By MICHAEL GINGOLD
She’s no longer a child in the live-action show.
Netflix has announced that Tim Burton will direct and executive-produce WEDNESDAY, an eight-episode series produced by MGM/UA Television. Al Gough and Miles Millar (INTO THE BADLANDS, SMALLVILLE) will also executive-produce and serve as showrunners. Wednesday Addams, previously and memorably portrayed by Christina Ricci in the ’90s ADDAMS FAMILY movies, steps out of the Addams ensemble to lead what the logline describes as “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.”
“Who among us has never felt like an outsider?” says Netflix executive Teddy Biaselli on the streamer’s blog. “I truly believe that most people have, at one time or another, felt odd. Maybe creepy. Kooky even. And perhaps because I was so tapped into my inner oddball, I found a deep kinship to the family of Addams.
“Whether it was the classic TV series, the brilliant movies, the recent Broadway musical or even their guest appearances on SCOOBY-DOO–every time the Addams Family was on a screen, I was watching. I loved that at every opportunity the Addams skewered so-called ‘normality.’ Their entire existence was a middle finger (attached to a disembodied hand) to the status quo. And none was more rebellious, more avant garde and more iconic than Wednesday Addams.
“Adolescence is an awful time for everyone. We’re growing hair in weird places, getting taller, breaking out, and all we want is for people to like us. She is the ultimate lone wolf. She marches to her own beat…and it’s likely a funeral dirge.”
Wednesday has yet to be cast; stay tuned for updates!
