Netflix lets us all in on the new Addams Family in the upcoming series Wednesday through official photos from Vanity Fair. Unlike the many iterations of the family in movies, theater, television whether live-action or animation, the series will focus on the only daughter. Departing from the original age, Wednesday is now in her teenage years. Further, the series goes through her point of view as sister to Pugsley, daughter to Morticia and Gomez and a new student in Nevermore Academy. The photos depict the family as close as possible to the original design of the cartoonist Charles Addams.
As the article displays, Catherine Zeta-Jones is Morticia Addams, Luis Guzmán is Gomez. While Jenna Ortega is the series lead Wednesday with Isaac Ordonez as her brother Pugsley. Comparing the image to the characters in the photos, the lines and proportions of the characters to the cartoons have remarkable resemblance.
Apparently, Tim Burton, series executive producer and director of 4 episodes, helped shape the overall look. Showrunners Miles Millar and Alfred Gough took their chance in pitching the series to the director. To their delight, the director accepted the project after reading the first episode’s script. Burton then enlisted Colleen Atwood, an award-winning costume designer whom he has collaborated before, to bring his vision to life.
Netflix’s Wednesday Reveals First Look At The Addams Family
Image: Netflix
According to Gough:
He (Burton) wanted the silhouette to look more like the Charles Addams cartoons, which is Gomez shorter than Morticia, versus the kind of suave Raul Julia version in the movies
To which, Millar adds:
He’s also incredibly debonair and romantic, and I think he has all those classic ingredients of the Gomez that we’ve seen come before, but he brings something also very different. That’s something that was very important to the show—that it didn’t feel like a remake or a reboot. It’s something that lives within the Venn diagram of what happened before, but it’s its own thing. It’s not trying to be the movies or the ’60s TV show. That was very important to us and very important to Tim.
The ambition for the show was to make it an 8-hour Tim Burton movie.
As for the series, it’s going to be a comedy mystery. The story goes about a number of murders in the small town where Nevermore Academy is located. Coincidentally, it’s the boarding school where Morticia and Gomez sent Wednesday to attend.
Being the only daughter in the Addams Family, the series will show how Wednesday addresses her family’s quirks. Gough emphasizes:
The relationship that kind of hangs over the season is really Wednesday’s relationship with Morticia. How do you step out of the shadow of a mother as glamorous as Morticia?
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.
Netflix’s Wednesday Reveals First Look At The Addams Family
Image: Netflix
On the other hand, Ortega’s Wednesday demonstrates how much of a big sister she is to Pugsley. In her own way, she is protective and caring towards her little brother. Despite the fact that she torments him from time to time, no one else can do so especially when she is around. Millar shares:
She’s allowed to torture him. Nobody else is. That’s the difference. She will defend him to the end against bullies or anything else, but she has license to do what she wants. She’s protective of him in a very Wednesday way.
Ultimately, the showrunners want to relay the message that every family has their own thing going on. But that uniqueness is exactly what defines them as family. In Millar’s words:
Every family is weird and this one happens to be extremely weird, but they love each other. And that’s ultimately what it’s about. They always have each other’s backs and that’s unconditional love.
Netflix has yet to announce an official date for Wednesday’s release, however, the streaming service shows it will be coming soon.
