'Wednesday' creepily impressive

Posted Nov.29, 2022

By Reed Mulkey

Staff Reporter

The new live-action Addams Family series on Netflix, Wednesday, is a shocking, beautiful film. The series sparked a large fandom very quickly.  Addams Family fans, new and old, had mixed reviews of the series. 

Jenna Ortega played an amazing Wednesday Addams. They could not have picked a better actress for this role. Ortega has been in many other shows and movies, some of the most recognizable are, Stuck in the Middle, The Fallout, You, and The Babysitter: Killer Queen.  The actress got her start at the young age of eight. 

Many characters return including Gomez, Morticia, and Thing. However some classic characters such as cousin It. 

Wednesday gets sent to the private school, ¨Nevermore¨ which is the school both her parents attended. She gets sent there to get into some legal trouble at her other school and not wanting it on her record. The school has beautiful scenery and a gothic look. Although a lot of the kids from the school are similar to Monster High characters, in personality, looks, and monster type, the characters make the show an easily enjoyable watch. 

One of the main concerns of people who do not enjoy Wednesday is that it isn't very true to the original.

“I felt like I didn't want to pull up something that she did 30 years ago.¨ Said Ortega in an interview with MTV News, ¨I didn't want to rip her off and I didn't want to be too much like her.¨ 

Ortega believes that her Wednesday is a different take on Christina Ricci's and the others. She wanted her Wednesday to be her Wednesday. 

The series is directed by Tim Burton. He kept the 1991 live-action Wednesday Addams in the cast, Ricci plays Marilyn Thornhill, a teacher at Nevermore. This role was complex and led to many mouth-dropping turns. 

The series goes into great detail about its culture. Ortega even choreographed her own dance inspired by gothic people in the '80s and '90s. This dance then inspired a dance trend on TikTok. An important part of the Addams family culture is that they are Hispanic. Many people of this ethnic group are happy about the representation and that the Addams family has always been proud of their culture but they don't follow potentially harmful stereotypes. 

The plot leaves you on the edge of your seat and always guessing. The suspense of trying to solve the plot on your own is almost too much to take. The ending was surprising and left it open for another season.