A version of this “Wednesday” series story first appeared in the Guilds & Critics Awards/Documentaries issue of awards magazine TheWrap.
Since the beginning of their Hollywood careers as writing partners, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have tackled beloved properties with impressive bravado. They worked on a “Lethal Weapon” sequel, a take on the “Superman” mythology (“Smallville”), a “Mummy” movie and a “Charlie’s Angels” revamp. But the duo’s latest project, the creepy, wacky, mysterious, creepy “Wednesday,” feels daunting even with its previous credits.
It is an adaptation of the Charles Addams cartoon and the 1960s television series “The Addams Family,” this time centering on perpetually tormented daughter Wednesday (now played by Jenna Ortega). It’s the first high-profile live-action version of the material since Barry Sonnenfeld’s iconic films in the 1990s. And to make matters even more intimidating, “Wednesday” marks Tim Burton’s first television project in three decades, who executive produced and directed the first half of the season.
His opening speech, Gough said, had six words: Wednesday Addams teenager in a boarding school. Still, Millar said they “wrestled” with what kind of school Wednesday would attend. They eventually settled on Nevermore Academy, a school for weirdos that includes mermaids, psychics, werewolves, and a guy who, like Medusa, has snakes for hair and can turn people to stone. “We wanted to capture the Addams Family vibe without the Addams Family,” said Millar. “Putting her in a gothic space and (thinking), if the addams family is like this, there must be a wider world.”
Helping to expand the world of “Wednesday” was, of course, Burton. In 2020, before buying the project, they wanted to hire a great director. “He was always our first choice, for obvious reasons,” Gough said. But Burton hadn’t been involved in a TV show since 1993’s “Family Dog.” They persisted. Gough recalled being on a FaceTime call where the director sat in his garden, which was festooned with a huge dinosaur topiary straight out of “Edward Scissorhands.” Gough and Millar said Burton told them: “I read the script, he talked to me. I would have dated Wednesday Addams in high school.”
“He loved the idea of telling long-form stories,” Gough said. “And initially I wanted to direct all the episodes, but there was no logistical way to make that happen.” Still, Burton remained an essential part of the production, designing the show’s juggernaut and giving final approvals for visual effects shots until the end of the first season. “He’s been very involved and has really embraced it, and I think he’s had a great time doing it,” Gough said.
Not that the show’s first season was a piece of cake. The series was filmed in Bucharest during the pandemic: “and then,” Millar said, “in the middle we had the war in Ukraine, which was next to Romania. Then there was a threat that Chernobyl would be attacked and everyone got scared. The program looks very light-hearted and fun, but it was very difficult.”
Read more from the Guild & Critics / Documentary Awards edition here.
