"Wednesday" Surprising Finale and Season 2 Ideas
Wednesday from Al Gough and Miller, an original Netflix comedy series, introduced the world of Wednesday to fans Adams outside of her weird and beloved family.
The popular program is the most recent in a long line of Addams Family adaptations, and it had the second-largest premiere week in the two-year history of Nielsen's weekly rankings. What makes Wednesday special, though, is that it mostly follows one family member and her existence at Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for "outcasts, freaks, and monsters" (with a helping hand, ahem, from Thing). The teenage goth superstar is caught up in a fantastical whodunnit just days after starting at her new school, one that she will spend the entire first season solving: Who is killing Nevermore pupils, and why?
By the end of the episode, Wednesday learns that Tyler (Hunter Doohan) is actually a Hyde monster that has been "activated" to kill the outcasts and is being controlled by none other than Christina Ricci's Marilyn Thornhill, a.k.a. Laurel Gates. Since Goody Addams, an ancestor of Wednesday, assassinated Joseph Crackstone in the 1600s, the Gates family has worked to eradicate the world's outcasts. In an effort to complete his work and finally purge the world of outcasts, Laurel raises Crackstone from the dead, only for an Addams to slay him once again.
Gough and Millar recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter and discussed their ideas for season two, if they receive one, as well as what first drew them to the Wednesday character. In addition, the show's producers consider their experience on Smallville 21 years after its debut, what they may have done better, and whether they would wish to revive the series.
What made you want to create a show based on this character?
By Al Gough It was a character that none of us had spent a lot of time with but that we all adored. It's also a character who we were only really familiar with as a 10-, 11-, or 12-year-old who is in a family and occasionally has a humorous quip. We wondered, "What if she were a teenage girl? " because of her apparent lack of fear and her capacity to constantly be herself with something. What if you took her away from her family and placed her in boarding school, which is purportedly a new family? What would she say?
The former Adams family. How much inspiration did you take from those?
Millar, Miles We obviously wanted to pay homage to the Addams Family's legacy, and I believe that doing so was crucial and something we always, always enjoyed. We believe that it acknowledges the supporters. The show also has a nostalgic component. We may have also referred to the original Charles Addams artwork. Tim was a tremendous fan of Charles Addams growing up, so that was definitely something we discussed with him. His corpus of work is so new, incisive, subversive, morbid, and enjoyable to look at. There are production design components that we literally tore from his panels because we thought they would make for a really interesting Easter egg for viewers who are aware of them.
Compared to some of the earlier iterations, Wednesday kind of dialed into the Latin family experience. What inspired that original choice?
Gough: It appeared to be something that had been hinted at in many earlier versions, but no one had ever truly done it. We just felt that it was something that we wanted to dig into further and have as a piece of this new Wednesday and to sort of celebrate it and express that. They clearly cast Raul Julia as Gomez in the movie. That is therefore the real source of that.
What kind of thought process went into those choices?
Al and I had never performed a whodunnit, so we were quite eager to give it a try. Millar To make sure there are no loose ends when you look back on the event, it was actually much more complicated and challenging than we had imagined. There are no instances when you think, "Well, that couldn't have happened," as we like to call them in Fight Club. Undoubtedly, it was a jigsaw puzzle.
When all eight episodes were finished, we could truly make sure that all the red herrings were present, and it seemed completely mysterious. However, we didn't know it would work until a real audience saw it. As a result, solving a whodunnit can be extremely frustrating because the answer might be so clear. Then, as is frequently the case, when we cast Christina, people immediately assumed she would play the plainly evil guest star. But it's very encouraging to learn that the red herrings were effective and that people were intrigued by the mystery. That person might be the one. That person might be the one. Misdirect. Thus, for us, that is the aspect of the show that truly fulfills us. We were particularly concerned about this.
You stated that this was your first time playing whodunnit. Did any past whodunnit tales serve as a source of inspiration for you in any way?
It seems as though Agatha Christie is such an iconic author in the classic Agatha Christie mystery books, and Wednesday is also a rising crime author, says Millar. anything from Agatha Christie to Murder, She Wrote.
