‘Wednesday’ producer promises ‘clever new interpretation’ of ‘The Addams Family’

via Netflix

The world’s kookiest, ookiest family will be snapping their way back onto our screens later this year, albeit in a wild new take. Netflix is revitalizing The Addams Family with Wednesday, an upcoming live-action series starring Jenna Ortega as the eponymous misanthropic teen. With the combination of a rising star like Ortega, the iconic IP, and director Tim Burton making his TV debut, the show promises to be an unmissable treat for fans of the gothic clan.

But despite the hype that already exists for Wednesday, Netflix has been reluctant to give us much of a look at it just yet. So far, we’ve only had a brief teaser featuring Ortega in full Wednesday gear with the Addams’ pet hand Thing on her shoulder. When speaking to Variety, however, producer Gail Berman promised that the series will offer “a clever new interpretation” of the Addams’ world that’s unlike what we’ve seen before, as well as recapping how the project materialized in the first place:

“All the props go to [creators] Al Gough and Miles Millar. It’s their baby with Tim Burton. It’s a modern telling of the story, it’s a clever new interpretation. You haven’t seen this before. I love The Addams Family, I always thought it was an amazing, underutilized brand. I met with Kevin Mizracki a long, long time ago. The rights had become available and we took a leap. I had a deal at the time with MGM for television, and they got on board right away for an animated feature. It’s been a wonderful partnership, and Wednesday was an outgrow from that.”

As Berman reminds us, Wednesday comes from Gough and Millar, the minds behind Smallville and Spider-Man 2. What the duo have cooked up is a school-set supernatural-mystery storyline in which Wednesday attends Nevermore Academy and must learn to master her growing psychic abilities. Yes, Wednesday has superpowers now. Get with the program.

While Ortega’s protagonist is the focus, other members of the fam will feature, including Catherine Zeta-Jones as matriarch Morticia. ’90s Addams lovers are also psyched by Christina Ricci being on board the series, too, in an unknown role. If it turns out she’s playing her OG Wednesday and the show is really an Into the Addams-Verse multiverse event then I think the internet might just break.

Also co-starring Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Gwendoline Christie, and Luis Guzman as Gomez, Wednesday doesn’t have a release date yet but it’s a good bet that it’ll debut on streaming in time for this Halloween season.