Netflix and adaptations don't always go together like Wednesday Addams and acts of revenge (i.e. chillingly perfect). That said, the first teaser trailer for Netflix's Wednesday, a Tim Burton-directed series, has us pretty hyped.
The teaser trailer begins with Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) walking her black-and-white aesthetic through the colorful halls of Nancy Reagan High School, which is an amusing name alone. And then, we see the titular teen choosing violence nearly immediately, enacting revenge on jocks who tortured her brother Pugsley. That's Wednesday's responsibility, not that they would know.
Set to Édith Piaf's "La vie en rose," this moment might put a smile on your face if you love a good bit of revenge. And the giant smile — though no teeth are visible — on Wednesday's face is just the right amount of unnerving.
But, then, we get a taste of the casting that many have been curious to see, as Gomez (Luis Guzmán) and Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) bring Morticia to her new school, Nevermore Academy.
The possibly better piece of casting, though, arrives next, as we see many a shot of Principal Larissa Weems (Gwendoline Christie), who seems to be the wrong kind of diabolical. It appears that she and Wednesday will be rivals throughout the show's first season.
Netflix's logline for Wednesday reads "The series is a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy, where she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the murder mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships at Nevermore."
This all reads like The Addams' Family by way of The CW, but the vibes are right, and the casting is strong.
Analysis: Adjust your expectations
One last note to get your hopes properly calibrated. Jenna Ortega, who plays Wednesday Addams, is the only cast member of the 'family' who is listed by Netflix as in the main cast.
So, while we're all excited to see how Catherine Zeta-Jones (Morticia) and Luis Guzmán (Gomez) handle those characters — and they get decent moments in that trailer, know you might not see as much of them as Wednesday and her classmates.
Instead, the show seems to be more about Wednesday's school life. Hopefully her classmates are interesting enough to stop us from wondering what Wednesday's parents are up to.
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