The highly anticipated trailer for “Wednesday,” Alfred Gough and Miles Millar’s reimagining of the iconic Addams Family for Netflix, centers on a teenage Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) trying to solve many mysteries, one being how to cement her own identity outside of the shadow of her ever-glamorous mother, Morticia Addams (Catherine Zeta-Jones). “The relationship that kind of hangs over the season is really Wednesday’s relationship with Morticia,” Gough explained to Vanity Fair. “How do you step out of the shadow of a mother as glamorous as Morticia?” And as Morticia and husband Gomez (Luis Guzmán) continue their sensual public displays of affection, Wednesday can only roll her eyes and find new ways to playfully torture her younger brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez).
“Wednesday is not scared of sharks or creepy crawlies or anything, but she’s afraid of emotion,” former “Smallville” creator Gough continued. “Their overt displays of affection drive Wednesday crazy.” Wednesday also is tasked with harnessing her budding psychic ability to solve a serial killer case at Nevermore Academy high school and unlock the murder mystery that involved her parents 25 years ago. Tim Burton, who famously passed on directing the 1991 film “The Addams Family,” now helms four out of the eight “Wednesday” episodes and serves as an executive producer for the series. Four-time Oscar winner and frequent Burton collaborator Colleen Atwood is brought on as the costume designer for the legendary gothic looks for the Addams clan. “The ambition of the show was to make it an eight-hour Tim Burton movie,” Millar explained. “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 cast also includes Victor Dorobantu as Thing and George Burcea as Lurch, but audiences will have to wait to see who the big reveal is for Uncle Fester. “Wednesday” is also keeping it all in “The Addams Family” with Christina Ricci (who played Wednesday in the ’90s movies) returning to the franchise as a series regular. Gwendoline Christie, Hunter Doohan, Percy Hynes White, Joy Sunday, Emma Myers, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Georgie Farmer, Naomi Ogawa, and Moosa Mostafa round out the ensemble cast. Per the official synopsis, “Wednesday” is a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting 16-year-old Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy. Season One will follow Wednesday as she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the murder mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships at Nevermore.
Along with “Edward Scissorhands” visionary Burton, Gandja Monteiro and James Marshall share directing duties for the eight-episode series. Check out the trailer below. “Wednesday” premieres this fall on Netflix.
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