Gough: There were simply always enough distractions. Once you had a general understanding of the riddle and could state it in a few lines, it was then a matter of adding further layers of complexity. There were a few instances where we would go back and sort of add a few other little touches to scenes or other things to make sure that the arrows weren't suddenly pointing to one person or another. As Miles said, it's one thing to do it on the page, but once you get into the casting, and then once you're shooting it, there were times when we would go back and do that.
You said there weren't any loose ends. You might have gone that route, ahem, The White Lotus season two, as there are undoubtedly several whodunnits with loose ends. What made you decide against taking that path?
Millar: Well, I think for us, it's always about feeling like the season, since there are only eight episodes, feels like a book, so it's gratifying and complete. You want to feel content that the tale has been told after a series has come to a close. It's about closing up those loose ends so that we can really start with a brand-new mystery next season. After that, you want expectations and cliffhangers for questions for the next season.
What kind of underlying arguments were you attempting to make about Laurel Gates trying to get rid of the misfits and the magical creatures?
Gough: We believe that one of the benefits of genre is that it allows you to tell a variety of stories and touch on a variety of subjects without coming across as preachy. Obviously, the concept of outcasts being in this world and people being aware of their status as such begs the question: how were they treated? Then there is Crackstone and the history that they are familiar with, but what is the actual history? And the Gates family was actually an extension of that since they dated all the way back to Crackstone. Therefore, it was incredibly fascinating. In its most basic form, it was portraying the tale of a racist family wanting to rid their community of those who don't look like them.
The idea of all these young people having special abilities attending the same school brought to mind Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. Have you read any YA novels like that for inspiration?
Millar: We've always been fans of the genre, and Harry Potter and Percy Jackson are certainly favorites of ours, but I believe both Tim Burton and Stephen King are favorites of ours as well because Tim wasn't involved in the project when we initially started it. Both Charles Addams and the small-town setting of Stephen King felt like they were features that [we] sort of [went for], so those were basically what served as our sources of inspiration. There was no reference to Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, but as soon as you're in boarding school, the parallels start to emerge.
In the beginning, we debated if it would be funny to portray a young Wednesday Addams as the outsider in a typical high school. The family should come first, we thought, and we sort of wanted her to leave the family. The Addams Family-themed boarding was another perk that the boarding school provided.
So there you have it where did Morticia and Gomez attend school? And what is that? How do these individuals survive in the real world? As a result, it opened up and broadened the world of the Addams Family, which I believe has undoubtedly piqued people's interest. The fact that no one has really explored this aspect of the Addams Family means that we have the chance to truly develop that world in upcoming seasons, and we're thrilled to have that opportunity.
The Nevermore Academy comes to mind. Now that season one has ended, it is closed. What would happen to Wednesday, Xavier, Enid, Bianca, and the other students if there was a season two, which is extremely certain to happen?
Gough: Moving forward, we want to sort of investigate and complex all of those relationships. When they went, the school was closed, which provided us with the most opportunities for season two, and I believe that's something we're eager to investigate. For us, the focus of the production is also on the camaraderie between women, with Wednesday and Enid serving as its central figures. It has been quite satisfying that they truly resonated with viewers. We're eager to find out what Wednesday's friendship will look like now that she's put a toe into it. She almost hugged me. I believe that was her main season arc. As a result, we do that presently. Further exploring the mother-daughter bond between Wednesday and Morticia is also quite intriguing since, now that Morticia is aware of her talent, she has a general concept of how it will develop. How will their connection develop?
Al and I have always enjoyed the Addams Family and this character in particular, but we also share four children between us, so that's another factor. As a result, we absolutely drew inspiration from real life for this one, and I believe it has encouraged us to create or find a young girl character who is as uncommon, self-assured, literate, smart, odd, and unapologetic about all those things. Teen females frequently start off as ugly ducklings before developing into swans, but in this case Wednesday is fully developed.
I find this persona to be such an incredible inspirational role model. It's so uncommon to have a female teen protagonist in this role, so hearing our children and their friends talk about the program in this way has been extremely satisfying. Even though she is so gloomy, dark, goofy, and insane, it really nailed that goal in a positive way. She is actually an immensely positive force in both her world and our world. This show has actually put something extremely nice out there, which is something I really appreciate.
