Netflix opens up on the new Wednesday Addams, with contributions from director Tim Burton.

Updated 25/08/22: As the promotion for Wednesday continues, though without that elusive start date, Netflix have released a behind-the-scenes featurette.

Titled Inside the Character, it focusses on Jenna Ortega (Yes Day, Scream), who plays the latest version of the Wednesday Addams.

The three-minute promo also features a few new clips from the show and comments from Catherine Zeta-Jones (Morticia) and series creators and showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who stress this is a new chapter, rather than a reboot or a remake.

We also get input from director Tim Burton, including a glimpse at his character sketches and his thoughts on the character: “She sees things in black and white. Mainly black.”

There’s also a look at some of Jenna Ortega’s exhaustive preparation for the role and her interactions with classmates at Nevermore Academy, including Joy Sunday’s Bianca Barclay.

Wednesday comes to Netflix this autumn.

Original Article continues….

Wednesday – First Look at the new Addams Family & trailer

We’ve seen Morticia and Gomez, but where’s Uncle Fester? 

Thanks to an exclusive in Vanity Fair, we’ve gained our first glimpse of the new look Addams Family in the upcoming Netflix show Wednesday.

Starring Jenna Ortega as the titular Addams daughter, Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Morticia while Luis Guzman is Gomez. The proud parents will be standing back as Wednesday heads off to Nevermore Academy, a prestigious boarding school for outcasts. The are also joined by Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley, Wednesday’s younger brother.

The show comes from Smallville creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, with four episodes directed by Tim Burton – his first foray into television. Burton’s also an executive producer on the show.

Here’s a reminder of Wednesday’s premise:

The series is a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy. Wednesday’s attempts 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 at Nevermore.

The Vanity Fair piece discusses family dynamics as well as character design. While Tim Burton is not interviewed himself, there’s a sense of his angle on these familiar characters thanks to comments from Gough and Millar. We also learn that the first season of the show will focus on the relationship between Wednesday and her mother as Gough comments:

“How do you step out of the shadow of a mother as glamorous as Morticia?”

However, he remains tight-lipped on the subject of fan favourite Uncle Fester. We still don’t know who will take on the role, or indeed what part the character might have in the show. All we get from Gough is this:

“We have no comment on Uncle Fester. Watch the show.”

While there’s still no hint of a date (still “this fall”, but surely Halloween?), Netflix have also dropped a trailer.

Filling in some backstory, we get to see quite why Wednesday Addams needs to attend Nevermore; she dealt out some inspired retribution to a schoolmate who dared to torture Pudsley. With mystery, mayhem and murder, it gives a sense of the scope and macabre fun Wednesday promises to bring.

Straight off the bat, we can see that Jenna Ortega posses the necessary dry wrt and deadpan expression for the role. Additionally, there’s a brief glimpse of Gwendoline Christie as Larissa Weems but no sign of Christina Ricci.

We’ll keep you posted on Wednesday.