Today, we at Knight Edge Media were given early access to the first season of Tim Burton’s upcoming Addams Family semi-reboot Wednesday. As the title suggests, the series primarily follows Wednesday Addams (played by Jenna Ortega) as she is sent to Nevermore (taken from Edgar Allen Poe’s short story) boarding school for outcasts like herself. The school includes werewolves, sirens, and witches. She soon unearths the mystery of her family’s lineage going back to the Salem Witch Trials. And soon learns of her own secret powers beyond just her dry, sarcastic, and morbid exterior fans have come to love of the character.
Simply put, Jenna Ortega (last seen in Scream 5) perfects the morbid personality many have come to associate with the character. However, the head writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, along with director Tim Burton, come up with a creative, original story for the classic family. Wednesday delivers on the mystery of her family lineage and its connection to the school. They even cleverly integrate Mexican heritage (during the Salem Witch Trials) into the Addams family lore. This was apparent when they cast all Latino actors for the lead roles, including Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán as Morticia and Gomez Addams.
The downside of the series is the not-very-believable teenage love triangle between Wednesday and two boys (played by Hunter Doohan & Percy Hynes White). It very much reminds you of the classic CW melodrama love story added into the series. However, if you are a massive fan of Netflix’s other supernatural teen reboot series, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, then Wednesday Addams is right up your alley. The series also blows the rebooted Munsters film by Rob Zombie out of the water in terms of pure quality.
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
To be blunt, Wednesday is everything you would want in an Addams Family reboot wrapped in an original mystery simply that elevates the original sitcom lore of the 1960s. While not perfect the series is extremely solid and hopefully gets renewed by the streaming service.
