton directs and Jenna Ortega stars in the newest Addams Family story, with a fresh focus on death-obsessed daughter Wednesday as she’s shipped off to a mysterious, Gothic boarding school.
We already have our fingers ready to *snap snap* at Netflix’s Wednesday, one of the most anticipated series of the year. If you’re not feeling the creepy and kooky spirit quite yet, read on to learn everything you need to know about Wednesday‘s fabulous cast, the history of TV’s freakiest family, and more insider details.
1. This is the fifth Addams Family show
Cartoonist Charles Addams named his most famous creations after himself. Birthed in 1937, The Addams Family were the stars of 150 single-panel cartoons in The New Yorker, but have taken on far more dimension and fame since then.
First came the black-and-white TV series which introduced that iconic theme song, before the Gothic fam were brought into colour in the 90s. The Addams Family and GOAT sequel Addams Family Values are still, in our humble opinion, some of the most well-cast films ever, starring Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, and Christina Ricci as Gomez, Morticia, Fester and Wednesday respectively.
Throw in a couple of animated series, a so-so 2010s Broadway musical, and a recent pair of CG-animated films, and you have a sprawling, spooky franchise. The official pinball machine also rocks, being the best-selling machine of all time.
2. Jenna Ortega is already 2022’s scream queen
You might recognise the talented 20-year-old from this year’s Scream sequel or X, where she was a delightful decoy final girl. Either way, Ortega is quickly on her way to becoming a new generation’s Jamie Lee Curtis, first grabbing our attention as a tween in distress in season two of Netflix’s You. She’s also seen bloodbaths before in The Babysitter: Killer Queen and Studio 666.
With big eyes and dark plaited locks, she’s ideal casting for a modern-day Wednesday Addams. Just watch her deliver this deadpan line to a new school buddy in the behind-the-scenes footage below: “When I look at you, the following emojis apply— rope, shovel, hole.”
3. Ortega took fencing and cello lessons twice a week
The actor has revealed that playing such an iconic (and previously perfected) part caused her much anxiety, so nailing Wednesday’s niche hobbies was important. Ortega had to train in playing the cello and fencing to pull off Wednesday’s hyper-capable cool, showing up at fencing practice in an all-black ensemble in the teaser scenes above. It looks like she’ll also get up to some rowing and an emo school prom of sorts, even if such merriment is very against her character.
4. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, and Fred Armisen play her famous family
We love a Tall Goth Mom/Squat Latino Dad power couple, and the statuesque Zeta-Jones looks terrific alongside Guzmán in the crystal ball Ortega will use to communicate with her doting parents. Something fans have always loved about the Addams parents is their bone-deep desire for one another, so hopefully we get some scenes of Gomez giving Morticia those OTT kisses up and down her arms.
While it’s hard to beat Christopher Lloyd as the bald, electricity-conducting Fester, SNL star Fred Armisen is a good substitute, adopting a quirky high-pitched voice as Wednesday’s encouraging uncle. He whisks her away in his sidecar in the extended trailer at the top of the article.
5. …and don’t forget Lurch and Thing, acting as Morticia and Gomez’s spies here
Two of the Addams Family’s most memorable members make their mark without saying a word: the grunting, lanky butler Lurch (now played by George Burcea) and Thing, the disembodied hand who Gomez and Morticia have sent to keep an eye (finger??) on Wednesday while she’s off at school.
The sneak-peek scene below shows Wednesday threatening the “poor naive appendage”, who is covered in stitch-marks that definitely weren’t there in other adaptations. The special effects are pretty terrific, with Ortega bringing a lot of life to the limbless being. Why do we feel so much sympathy for an unattached, squirming hand?!
6. Ortega and Guzmán’s casting follows a long-held fan belief that the Addams are Latin-American
Across Goth culture, there’s a sad prejudice towards whiteness that ignores people of colour who also love to dress spooky and worship the darkness. And for a long time, fans of the Addams Family have suspected that their favourite clan aren’t strictly Caucasian: Gomez’s name and Raul Julia’s casting in the 90s, for instance, suggest that the family has Latinx roots.
In the new Netflix show, the inclusion of Puerto-Rican and Mexican talents Guzmán and Ortega seems to confirm that the family’s pale, aristocratic sensibility has a tad more colour than Goth stereotypes have allowed in the past. Ortega spoke to this in the behind-the-scenes video above, saying that “Wednesday is technically a Latina character and that’s never been represented”, before her character mentions the family’s celebration of the Mexican holiday of the dead, Día de los Muertos.
