Wednesday: Tim Burton Shares What Drew Him to the Netflix Spinoff

Based on his history of blending together dark humor with horror elements, Tim Burton seems like the perfect person to explore the world of the Addams Family, with Burton himself recently admitting that what finally drew him to the franchise with the upcoming Wednesday TV series was the writing on the project. With the new series focusing on Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) and her time at the Nevermore Academy, Burton noted how the timeline and her experiences being an ostracized teen reminded him of his own youth. Wednesday is currently set to make its debut on Netflix on November 23rd.

“When I read this [script], it just spoke to me about how I felt in school and how you feel about your parents, how you feel as a person. It gave the Addams Family a different kind of reality. It was an interesting combination,” Burton recalled to Empire Magazine.

Given his success on projects like Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, some audiences have even mistakenly credited the 1991 The Addams Family movie to Burton, though it was directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. The closest Burton has come to developing a project in that universe prior to Wednesday was a 2010 project that he wanted to explore with stop-motion animation, though the filmmaker confessed, “That never really went anywhere. I was intrigued by it … but I think they wanted to go a more computer-generated way.”

Even though Burton might not be quite as enamored with murder as Wednesday, he still felt the themes of being an outsider and having unconventional interests was a theme everyone could relate to.

“In 1976, I went to a high-school prom,” Burton detailed. “It was the year Carrie came out. I felt like a male Carrie at that prom. I felt that feeling of having to be there but not be part of it. They don’t leave you, those feelings, as much as you want them to go.” 

He added, “You know, Wednesday and I have the same worldview.”

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.

Wednesday will premiere on Netflix on November 23rd.  

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!