Netflix’s Addams Family Spinoff Wednesday Reveals Nevermore Academy

Audiences have been enjoying the exploits of the Addams Family for decades, but in the upcoming Netflix spinoff Wednesday, fans will see a new point in time for the beloved daughter of the household, thanks to its focus on Wednesday’s time at the Nevermore Academy. Netflix has shared a new featurette for the series that focuses on the academy, featuring not only Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday but also Gwendoline Christie’s Principal Larissa Weems. The new featurette also includes a link to the Nevermore Academy’s website, offering fictional insight into the educational facility. You can check out the featurette below before Wednesday debuts on Netflix this fall.

The series is a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy. Wednesday’s attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships at Nevermore.

The timelessness of the Addams Family means we don’t often see the figures expand from their preestablished molds, which is exactly why Ortega thinks the new series will deliver a fresh perspective for longtime fans.

“We’ve never seen her as a teenage girl,” Ortega explained to Entertainment Weekly. “You know, it’s funny and sweet and almost charming to hear this eight-year-old’s obsession with murder and blood and guts. As she gets older, that nasty attitude or [those] biting remarks, it’s almost kind of hard to not make it sound like every other teenage girl. So, it’s like, how do we establish this character and give her the same fire without letting her become something that she’s not? Also, it’s eight-hour series so, for an emotionless character, there has to be some sort of an emotional arc.” 

She added, “That’s been really interesting to figure out in terms of, okay, well, she’s got to be able to push the story forward in some way but how do we keep her true to her deadpan self? It’s been a bit of a challenge and I’m curious to see how it plays. I’ve never had the opportunity to play an iconic character before. I know she’s well-loved and well-respected and I just don’t want to mess her up.”

Stay tuned for details on Wednesday before it debuts on Netflix later this year.

Are you looking forward to the new series? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!