This thoughtful piece by Mexican writer Ces Heredia goes further, expressing pride over Ortega’s casting. “In her, Latinas will have a clear example of what it is not to be “calladitas,” to define “bonitas” for ourselves:, Heredia enthuses: “Wednesday gives us permission to be independent, curious, fearless, confident…and yes, maybe a little kooky and bizarre too.”
7. Some spooky female character actresses will flesh out the folk at Nevermore Academy
At the secretive new academy Wednesday’s forced to attend after being expelled for unleashing piranhas on her former school’s swim team, she’ll be helped and hindered by a familiar roster of female acting talents. Gwendoline Christie, who honestly could’ve been pretty dope as Morticia too, plays Nevermore Academy headmistress Larissa Weems, and comedian Riki Lindhome tries to get through to the gloomy teen as her therapist Dr. Kinbott.
OG 2000s angsty actress Thora Birch was originally cast as Nevermore’s dorm mother, her first role in many years after a noted absence from showbiz. But she exited production in December of last year to attend to personal family matters, so sadly her ongoing involvement is unclear at this stage.
8. Tim Burton was originally picked to direct the now-iconic 90s films
Burton, who directs the entirety of season one, once passed on directing The Addams Family 1991 due to his responsibilities with Batman Returns. Instead cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld did a terrific job. But Burton will finally get his shot at the Addams franchise on Netflix, and he couldn’t be a better match for the sweet and spooky tone of the property. In fact, the opening credits sequence that Netflix has revealed for the show has a certain Batman-y vibe: heaps of spirally, spidery imagery and a darkly heroic tune in the background (more on that below).
Netflix releases opening credit sequence for Tim Burtonʼs 'WEDNESDAY' series.pic.twitter.com/lx5qih5FFq
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) November 8, 2022
“She sees things very black and white”, Burton has said of his new main character: “mainly black.” Which is a great way to describe the director’s own aesthetic, full of the sorts of loveably macabre, dark-eyed characters that the Addams have long inspired.
9. Burton’s fave composer Danny Elfman will take care of the show’s sinister sounds
Burton and Elfman are kind of a package deal at this point, with the former Oingo Boingo frontman and unrecognisable Coachella headliner signing on for another collaboration. We can expect his usual oompah-pah strings and brass, with perhaps some reworking of the Addams Family theme song in there too.
2nd Night at the Bowl! Wow! Insane energy!! Never experienced anything quite like this! Sending Halloween Love out to everyone!!!
photos by David Zayas Jr. pic.twitter.com/6uP4j9zK6Y
— Danny Elfman (@dannyelfman) October 31, 2022
That said, the chamber orchestra version of the Stones’ “Paint It Black” in the Netflix show’s trailer is pretty dope too. We wouldn’t mind if Elfman gave us a full-length version of that at, say, Wednesday’s school dance or something.
10. We’ll see Wednesday grappling with newfound psychic abilities
Whilst it’s perhaps not surprising that any Addams has legit supernatural abilities, they’ve always been depicted as mere supporters of the occult—worshiping and collecting many odd magical items, such as Thing, but never actually being witches or wizards in any concrete terms.
Well Netflix’s show is officially giving Wednesday psychic powers, which should come in handy as she investigates a bloody string of serial killings and potential monster encounters at her mysterious new school. Just how these powers manifest, and where they came from, is one big black mystery to us: the trailer gives very little away.
11. The iconic 90s Wednesday, Christina Ricci, will put in an appearance!
Ricci, now creeping us out in the brilliant Yellowjackets, is still remembered as the greatest Wednesday performer: she was preternaturally chilling and hilarious in both of the early 90s films. Thank goodness that Netflix has cast her in the small role of Marilyn Thornhill, the (seemingly) kind woman who welcomes the new Wednesday to Nevermore Academy in the series’ full trailer.
12. The show will premiere on a Wednesday (of course)
Netflix really would’ve missed out on a special opportunity by debuting Wednesday on any other day of the week. From Wednesday November 23, we can shiver and snicker at all eight episodes of season one, probably the year’s most anticipated horror-comedy.
“will you shut up about the wednesday show it hasn’t even come out yet”
me: pic.twitter.com/YfSpxUCbFo— m🎻willa defender (@sinsdayaddams) November 1, 2022
All other days of the week just can’t compare. So whip out your eyeliner, gather your own family of freaks, and prepare your fingers for that first, delectable *snap snap*.
