Danny Elfman – the genius songwriter and composer behind The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow is reteaming with Tim Burton on Wednesday – the Addams Family spin-off series.
Wednesday is an 8 episode live-action series for Netflix and follows a slightly older Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) as a student at Nevermore Academy. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Morticia, Luis Guzman plays Gomez and Gwendoline Christie plays the potentially evil headmistress.
The series will follow Wednesday’s attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorised the local town, and solve a supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago—all while navigating new and very tangled relationships. So sleuthing appears to be an addition to the silly supernatural shenanigans we are used to from the original TV show and the movies.
The EP-showrunners are Al Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville, Into the Badlands). It had previously been announced that Burton was directing all 8 episodes himself, but according to Deadline, Gandja Monteiro and James Marshall are directing two episodes each.
Danny Elfman has collaborated with Tim Burton throughout his career, most recently on 2019’s live-action Dumbo. Away from Burton, Elfman is also known for the Raimi Spider-Man movies, the Men in Black franchise and um, the Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy.
The Addams Family has had a resurgence of interest in recent years, with an animated film franchise starring Oscar Isaac as Gomez and Charlize Theron as Morticia. Meanwhile, that other ooky spooky family sitcom The Munsters, which amazing originally aired at the exact same time as the original Addams Family (in the mid 60s), is also getting a revival. Long-time Munster superfan Rob Zombie is directing a new movie about Frankenstein’s monster Herman Munster and his family of vampires and werewolves.
While we wait for the latest iterations of these beloved spooky families, check out our guide to the best Netflix horror movies.