‘Wednesday’ Creators Promise Teenage Wednesday Won’t ‘Betray Who She Is’
The new Netflix series Wednesday takes a brand new look at Wednesday Addams. Jenna Ortega plays teenage Wednesday. She goes away to the Nevermore Academy boarding school and solves a mystery. But, the show’s creators Al Gough and Miles Millar won’t change what makes Wednesday herself.
Gough and Miller were guests on The Hollywood Reporter’s TV’s Top Five podcast on Oct. 28 to preview Wednesday. They explained the qualities it was important to maintain in their Wednesday Addams. Wednesday premieres Nov. 23 on Netflix.
‘Wednesday’ can’t tell a story so big it changes Wednesday Addams
Many teenage stories are about characters coming of age. That won’t work for Wednesday because what everybody loves about her is her macabre sarcasm. Millar wouldn’t want to change that either.
“It’s keeping the purity of that character which is so pure and that I think we can’t betray that in terms of who she is,” Millar said on TV’s Top Five. “She will emerge at the end of the series, if we have multiple seasons, that she will still be Wednesday Addams that we all know and love. But I think she will definitely grow in that same nature. I think her arc in this season is very satisfying and oddly emotional and I think it takes you by surprise how emotional it is. That was something we worked really hard at without betraying who she is.”
The difference between Wednesday Addams and other teenagers
Gough also articulated why Wednesday could not be your ordinary teen show. It still had to be The Addams Family, even if her parents are barely in it.
“Usually in a show like this you could go a couple different ways,” Gough said. “It’s usually the female protagonist who is very insecure and doesn’t know who she is. Then through the course of the season she blossoms and finds her power. If you’re doing a mystery show, you’re doing the detective who feels a personal investment who wants to solve the crime. Wednesday is neither of these things. She comes to the show fully formed.”
Gough said he and Millar also have teenage daughters who inform their take on Wednesday Addams.
She’s someone who comes and knows who she is, and she likes who she is. For us, she has an arc but we call it a very small but meaningful arc. She’s someone who sees the world in black and white and has to learn that it’s shades of gray. The other thing is she’s always been part of this family. Her actual family but now it’s going to be the family of her friends and this school and how she has to interact with other people and develop friendships. You see it in the first episode in the first scene. Most of high school she just rolls in, blows through people and rolls out. She can’t do that this time. That was something else we were trying to do. That was really the crux of the challenge with this character, which is how do we tell this story but always make sure that Wednesday Addams is Wednesday.”
Al Gough, TV’s Top Five, 10/28/22
Every scene is a challenge
Gough and Millar unleash their teenage Wednesday Addams in eight episodes. But, Millar said ensuring Wednesday Addams remained herself was a challenge in every scene.
“The guiding light of this one is we can’t dilute who Wednesday is,” Millar said. “That’s actually hard to do. How does she stay Wednesday in a scene and not compromise that? So it’s always how can we make sure we don’t compromise her with the teen romances or relationships or situations. It’s always the hard balance. You want her to have those interactions and her to react as Wednesday would.”
