Has there ever been a more perfect TV combo than Tim Burton creating his own Addams Family spin-off? Probably not.
Now, happily, this potential has been realised, as Netflix released a new teaser trailer yesterday introducing its audiences to the forthcoming series, Wednesday.
Directed by Burton and starring Jenna Ortega (You, The Fallout) in the titular role, the 40-second clip shows a close-up of Wednesday tying up her famous two black plaits. She then walks out of a dark corner into a spotlight and adjusts her large white collar. A severed hand jumps on her shoulder as suspenseful music ticks over the teaser trailer.
The new series will be a coming-of-age tale about Wednesday Addams, a teenager who is obsessed with death, and will follow her adventures as a high school student.
Catherine Zeta-Jones will play matriarch Morticia Addams, Riki Lindhome (Knives Out) will play Dr. Valerie Kinbott and Jamie McShane (Gone Girl) will play Sheriff Donovan Galpin. Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones), Hunter Doohan (Your Honor) and Georgie Farmer (Evermoor) also star.
Although the teaser trailer gives fans very little to go off, this hasn’t stopped a wave of excitement from growing online.
“I CANNNOOOT WAAAIIIIITTTT ANY LONGERRRR IM SOO EXCITEDDDDD,” tweeted one fan.
“I’m so excited for this if #Wednesdayaddams I can’t wait to see what #timburton is gonna do with this movie!” said another.
The official Wednesday Addams Twitter account has also been having some fun replying to the animated comments.
“THE WAIT IS KILLING ME,” tweeted one enthusiast.
“Your wait will be quite painful. I envy you.” said the Wednesday Addams account.
In another exchange, one fan wrote: “When will we get a date though!”
“My lips are sealed. Thing did a surprisingly adequate job with the needle and thread.” said the Wednesday Addams account.
As of yet, there is no further news about a release date.
The Addams Family first appeared in The New Yorker as a series of 150 unrelated panel cartoons. Created by Charles Addams, the cartoons spanned a 50-year period following their 1938 inception – although most were published in the Forties and Fifties.
Then there was a 1964 comedy sitcom, a 1973 animated sitcom, a 1992 animated television series and another 1998 sitcom. Perhaps the best known Addams Family iteration came in the form of a film in 1991. Now a cult classic, the film starred Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams, Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams, Carel Struycken as Lurch and Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester Addams / Gordon Craven.
The Netflix project marks Burton’s first foray into TV. Known for his distinctive, highly stylised aesthetic, he is the director behind films like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
His most recent film was the live-action adaptation of Disney classic Dumbo.