Wednesday dabbled in friendship. She also dabbled in romance with Tyler, and she and Xavier engaged in a game of will-they-won't-they. Some web users even express the wish that Wednesday and Enid be the final two. At any time, were you aiming for it, or did you only want to emphasize their friendship?
Millar: As Al mentioned, the show's central theme is the sisterhood. We won't disregard anything, and it goes without saying that characters occasionally come into their own, which is one of the great things we enjoy about television because it's an organic process. We have a path that leads you in unexpected directions, and we'd like to have routes along that route. We are therefore open to everything.
We want to really investigate that bond, but we won't since this is where you can sometimes get misled by fans and other things of the sort. Instead, we'll just be extremely curious to see how those characters and that friendship grow over time. Al mentioned that this bond is essential to our kind of show-related vision.
In prior Addams Family iterations, Wednesday and Morticia didn't seem to get along as much as they did in this program, if my memory serves me correctly. Why did you choose to depict their romance in that manner?
Gough: They didn't, but in the other shows she was a little girl. We have four daughters, as Miles mentioned, and we have kind of observed the development of the bond between our daughters and our wives. At some point, she does strive to separate herself from who her mother is, or who she believes her mother is, and create her own identity. And I believe that's where we actually find Morticia and Wednesday.
As someone who [thinks] everyone loves Morticia, it is obvious that Morticia is somewhat surprised by this and is unable to comprehend what is taking place. It will primarily involve Morticia coming to terms with Wednesday as who she is. She is not an exact replica of her. Thus, I anticipate that the journey will be very intriguing.
Millar: On Wednesday's side, it's astonishing that an Oscar-winning actress like Catherine Zeta-Jones was cast. She exudes such glamour, beauty, and charisma. Therefore, having someone like that as your mother throws a very large shadow. Therefore, I believe it is something Wednesday will also have to deal with. The sense that the Addams Family has for one another is, in my opinion, what makes them so wonderful.
Everyone will construct their own identities, and Wednesday finds that to be quite essential and something that is very vital to her. They are the oddest, most functional family on the globe, which is something to aspire to. So, I believe Wednesday needs to feel like she must escape the shadow Morticia creates.
How long would you like this show to run if it were up to you?
Gough: The beauty of television is that you may continue for many seasons, as we have in the past. It's also entertaining how, as you travel further, the planet and the stories gradually come into view. So, it's something we truly enjoy doing, and you also have a special bond with the audience when they become attached to these characters over a long period of time. We therefore want it to continue as long as it can.
A few weeks ago, rumors were that Jenna was awaiting the results of her COVID test while filming the famous dance scene. Why didn't they just wait for the results and let her film wait instead?
What we can say, according to Millar, is that we adhered to extremely strict COVID protocols throughout the dance. Jenna tested negative the day before, so she wasn't taken off the set until a positive test came back; she was then placed in isolation for, I believe, 10 days. It's one of those components from Chinese whispers. Every test and process were strictly followed, and there was never any talk about sacrificing those standards in order to continue recording Jenna while she was ill or injured.
The actors and crew's health and well-being were and always will be of utmost importance to us and everyone at MGM and Netflix, so if she had been, we would've closed and let her rest. The facts speak for themselves in that every protocol was followed, and the protocols were strict in that they required double-masking and PCR tests on a daily basis, so it was one of those things that basically was exaggerated in terms of a story, which we understand.
This was the longest anyone had ever spent with Wednesday, and at the moment, Smallville represented the longest anyone had ever spent with a young Clark Kent. What inspires you to write these juvenile tales about characters that the public has come to know and love through popular culture?
Gough: When I was a young child in school, there used to be these books that discussed historical figures when they were younger before they became the famous people that you know. I therefore think that getting under the hood of who these iconic characters are is important because there are so many things that are just givens, like with Clark Kent. Simply put, he is a good man. He was raised in a tiny town. When he dons his glasses, no one recognizes him. It's similar to how all of these things are taken for granted. Simply put, it seems as though everyone has heard that for a very long time and nobody has ever actually investigated it.
And I believe that Wednesday will be the same. She is a particular way. However, asking "Well, why are these people this way? What drives them? And how do you present these chapters that have never been presented before? Another factor is that, as a storyteller, you're constantly looking for a tale that hasn't been told before. And it seemed absurd that this part of Clark Kent's life had never been told in Superman, the countless comic books, or the years that had passed before Smallville. Therefore, it was fantastic for us.
