The updated take on the beloved Addams family is settling down well with fans, old and new. Wednesday premiered Wednesday, November 23rd this year and stars Jenna Ortega as the titular character. Wednesday follows the Addams family’s daughter settling into a new prestige academy following an incident at her public high school.
Due to the setting and plot, Wednesday could only offer mere litters of the rest of the Addams bunch, with patriarch and matriarch Gomez and Morticia played by Luis Guzmán and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Isaac Ordonez plays Pugsley, the family’s son and George Burcea as the beloved butler Lurch. However, Miles Millar, a showrunner, has hinted that the second season could show us more of this new vision of the unorthodox family.
“We felt like we just touched the surface with those characters, and the actors are so amazing in those roles,” Millar shared with TV Line. “Catherine is, I think, an iconic Morticia. The relationship between Wednesday and Morticia is also essential to the show, and the idea that Wednesday is trying to forge her own path outside the family is important.”
Fans online have made it clear that they’re expecting a second season following Wednesday‘s cliffhanger ending. The show has achieved an impressive score on Rotten Tomatoes, earning a “fresh” 71% approval rating. As a result, the Netflix show has surpassed one of the original two live adaptations. The Addams Family, released in 1991, has a 67% fresh score, whereas the 1993 sequel, Addams Family Values, has a superior 74%.
Ortega has referenced the original films, mostly the casting of Christina Ricci, the most iconic portrayal of Wednesday Addams. “I felt the script was written very reminiscent of her [Ricci’s] Wednesday, and audiences already know and love Wednesday, [so] I don’t think I could have strayed too far with the character,” the actor shared. “Otherwise, it would have been a disgrace or offensive or something like that”.
Ortega then shared her initial meeting with Ricci, who had a fun cameo on the show as one of the academy’s teachers: “It was weird, for sure. I remember when they told me [Christina would be on set], I think my heart fell just out of pure panic. But fortunately, she’s a really cool lady, and we got along really well.”
Wednesday is now available to stream on Netflix.
