HallowScream - Wednesday (2022-present)

      Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, fans have waited decades to see Tim Burton do a take on The Addams Family, and we got it in the form of a Netflix series. Wednesday, developed by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, stars Jenna Ortega as a teenaged Wednesday Addams, and also features the likes of Gwendoline Christie, Emma Myers, Christina Ricci, Steve Buscemi, Billie Piper, and as the remaining members of the Addams Family: Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia, Luis Guzmán as Gomez, Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley, Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester, and Joanna Lumley as Grandmama.

       So, the series opens on an ordinary high school where, after pulling her brother Pugsley out of a locker, Wednesday Addams gets revenge by dropping two bags of piranha into the pool during a swim team practice, leading to her expulsion. This prompts her parents, Gomez and Morticia, to send her to their alma mater: the boarding school Nevermore Academy. During her time at Nevermore, Wednesday uncovers several mysteries, and a string of murders that tie to the past of Nevermore and the neighboring town of Jericho. And, she meets several other outcasts that populate the school, including her brightly colored and bubbly werewolf Enid Sinclair, as well as the local queen bee Bianca, who is a Siren. 

       Now, easily the smartest decision made with Wednesday is the choice to center the series on easily one of the most popular characters in the Addams Family: Wednesday Addams. And, Jenna Ortega absolutely nails Wednesday's deadpan demeanor and macabre sense of humor. And, the way that her nature contrasts with that of Enid, portrayed brilliantly by Emma Myers, is a part of the series that leads to a lot of funny back-and-forth moments between the two of them. 

      As for the other members of the Addams Family, I gotta say that the duo of Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia and Luis Guzmán as Gomez were spot on. Much like previous portrayals of Gomez and Morticia with the likes of Carolyn Jones and John Astin in the original series, and of course Angelica Huston and Raul Julia in the '90s films by Barry Sonnenfeld, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman show the firey passion that Gomez and Morticia have for each other. And, Luis Guzmán's Gomez is very on point for the original cartoon version by Charles Addams in terms of physical appearance. I also enjoyed Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley, who gets a much larger role in the second season as he becomes a student of Nevermore. But, my personal favorite has to be Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester, who takes great inspiration from both Jackie Coogan and Christopher Lloyd in terms of portraying Fester. Now, while she only had a minor role in season two, I did enjoy the iconic Joanna Lumley as Grandmama, and look forward to seeing her more in season three. And, I did like how Tim Burton, Alfred Gough, and Miles Millar opted to go for actors of Hispanic descent for the roles of Gomez, Wednesday, Pugsley, and Fester. The exceptions, of course, being Catherine Zeta-Jones, who is Welsh, and Joanna Lumley, who is British.

      But, of course, you can't have the Addams Family without Thing, who gets a lot of personality and development in this series. Let's start with the design. As with most iterations of The Addams Family, thing of portrayed in Wednesday as a dismembered hand that crawls around like a spider. But, as one would expect in a Tim Burton version of The Addams Family, Thing is now covered in stitches and sutures, and had dirt and grime all over him, especially in his fingernails. And, we also get a different origin for Thing, where we see he was once one of the hands of mad scientist Isaac Night (Thing being an anagram for Night, by the way), and the last bit of goodness in Isaac Night manifested within Thing. But, one of my favorite moments with Thing is when someone refers to him as Wednesday's pet, and Thing flips the guy off. Also, Lurch has appearances in the series, played initially by George Burcea, and currently by Chewbacca's new actor Joonas Suotamo. 

        The faculty of Nevermore is certainly played by some of the most phenomenal actors in the business. For instance, the first season has Game of Thrones alum Gwendoline Christie as Principal Weems, and sees Christina Ricci, who was also famous for playing Wednesday Addams back in the '90s, as Marilyn Thornhill. Season two, however, sees a new Principal named Barry Dort, played by Steve Buscemi, and a new mucic teacher named Isadora Capri, played by Doctor Who star Billie Piper. In terms of my preference, I prefer Steve Buscemi and Billie Piper as Dort and Capri. But, it was cool to see Christina Ricci return to the world of The Addams Family. Oh, and Christopher Lloyd also returns to the world of The Addams Family by taking on the role of Professor Orloff, who is a talking head in a jar. 

      But, one unique aspect of Wednesday is in how it expands on the abnormality of the Addams Family, by explaining that the Addams family are what are referred to as Outcasts, beings with supernatural abilities. And, among these Outcasts are shapeshifters, werewolves, vampires, and sirens. And, the sirens in Wednesday are the closest that Tim Burton is going to get to depicting mermaids on screen. But, one form of Outcast in this series is the Hyde, which is very Burton esque in design and nature, and is a really scary addition to the roster of bizarre and unusual creations brought to life by Tim Burton. 

      Narratively, the entire series definitely feels like the kind of thing I wanted from an adaptation of The Addams Family through the lens of Tim Burton. The casting of the family, the creature designs, the main design for Thing, and the design of places like the Addams house and Nevermore Academy are very much how I picture Tim Burton designing a world for the Addams family to inhabit. While there are currently only two seasons of Wednesday streaming on Netflix, a third season is on the way, and will feature Eva Green as Morticia's sister Ophelia. So, yeah, definitely looking forward to that, and possibly seeing how Tim Burton might reinterpret Cousin Itt. 

       All in all, as a fan of The Addams Family and of Tim Burton, I enthusiastically recommend watching the show Wednesday on Netflix. And, this makes it two for two in terms of Netflix adapting something I enjoy with a director I like, the other being the Netflix version of A Series of Unfortunate Events by Barry Sonnenfeld. 

      Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and HallowScream will continue very soon.