WednesdayTV Show 2022

Burton was previously approached to direct the 1991 film and was involved with a cancelled stop-motion animated The Addams Family film. In October 2020, he was reported to be helming a television series, which was later given a series order by Netflix. Ortega was cast in part to represent the character's Latina heritage. Ricci, who had played the titular character in the 1991 film and its 1993 sequel, was asked by Burton to join the series in a supporting role. Filming took place in Romania between September 2021 and March 2022.

WednesdayTV Show | 2022

In October 2020, Wednesday was initially announced as an unnamed Addams Family project being helmed by Burton. The series's production would be handled by MGM Television, with Burton as director. Gough and Millar would serve as showrunners, while Gough, Millar, and Burton would also be executive producers alongside Gail Berman, Jon Glickman, and Andrew Mittman.[13] In February 2021, Netflix gave the production a series order consisting of eight episodes.[14] In August 2021, Kayla Alpert was added as an executive producer and 1.21, Tee and Charles Addams Foundation, and Glickmania were also producing the series.[15] Deemed his "first real foray into television", Burton directed four out of the eight episodes,[11] with Gandja Monteiro and James Marshall directing the remaining episodes.[16] Burton brought on regular collaborator Colleen Atwood as costume designer.[11]

The creative team sought a Latina to play the role of Wednesday Addams in order to align with character Gomez Addams's heritage, an aspect of the character that was already worked into the series' script.[18] In May 2021, Jenna Ortega, who is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent,[18] was cast in the role.[19] Millar stated that, upon their first Zoom call together, the creative team knew that "nobody else on this planet" was better suited to portray the character.[20] Ortega said that she was initially hesitant about joining the project due to her past work in teen-oriented Disney Channel shows[21] and her plans to prioritize film over television work, but decided to join in after meeting Burton through Zoom.[22] In the beginning of August of that year, Luis Guzmán was cast to guest-star as Gomez Addams,[15] and Catherine Zeta-Jones was cast as Morticia Addams in an undisclosed capacity.[23] Later that month, Thora Birch, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Hunter Doohan, Georgie Farmer, Moosa Mostafa, Emma Myers, Naomi J. Ogawa, Joy Sunday, and Percy Hynes White were announced to be cast as series regulars.[24] Myers initially auditioned for the titular role before she was cast as Wednesday's roommate Enid.[25]

In September, Gwendoline Christie and Victor Dorobantu were added to the cast in starring roles while Isaac Ordonez, George Burcea, Tommie Earl Jenkins, Iman Marson, William Houston, Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo, Oliver Watson, Calum Ross, and Johnna Dias Watson were cast in recurring roles.[26] In December 2021, Birch left the series, leaving the status of her character, dorm mother Tamara Novak, unclear.[27] In March 2022, it was announced that Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday Addams in the 1991 film and its 1993 sequel, was cast as a series regular, replacing Birch in a similar role.[28] Commenting on her casting, Ricci stated, "I was really flattered to be asked and to be asked by Tim [Burton]",[17] with whom she had previously collaborated on the 1999 film Sleepy Hollow.[29] Ricci was almost unable to accept the role due to possible scheduling conflicts with Showtime series Yellowjackets.[18] In October, a trailer revealed Fred Armisen to be portraying Uncle Fester, and Ricci's role was confirmed as Marilyn Thornhill.[30]

Filming took place between September 2021 and March 2022 in the Southern Carpathian town of Bușteni, Romania.[31][32] Filming locations included Cantacuzino Castle, serving as the setting for the fictional Nevermore Academy, Politehnica University of Bucharest, Sinaia railway station, the Bucharest Botanical Garden, Monteoru House, and the historic Olga Greceanu Mansion in Dâmbovița County, standing in for the Gates mansion.[33] Exterior shots of Cantacuzino Castle were supplemented with CGI.[34] Other settings, including the entire town of Jericho, were constructed at Buftea Studios.[33][35] Production designer Mark Scruton based his set design primarily on Charles Addams's original cartoons and drew inspiration from Burton-directed films such as Beetlejuice and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.[36] Ortega called her work on the series "very stressful and confusing" and "the most overwhelming job I've ever had" due to the production's fast-tracked shooting schedule.[22][37]

Led by two singles,[48] Wednesday's 48-track soundtrack was released by Lakeshore Records on November 23, 2022,[45] and a four-track extended play featuring covers of classical and pop songs was released on November 30.[47] In his review of the series, Tony Sokol of Den of Geek called the score "a major character, not only thematically, but as an emotional delivery system", making "the chills creepier, the jokes funnier, and the tingles tangible".[49] Linda Codega of Gizmodo called the cello segments "memorable" and the score "occasionally-magnificent".[50] Writing for IGN, Amelia Emberwing described the combination of Elfman's score with Burton's material as "[going] together like peanut butter and jelly" and the score overall as "a stunner".[51]

A first teaser trailer for Wednesday was released on August 17, 2022,[52] followed by a full trailer on October 9[53] and the unveiling of the series's opening sequence on November 8.[54] Wednesday premiered on November 16, 2022, at Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles.[55][56] Its eight episodes were released on Netflix on November 23, 2022.[57] In December 2022, Netflix released a promotional video to its Twitter account depicting Thing, a sentient disembodied hand appearing in the series, roaming the streets of New York City and capturing passersby's reactions.[58]

On possible future seasons, Gough and Millar commented in an interview with Variety, "when we sit down to create a show, it's looking at multiple seasons, ideally. That's never expected, but that's the anticipation that hopefully the show is successful." They further stated that they had "a pretty clear runway" of how future seasons could unfold.[87] In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gough and Millar stated that the second season would expand upon the friendship between Wednesday and Enid while also evolving Wednesday's relationship with her mother, Morticia.[88] Preparations for a second season commenced in December 2022, following Amazon's acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[89] In January 2023, the series was renewed for a second season.[90]

Following the release of Wednesday, Wednesday Addams's dance from the series and its fan recreations to Lady Gaga's song "Bloody Mary" went viral on video sharing service TikTok,[91] with Kim Kardashian, Amelia Dimoldenberg, Marina Diamandis, Madonna and Gaga herself also participating in the trend.[92][93][94] This resulted in a large increase in plays of the song on Spotify[95] and on-demand streams in the United States, surging by 415 percent in the week after the series's release.[96] Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva recreated the dance during a December 2022 competition.[97] Earlier that same month, "Bloody Mary" was sent to French radio as a single, 11 years after the release of Born This Way, the album it was featured on.[98] The 1981 song "Goo Goo Muck" by the Cramps, which plays during the original dance scene in the fourth episode of the series, also saw a surge in popularity. According to Billboard, on-demand streams of the song in the United States increased from 2,500 to over 134,000,[99] and Spotify streams increased by 9,500 percent since the series was released.[100] Janelle Zara of The Guardian stated that the viral dance trend "may have single-handedly revived Gothic subculture for Gen Z".[101]

EXCLUSIVE: This is the news Addams Family fans have been hoping for since the new Netflix series Wednesday was announced: Christina Ricci, the actor most closely associated with the title character, will be a major part of the live-action show from Tim Burton.

Burton executive produces Wednesday with Gough and Millar, who serve as showrunners. Also executive producing are Kayla Alpert, Steve Stark, as well as Andrew Mittman for 1.21, Kevin Miserocchi, Jonathan Glickman for Glickmania and Gail Berman.

Netflix has released a new trailer for its upcoming Addams family inspired Wednesday TV series premiering on the Netflix streaming service sometime during the fall of 2022. The Wednesday TV series stars Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams, Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams and Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams. 041b061a72