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Just days after Netflix announced they had found their Gomez Addams in Luis Guzmán (Traffic), the streaming giant has now revealed on Twitter that Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago) has been cast as Morticia Addams in their upcoming ‘Wednesday’ series.
Along with Guzmán, Zeta-Jones joins previously announced cast member Jenna Ortega (You) who, back in May, was cast in the role of Wednesday Addams.
Guzmán and Zeta-Jones are set to appear in the series in guest starring roles, as the series will focus primarily on its titular character.
‘Wednesday’ is said to be set in the present day and is described as “a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy. Wednesday’s attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago – all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships at Nevermore.”
The series is written by Al Gough and Miles Millar, the writing duo behind the coming-of-age Superman series ‘Smallville’ and directed by Tim Burton, who is no stranger to the horror genre, having directed iconic horror films like ‘Beetlejuice’ and ‘Edward Scissorhands.’
The Addams Family was first created by cartoonist Charles Addams in 1938 and primarily appeared as one-panel gags in the weekly magazine ‘The New Yorker.’ At the time, none of the characters had officially been named and it wasn’t until the family made the jump to television in 1964 that Charles Addams gave his creations individual personalities and names.
The original 1964 series went on to run for sixty-four episodes before being canceled after its second season.
The creepy and kooky family was revived briefly in 1973 when they appeared in the Hanna-Barbera ‘The Addams Family’ cartoon. The cartoon would be short lived and only air sixteen episodes during its limited run.
In 1992, The Addams Family would return to television in a brand-new cartoon show following the success of the 1991 ‘The Addams Family’ feature film that starred Raul Julia as Gomez, Anjelica Huston as Morticia, Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester, Christina Ricci as Wednesday, Jimmy Workman as Pugsley, Judith Malina as Grandmama, and Carel Struycken as Lurch, the Addams Family butler.
This second cartoon, titled ‘The Addams Family: The Animated Series,’ would fare slightly better, lasting for two seasons and airing a total of twenty-one episodes before it, too, was canceled.
The follow-up film ‘Addams Family Values’ was released in 1993 and saw the original cast return for the sequel, except for Carol Kane, who replaced Judith Malina as Grandmama.
In 1998, the family returned to television in its most successful series to date, ‘The New Addams Family,’ which ran for sixty-five episodes, one more than the original series.
Since that time, The Addams Family has appeared in 1998’s direct-to-video film ‘Addams Family Reunion’ and 2019’s computer-animated ‘The Addams Family,’ with a sequel to this film set to be released on October 01, 2021.
This new ‘Wednesday’ series will, however, be the first time the characters have returned to television since the 1998 series.
No release date has been set for the upcoming Netflix series, which has only received an eight-episode order at this time.
Horrorfacts will be sure to report new updates and information on the series as they become available.
