Posted in: Netflix, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: Jenna Ortega, netflix, tim burton, wednesday

Wednesday: Netflix Executive "Optimistic" About Season 2 & More

Published Wed, 14 Dec 2022 13:49:12 -0600

When you're Miles Millar, Al Gough & Tim Burton's Jenna Ortega (Wednesday Addams), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Morticia Addams), Luis Guzmán (Gomez Addams) & Isaac Ordonez (Pugsley)-starring Wednesday and you break 1 billion hours viewed within your first 28 days on the streaming service, a second season would seem like a foregone conclusion… right? Well, this is 2022 and Netflix we're talking about, so there's no such thing as "foregone conclusions" anymore. That said, Netflix's head of U.S. and Canada scripted series, Peter Friedlander, came the closest the streaming service has come yet to offering a verbal confirmation of a second season before "The Dreaded 30 Days" wrapped. "You may know what I'm going to say — but I have nothing to confirm at this time. I am optimistic about 'Wednesday.' We'll leave it at that," Friedlander shared during a recent interview with Variety covering a number of current & upcoming streaming series,

With the series still relatively early into its launch, Friedlander wants to see what the streaming service can learn from what worked so well for "The Addams Family" spinoff. "Weirdly, because it feels different, but we're just two weeks into the launch of 'Wednesday.' So we're still really at the beginning of this cultural phenomenon. And there's a lot to absorb and learn about it. It's striking how quick something like this can explode on Netflix, and there is a lot you want to hear back from fans and audiences. It's not just the dance; it's people dressing up and buying makeup and wanting to look like Wednesday Addams. The resurgence, for me, it's something that's been in the culture for a long time — but never this pronounced. It's something that we want to study and understand why this is such a phenomenon. And I think so much of it is Jenna's extraordinary performance at the center. But that supporting cast, across the board, are legends: Gwendoline Christie, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, and Christina Ricci!" And the Netflix executive made sure not to leave out the show's marketing team, adding, "The marketing approach to 'Wednesday' was sizzling. Whether it was the billboards that say, 'Honk if you're dead inside,' or you're at the airport and you saw those TSA messages inside the bucket, it was everywhere, and they really contributed to making it such a hit."

Wednesday Creators Millar & Gough Discuss Season 2 & Beyond

Millar & Gough shared some thoughts, concepts & ideas they have for "The Addams Family" spinoff for a second season (and beyond) with Variety should the order come down from the streamer- here are some of the highlights.

Would It Be Safe to Assume That Tyler (Hunter Doohan) Would Return? Gough: "Yeah. Absolutely. He's out there. That's what we wanted to convey."

Millar & Gough Have Plans for Season 2… and Beyond: Millar: "For us, it's always looking at the future, and when we sit down to create a show, it's looking at multiple seasons, ideally. That's never expected, but that's the anticipation that, hopefully, the show is successful. So you always lay out at least three or four seasons' worth of potential storylines for the characters. It can evolve and change. Often, you want to see which characters or cast pop and who you like to write for. So you want to keep it open and organic enough to change it and evolve, but we certainly have a pretty clear runway of what we want to do in future seasons."

Don't Expect Wednesday to Be Possessed by a "Smart Phone" Demon in Season 2… But Thing? Millar: "I think our idea is that she throws the phone out the window in the next beat. I just don't think she ever got to use a phone. I think she's maybe vaguely tempted or amused by it. But then she's going to reject it." / Gough: "Thing basically takes the phone. He'll become a TikTok star in Season 2."