Millar: Also, how can you give these recognizable figures emotional nuance? Clark Kent has always struck me as a one-note character, and Wednesday looks to be the same. He's just a little bit of a nice guy, and Wednesday is just a little bit of a snarky kid. How then, as a writer, do you take people like that, who are kind of like extremes, and make them feel human? That, in my opinion, was the real aim. The aim of any writer is to create complicated, emotionally nuanced characters that feel real and human.
When you start to construct these stories and consider how they got to be [the persons they became], that is what makes the journey so fascinating. How did Clark come to be the superhero-like person he is today, dedicated to doing good in the world? On Wednesday, we have no idea how long the trip will take. Wednesday the adult has never been seen. So that's incredibly exciting because we get to tell that tale, you know? How does she become a lady, and how do you accomplish it without losing Wednesday's character? You never want to change Wednesday too much given her capacity for change. Although you want to see her change, we will never want to change the type of person she is.
With Jericho, Wednesday had some of the small-town Americana themes from Smallville while also focusing on a distinct population. What did you bring to Wednesday that you learned from your time on Smallville?
Gough: I believe there were several factors. One of them, in my opinion, was the blending of several diverse tones. Like Smallville, you could be an action-adventure show, a family drama, a young romance, a mystery, or even an occasional horror show. As a result, I believe we really were really evolving that particular blend of tones in one night, which we then took to Wednesday and improved because, as Miles noted, she is a very different character. You always had to kind of stick to the fact that Clark is naturally good.
That program primarily dealt with superpowered puberty and aggressive parenting. The parents who discovered Clark are to thank for who Clark is today. He would have had a different upbringing if he had landed in a different cornfield and been discovered by Lionel Luthor. His abilities will always be his, but who was he going to become as a person? How could the Kents know that, too? We made the Kents younger because, in the comics, they were always depicted as grandparents, and we loved the idea of him having younger parents because they had tales.
It's a show that families watch collectively, much like Wednesday. They used to make fun of the WB's dads and daughters program. The men adore Superman, the daughters like the romance and Clark. However, it was always a co-viewing type of experience, which I don't believe can be anticipated. However, we have heard anecdotally and from Netflix that this is something else that folks experience. The whole family may watch a show together on Wednesday.
Millar: It's a tremendous privilege to produce something that families can watch together today and that there is a sense of community, sharing, and something that is relevant to everyone, which is truly such a rare thing. Adults and children can both benefit from it and enjoy it. I know that watching television as a family is quite uncommon in my home. As Al stated, I believe you can only hope for it; but, you cannot prepare for it. I believe that Smallville excels at mixing several tones, and this show adds a much more overtly humorous tone, which, in my opinion, distinguishes it from Smallville. There are similarities in terms of those characters, in terms of really fleshing them out and having them feel real. Wednesday is intrinsically humorous and very smart, so the abundance of literary references and making sure that she truly feels authentic to herself.
Gough: In the village of Smallville, Clark was the only one who truly knew the secret. It was all quite covert, even if there were others who would contract the kryptonite infection. Jericho is important to me because they are aware of the existence of the institution. These kids are aware of their abilities. Now that it's been released into the world, how will people respond to it? Thus, I believe that there is a little more emphasis on community there than in Smallville, which is primarily about Clark and his family keeping this a secret from the rest of the world.
Smallville is about a closeted youngster who is unable to communicate his secret because, as Millar says, we always perceive genre as an allegory for something extremely pertinent. Therefore, it is essentially a gay allegory for a youngster who lacks self-expression, for parents who love him dearly, and for the ultimate illegal immigrant who ends up saving the nation. He thereby assumes the role of the ideal American patriot. Therefore, those two themes run throughout Smallville, along with the appreciation of Americana.
Additionally, Wednesday is a celebration of being proud of one's differences and the various forms they can take. Everyone recognizes Wednesday as a role model. We all perceive ourselves as outsiders. She is the epitome of an outsider. She is the most outcast at a school full of misfits. So. I believe that is a concept that resonates right now in terms of a very current theme, and it is something that serves as the foundation for the series, but it is not something that is favored.
