Fans of The Addams Family recently defended Luis Guzmán's casting as Gomez Addams in Wednesday, highlighting how accurately the star reflects cartoonist Charles Addams' original designs.A number of tweets supportive of Guzmán appeared following initial backlash from some corners of the franchise's fanbase which compared the actor unfavorably to previous Gomez actors John Astin and Raul Julia. Many of these tweets pointed out that the Addams Family patriarch was first envisioned as short, squat and not conventionally good-looking and not at all like the svelte, dashing figure portrayed by both Astin and Julia. Astin played Gomez in the classic 1964 Addams Family TV show, while Julia assumed the role for 1991 film adaptation The Addams Family and its 1993 sequel, Addams Family Values.
Photos of Guzmán as Gomez surfaced online on Aug. 16, 2022, along with several other images spotlighting Wednesday's core cast. These included first looks at Catherine Zeta-Jones as Gomez's wife, Morticia, and Isaac Ordonez as his son, Pugsley. Jenna Ortega also featured in several images as Gomez's daughter (and series protagonist) Wednesday, having previously dominated the Netflix series' pre-release marketing campaign. At the time, co-creator Miles Millar made it clear that Wednesday won't emulate previous Addams Family adaptations, which is why characters like Gomez hew closer to their original designs. "It's not trying to be the movies or the '60s TV show. That was very important to us and very important to [director] Tim [Burton]," he said.
Netflix's Wednesday Promises Mystery, Mayhem and Murder
The first full Wednesday trailer arrived hot on the heels of the first-look images, and it kicks off by showcasing its protagonist's piranha-powered plan to exact revenge on Pugsley's schoolyard tormentors. This winds up getting her expelled, at which point the focus promptly shifts to Wednesday's new school, Nevermore Academy, which boasts gothic surroundings and a quirky student body seemingly more up her alley. The macabre teen's voiceover seemingly supports this, as she approvingly notes that "mystery, mayhem and murder" are afoot at Nevermore Academy. Aside from the Addams Family themselves, the Wednesday trailer also introduces Nevermore headmistress Larissa Weems (Gwendoline Christie) and disembodied hand Thing (Victor Dorobantu).
Millar and fellow co-creator Alfred Gough recently described Wednesday as an "eight-hour Tim Burton movie," and recalled the legendary film director's enthusiastic response to the TV medium. "He really loved that you had time to be with Wednesday and explore the character and you didn't have to, you know, wrap things up in an hour and 45 minutes," Gough said.
Wednesday is set to premiere on Netflix sometime in Q4 2022.
Source: Twitter