Netflix’s “Wednesday” has been taking the pop culture world by storm. With the show’s quick success, one cannot help but wonder what led to television’s spookiest family returning to the small screen. Here is how “Wednesday” completely revitalized the Addams Family for the modern era.

Although the development of “Wednesday” officially began around 2019, a Tim Burton-directed Addams Family project had been in the works since the 1991 Addams Family film. Illumination Entertainment acquired the rights to make an animated film with Burton in 2010, but it was canceled by 2013. Burton cited Illumination’s disinterest in stop-motion animation as the reason for cancellation (it seems this concept eventually became MGM’s 2019 and 2021 animated film adaptations).

The show’s creators, Mike Millar and Alfred Gough, began to develop the story in 2019. They sent the script for a pilot to Burton and were surprised when he took great interest in the project. It was clear early on that Millar and Gough intended the show to be a modern social commentary of sorts compared to the mindless comedy of previous Addams Family shows.

“That’s something that was very important to the show—that it didn’t feel like a remake or a reboot,” Millar said during an interview with Vanity Fair, “It’s something that lives within the Venn diagram of what happened before, but it’s its own thing. It’s not trying to be the movies or the ’60s TV show. That was very important to us and very important to Tim [Burton].”

The first teaser trailer was released on Aug. 17, and the complete series arrived on Netflix on Nov. 23.

The show begins with Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) hearing that her brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) has been bullied by the school’s water polo team. After attacking the bullies with a hoard of piranhas, Wednesday is promptly expelled. Her parents, Gomez (Luis Guzmán) and Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), decide to send her to Nevermore Academy in Vermont, where they had first met and fallen in love.

Nevermore is a school for outcasts—vampires, werewolves, sirens, and gorgons—where Wednesday herself becomes an outcast due to her cold and cruel demeanor. When Wednesday suddenly finds herself developing strange abilities of her own, it becomes her job to solve a local murder mystery and escape the dreadful Nevermore Academy. 

This plot seems very reminiscent of popular fantasy stories (an outcast arrives at a magical school, à la “Harry Potter”). Despite the repetitiveness of the format, the story of “Wednesday” feels genuine to the source material. It is easy to imagine a situation like this occurring in one of the earlier Addams Family shows or films.

Jenna Ortega deserves the spotlight in this series. Her portrayal of Wednesday perfectly captures the original character’s emotionless yet complex nature. She may be cruel, but she still cares for her brother, and she likes to write and play the cello in her free time. It is interesting to watch as Wednesday develops as a character over the course of the series.

The other members of the Addams Family will also please long-time fans. Luis Guzmán and Catherine Zeta-Jones perfectly capture how unsettling Gomez and Morticia are, while still being a genuine loving couple. Isaac Ordonez brings about a more emotional side to Pugsley, who hugs his sister goodbye when she leaves for Nevermore.

The aptly named Thing (Victor Dorobantu) accompanies Wednesday on her trip to Nevermore and acts as a sort of “pet” companion to assist her. Comedian Fred Armisen plays the zany Uncle Fester, and the family butler, Lurch (George Burcea), also appears briefly. Christina Ricci, who portrayed Wednesday in the 1991 Addams Family film,  plays Marilyn Thornhill, Wednesday’s “dorm mom” and a teacher at Nevermore.

Despite these details, a clear line is drawn between this series and the Addams Family classics. The show exists in a more modern setting (Snapchat and Tik Tok are mentioned within the first episode), and it covers more modern issues to match. Where previous Addams Family media typically focused on comedy and scary fun, “Wednesday” leans more heavily towards high school drama, murder, and relationship issues.

The show seems to find a healthy balance between appealing to fans of the Addams Family and appealing to those who have never heard of them. However, it sometimes falls into the same traps that many modern high school drama stories find themselves in. Some of the new characters fit into common stereotypes and TV tropes, which can draw attention away from the story.

In a poll conducted by the Trailblazer, Pascack Hills students gave “Wednesday” an average score of 8.2/10. The reception was generally positive, although students seemed to dislike certain aspects of the plot, especially compared to previous Addams Family media. The show has a 72% critic score and an 86% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Interestingly, 88.9% of students said they were familiar with the Addams Family before watching “Wednesday,” while the remaining 11.1% said they were not. The majority of students who responded to the poll were sophomores, while the least were juniors.

“I felt like the fun part of the Addams family was, sure they were weird, and goth, but they were still genuinely nice to everybody. I get [Wednesday’s] supposed to be kinda sarcastic, but not downright mean. Overall I liked the show, but I much prefer some of the other Addams Family movies and shows,” said an anonymous Hills freshman.

Junior Allie Tonuzi added, “I loved the idea of Wednesday going to a school and having to become a teen detective. The one thing I disliked was her relationship with her mom. In the old Addams Family show, Wednesday and Morticia had a great relationship, so I was kind of shocked they didn’t in this version.”

On a more positive note, an anonymous Hills senior said, “I loved the choreography and costume design. Jenna [Ortega] did an amazing job with the acting.” 

Another senior said that they, “found it sort of Riverdale-esque in a way that [initially] turned me off, but it escalated to a grippy, faithful drama that fans of the Addams Family would enjoy.”

Despite its flaws, “Wednesday” takes the energy of the original Addams Family films and shows and repackages it for a more modern audience. Although it has not yet arrived, an announcement of a second season is something fans should expect to come in the future.