As dark as Wednesday Addams appears to be, the new Netflix series based on the snarky adolescent is a bright spot in the current slate of streaming shows.
Developed from characters of the popular 1960s television series The Addams Family, the series’ creators, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who collaborated on Monster High: The Movie and Smallville, took notes from the world of live-action superhero universes to create an intriguing backstory on one of the decades-long franchise’s most popular characters.
Set at a castle hidden by shadowy woods, Wednesday gives viewers a firsthand perspective of the deadpan character’s origins. Jenna Ortega transforms into Wednesday as she explores her supernatural powers when coerced to go to a peculiar boarding school by her eccentric parents, Morticia and Gomez, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman, respectively.
The eight-episode series also stars Emma Myers (Girl in the Basement), Hunter Doohan (Your Honor), Joy Sunday (Dog), Gwendolyn Christie (Game of Thrones), Riki Lindhome (Knives Out), and Jamie McShane (The Lincoln Lawyer).
Wednesday offers a nice ode to the past with the inclusion of Addams Family original Christina Ricci. The actress is introduced in the first episode as Marilyn Thornhill, an authoritative figure at the boarding school and unwelcome mentor to Wednesday.
Ricci landed the role of Wednesday in the 1991 Barry Sonnenfed feature film, The Addams Family, starring Anjelica Huston as Morticia, Raul Julia as Gomez, and Jimmy Workman as Pugsley. The successful Paramount Pictures film was followed by the sequel Addams Family Values in 1993.
This series is a must-watch, especially for its notable acting performances, on-target set and costume design, and most of all, alluring storytelling ability. Ortega is a big part of the show’s appeal. With one slight angling of her head or that mysterious, cold stare that she has so wonderfully mastered, the depth Ortega adds to the character makes for an appeasing entertainment experience.
Given the mood and spectacular gothic set design, it is no surprise that mastermind Tim Burton is one of the executive producers and even directed a few episodes. Joining him as executive producers are Elvis producer Gail Berman and Respect producer Jonathan Glickman, along with Kayla Alpert, Kevin Lafferty, Tommy Harper, Kevin Miserocchi, Andrew Mittman, Steve Stark, Millar, and Gough.
The first season of Wednesday is available now on Netflix.