More than 20 years ago, Smallville made its debut. What springs to mind when you reflect back on your time on the show and how it affected the remainder of your career?
Millar: It was traditional network TV. The task of writing 22 episodes is one that any writer's room, showrunner, or creative would find challenging. There is a lot of tale to tell, but suffice it to say that we always sought to push the boundaries of action, visual effects, and storytelling. How does the TV show compare to a movie? It was extremely ambitious in every sense, which is why I believe that even 22 years later, we're still doing it differently but drastically differently. Eight episodes will be produced, and for each episode, four episodes of Smallville could be produced in the time it would take to produce one episode of this show. In other words, every episode of this show is like a tiny Fabergé egg that needs to feel like a really intricate movie. It's a big challenge, and both have amazing elements, but I think what I'm trying to say is that they're different beasts. The process of making a Smallville episode and a Wednesday episode are significantly different.
Gough: Similar to what Miles mentioned, Wednesday is really just chapters in a book, but Smallville, given its network television schedule, is more like a collection of short stories that you would tie together with a few mythology episodes each season. Again, you never know why a show will have such a strong emotional impact. That show debuted a month after 9/11, so it was kind of novel before that. Even the press kind of treated it as though it were doing something strange. High school Superman? After 9/11, it became kind of a comfort dish. Due to the fact that it was about Americana and Superman was well-known, it served as comfort food for the American soul. So, it has to do with good and evil. And so, in my opinion, it was just a tragedy that just so happened to be a play that debuted at the appropriate moment.
Millar: It was quite emotional, We used to receive a lot of messages from military members stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan saying that viewing the show was a highlight of their week. As a result, it was a very different era, and the show just satisfied the want for American comfort food. On TV, mac and cheese is present. It simply seemed to be what they required. This one, I believe, also came out at the perfect time. Everyone seems to feel as though it's about the outsider, perhaps because it's post-pandemic, but it's also entertaining. This is just a really great, light, spicy snack after something like Dahmer, which is a really dark place to go.
Do you have any suggestions for improvements regarding Smallville?
Gough: The Clark-Lana situation went for far too long. There had to be another event. That one seemed to get a little boring, in my opinion. After Wednesday, my younger daughter will finally resume watching Smallville; she is currently in season two. What's the matter with these two, she asks? "It was a different time," I say. Therefore, if we went back, I believe there are some things where we maybe would have been a little more daring with some of those relationships and brought them to specific heads and allowed them play out.
Millar: If we split them apart, what will we do? We were definitely careful and just extremely cognizant of the fact that we wanted to get to five seasons, and we ended up at ten. Again, as a father of girls, I believe that there are changes we would make to the female characters today. I believe Lana's agency wasn't present. She had the potential to be a much stronger person, and she frequently felt underutilized. It's a different period and era now. I believe that is something we might have done better, therefore I will check into it.
Would you ever want to revisit Smallville in some form given all the reboots and remakes that are taking place?
Gough: No, I'll be honest. They always seem to be reviving Superman, and I believe we told them that tale. I recently learned that James Gunn is scripting a new Superman film for a younger audience, and I was like, "OK." We got to make the show we wanted to make, and, to be quite honest, there wasn't a committee sitting over us telling us what we could or couldn't do, so I feel like we were very, very fortunate to do the show at the time that we did. We had Warner's Features, after all, and while they refused to grant us some characters we requested, we were still able to create the show we wanted to, one that we would not be able to do today. The canon was violated in so many ways.
The show's entire idea was non-canon, according to Millar. The notion that Lex was present when Clark arrived during the meteor shower that killed people. However, we categorically would not be permitted to create that show and make those changes today, which is a real tragedy because I think what's amazing if you look at the history of comics and these characters is that they're always evolving. All those things were entirely new and added to the mythology of Superman. They never stop moving, and the notion that you must adhere to a particular canon is actually causing ideas to become stagnant. We were still extremely fortunate to have that period when we were genuinely free to do whatever we wanted, and it was it was great and incredibly liberating. Some of it is definitely the cat cries from fandom, which people perhaps listen to too much has really, really led to self-censoring.