Wednesday Nearly Cut Out Its Best Line
The Addams Family is spooky, creepy, and macabre, and teenage daughter Wednesday is always displayed as reveling in her family’s weirdness. Her portrayal by Jenna Ortega in the Netflix show Wednesday has been no exception as the titular character enters the Nevermore Academy and engages in the gallows humor that everyone loves her for.
The #1 TV show on Netflix right now includes a line where a classmate suggests Wednesday “take a stab at socials.” Wednesday, of course, is enthusiastic about stabbing anything and expresses this. However, Movieweb reports that one line from the new show almost got cut for being too morbid.
However, Movieweb reports that the above line from the new show almost got cut for being too morbid. Show co-writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar said that Netflix wanted the line removed.
The duo fought to keep the line, however, because they felt it was truer to both the Wednesday character and the spirit of the show. Wednesday’s dark humor has included similar sentiments before, such as her “serial killer” Halloween costume in the first Addams Family movie and her inquiry about Girl Scout cookies being made with real Girl Scouts in the second. Gough and Millar continued this tradition in the show and stood up for it when challenged by the streamer.
The show has become popular among fans and could be the start of a new franchise for the streamer as fans await news of whether there will be another season. Netflix usually announces renewals of their shows shortly after they are released and have a chance to build viewership. Wednesday is turning out to be a huge success, leading many to expect a Season Two, as well as potential spin-offs involving other Addams Family characters.
The writers themselves admit that they had already planned on a multi-season show when they originally pitched Wednesday. While they admit that it’s never guaranteed that a show is successful, they also expressed the importance of going in with the anticipation that people will watch, as well as being ready to evolve and adjust based on the strengths of the performers. “So you want to keep it open and organic enough to change it and evolve it, but we certainly have a pretty clear runway of what we want to do in future seasons,” Millar explained in an interview.
Wednesday features an ensemble cast, including Christina Ricci, who memorably played the character in the Addams Family movies of the early 1990s and plays the teacher, Ms. Thornhill, on the show. Her version of the character has become the embodiment of Wednesday Addams, and only another smart and snappy actress like Jenna Ortega could have been handed that torch. The cast also includes Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia, Luis Guzman as Gomez, and Gwendoline Christie as Nevermore Academy headmistress Larissa Weems.
The hit show follows Wednesday as she is expelled from school and sent to her parent’s alma mater, where they hope she can tame her emerging psychic abilities at the site of the beginning of their own intense romance. While there, Wednesday finds herself embroiled in mystery and murder as she navigates school life. The show is currently streaming on Netflix, with all the gallows of humor and supernatural mayhem the writers intended.
