‘Wednesday’: Showrunners Call Netflix Series an ‘8-Hour Tim Burton Movie’
Showbiz Cheat Sheet attended a panel for the upcoming Netflix series Wednesday at New York Comic Con 2022. Here are all of the exciting details showrunners Miles Millar and Alfred Gough and Wednesday cast members Gwendoline Christie, Jenna Ortega, Luis Guzmán, and Fred Armisen spilled about the “8-hour Tim Burton movie” coming to the streaming platform on Wednesday, Nov. 23 (obviously).
Fred Armisen shaved his head to play Uncle Fester in ‘Wednesday’
Ortega, Guzmán, and Catherine Zeta-Jones were confirmed Addams Family members heading into NYCC 2022. But during the panel on Saturday, Oct. 8, the long-awaited announcement about who would play Uncle Fester was revealed.
“I did shave my head,” Armisen said during the panel. “I wanted to do it right and not have a bald cap or anything so I shaved my head and I was proud to do it.” Armisen, like most of the other cast, grew up watching these iconic characters and couldn’t wait to bring a new iteration of Uncle Fester to the screen.
‘Wednesday’ will also feature Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci played Wednesday Addams in the 1991 movie The Addams Family. It was only right to include her in the forthcoming Netflix series as Marilyn Thornhill, a professor at Nevermore Academy.
“I trust Enid [Emma Myers] has given you the old Nevermore welcome,” Ms. Thornhill says in the Wednesday trailer carrying a black flower. It’s clear she’s a professor at the academy, but what she teaches is unknown. Fans will have to wait until November to find out. Regardless, fans are excited about Ricci’s involvement.
“Christina Ricci defined my childhood with her Wednesday Addams,” one fan tweeted. “Seeing her in the new #WednesdayAddams show on @netflix is everything.”
‘Wednesday’ isn’t a remake — it’s an ‘8-hour Tim Burton movie’
From the imagination of Tim Burton, Wednesday is a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy. There, she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the murder mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago. Oh, and navigate new and very tangled relationships.
According to Millar, Burton insisted the show avoid being a remake and instead lean into becoming a new iteration of a fan-favorite family. “It’s important that the show … feels like it’s honoring the past while still making something different and new,” Millar said. “Tim was very clear — it’s not a remake. It’s not a TV show — it’s an eight-hour Tim Burton movie, which is what he wanted to do.”
Watch Wednesday on Netflix beginning on Nov. 23.
