This “Wednesday” story originally appeared in the Race Begins issue of awards magazine TheWrap. The interview was conducted before the writers’ strike.
“Wednesday” is Alfred Gough and Miles Millar’s reimagining of the Addams Family characters first created by Charles Addams in 1938 and made famous by the 1964 television show. In Gough and Millar’s version, the Young Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) is sent to Nevermore Academy, a school for misfits where she finds herself embroiled in a mystery that spans two timelines, discovers the identity of a murderous monster, and makes great friends along the way. weather. shape.
If this sounds like an irresistible premise, it is: the show almost instantly broke Netflix viewing records. Within the third week of its release, it became the second most watched English-language Netflix series. ever. It seemed just as ubiquitous on social media, as countless fans on TikTok replicated Ortega’s memorable dance moves (to the beat of the Cramps’ “Goo Goo Muck”) and “Wednesday”-related memes spread on Twitter.
It was a phenomenon. And Gough and Millar weren’t expecting any of that. “It’s been a bit of a shock,” Gough said. “We were very proud of the show, but you never know how people will react to it. So many people have reacted so positively and brought back so many emails and texts from people from all eras of our career saying how much they enjoyed it. My parents, who are in their 80s, were getting text messages from their friends saying that this was the first show they had watched with their grandkids. It’s something amazing”.
Millar added that he has heard, anecdotally, of an increase in children taking cello lessons or enrolling in music academies and fencing schools, all key to the “Wednesday” experience. “It seems like it had a real impact in a way that we never expected,” she said. “You always hope that something you create can do that, but the fact that it actually did is miraculous.”
Millar and Gough point to the special alchemy of the show, including the fact that they were able to enlist Tim Burton to direct the first half of the episodes and that he, in turn, brought in regular collaborators like composer Danny Elfman and costume designer Colleen . Atwood. When she took on the role, Ortega was on the verge of becoming a superstar thanks to her roles in the 2022 “Scream” reboot and the A24 hit. “X”, which contributed greatly to the success of “Wednesday”.
Ortega caused a bit of a stir in March after she opened up about her clashes with Burton and the show’s writers during production, but Millar and Gough had nothing but praise for her. “You’re dealing with an iconic character and you’re putting him in a way that’s never been done before,” Gough said. “We had a million arguments with Tim before casting because we thought, ‘If we don’t get Wednesday right, we’re all screwed.’ Once we got Jenna on board, there were a million arguments with her. We all wanted to do the character justice and make him great. And look, I think the response has been fantastic. Now it’s Iconic Wednesday.”
Both producers point out that Ortega and Burton are back for their next project: “Beetlejuice 2.” Gough said that during a recent cast reading, Ortega was “fantastic,” adding, “Those kinds of people come around once in a generation.”
In addition to the overwhelming commercial success of “Wednesday’s,” the series is now also in the awards conversation. “It’s a bit of a shock because when you see the show on paper, it’s not like, Oh yeah, this should be in contention for awards.Gough said. “It’s incredibly gratifying that people are thinking about the show in this way.”
When they’re not working on “Beetlejuice 2” (“Don’t say that three times!” joked Millar), the pair gear up for season 2 of “Wednesday.” They hope Burton returns to direct more episodes, and they look forward to delving into the many supporting characters that peppered the first season. “We set the table,” Gough said. You have seen the world. You have seen Wednesday. And now all those other characters that you saw will be able to develop further and you will be able to learn more about them. That’s certainly exciting for us.”
Read more of The Race Begins issue here.
