Netflix has released a welcome video and interactive website introducing viewers to Nevermore Academy ahead of Wednesday's release. The new Addams Family horror-comedy series will feature Jenna Ortega in the lead role as titular character Wednesday. After her previous forays into horror with films such as Scream, Ortega dazzled fans of the character in the trailer previously released by Netflix. The continuing success of the '90s Addams Family films, which sat Christina Ricci in the role of the family's macabre daughter, has heightened expectations for the upcoming Netflix series. However, Netflix will be branching out from previous Addams Family projects by taking design inspiration from the original comic strip rather than the on-screen adaptations. The Netflix series will also shift focus from the family as a whole to Wednesday Addams herself.
Wednesday, though it will feature the entire Addams Family unit, is said to center on Wednesday's time at Nevermore Academy, the boarding school for outcasts where her loving parents Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Gomez (Luis Guzman) met. The series will feature an older, teenage version of Wednesday for the first time. A coming-of-age story, Wednesday will introduce the titular character as a teen who has been expelled from eight schools in five years and is finally sent to Nevermore, where she quickly gets wrapped up in solving a supernatural murder mystery connected to her family as she tries to get acclimated and master her psychic powers. Previously, brief looks at Nevermore Academy have teased a fittingly gothic architectural style.
Just in time for spooky season, Netflix has now released a video showcasing Nevermore Academy in greater detail. Offering a better look at characters such as Gwendoline Christie's Nevermore principal and several of Wednesday's fellow students, it's an excellent way to get acclimated ahead of the series. The orientation-style welcome video also directs viewers to an interactive website, which includes more tidbits about the series and notable Nevermore alumni, and even allows fans to apply to Nevermore. The application takes the user through a brief, fittingly eerie quiz and then alerts them via email about acceptance status. See the welcome video below:
Even in a school of outcasts and misfits, Wednesday looks woefully out of place in her appearance near the end of the clip. On the website in the "Meet the Students" section, she refers to feeling "smothered" by the other students' hospitality. These details confirm that Wednesday will have a hard time fitting in at her new school, despite the Academy literally being made for people like her. Though Wednesday's anti-social qualities will certainly provide plenty of laughs, it's likely that the coming of age story will explore the inherent loneliness of the teen years as well, hinting at a moving journey for Wednesday. The video and website sport a whimsical tone with no malevolence attached to their macabre qualities, which perfectly encapsulates producer/director Tim Burton's signature style.
Though the Netflix series offers a modernized version of the Wednesday and Addams Family audiences know and love, the video and website prove that the show will walk the line between contemporary and mysteriously gothic. With Burton, who also created Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands at the helm, the series couldn't be in better hands. Though Netflix hasn't yet set an official release date for Wednesday, the series is set for a fall 2022 drop, which hopefully means that viewers will be able to enter Nevermore Academy in time for Halloween - so long as they remember to apply.
Source: Netflix