Why Wednesday Is What Got Tim Burton To Finally Make An Addams Family Project

It's difficult to think of anyone who is currently having a better year in the world of horror than Mia Goth ("Pearl"), but Jenna Ortega is making the rounds. As if the bloody winning streak of "X," "The Fallout," and "Scream" weren't enough, Ortega is prepared to make everyone's Thanksgiving better in the most ghastly way possible with the release of "Wednesday."

Measuring up to Christina Ricci's portrayal of the Addams daughter is a herculean task all its own, but going off of what I've seen so far, Ortega slips into her mannerisms like a glove. The trailer, which shows the Addams family dropping Wednesday off at the mysterious Nevermore Academy boarding school, already piqued my interest, but the thing that sold me on her performance was an advertisement released during the Emmys, in which she doesn't blink for a full minute.

With director Tim Burton helming the series, the pair is unstoppable. Burton was tasked at one point to helm an animated stop-motion "Addams Family" feature film for Universal at the top of the 2010s, drawing on the macabre illustrations of Charles Addams for inspiration.

But even after leaving the previous "Addams" project behind him, Burton's playfully morbid idiosyncrasies make him such a perfect fit for the "Wednesday" series.

In an interview with Empire, Burton mentioned how it was the scripts from Alfred Gough and Miles Millar that convinced him to join the show. The grim angst of a teenage Wednesday Addams reminded him of how he felt like an outsider when he was in school. "It gave the Addams Family a different kind of reality," Burton said.

The "Sweeney Todd" filmmaker also points to a classic '70s horror flick that made him feel like an outcast when he was around Wednesday's age:

"In 1976, I went to a high-school prom [...] It was the year 'Carrie' came out. I felt like a male 'Carrie' at that prom. I felt that feeling of having to be there but not be part of it. They don't leave you, those feelings, as much as you want them to go [...] You know, Wednesday and I have the same worldview."

Seeing as Burton is known for delving into his weird imagination, it must have been cathartic to live out his childhood from an Addams' perspective. His childhood wasn't exactly a great one, as most folks ostracized him for being too odd. It would seem that Burton carried his admiration for Brian De Palma's "Carrie" into the series, seeing how in the trailer, it looks like someone is getting doused in blood at the school dance.

In addition to being an executive producer, Burton himself will be directing four out of the eight episodes ordered for season 1. "Wednesday" also stars Gwendoline Christie, Luis Guzmán, Emma Myers, Christina Ricci, Jamie McShane, Joy Sunday, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Every episode of "Wednesday" will be available to stream on Netflix on November 23, 2022.