It seems inconceivable that Tim Burton and the Addams Family never crossed paths before now. The iconic director perfected the kind of Gothic whimsy that cartoonist Charles Addams reveled in, and his best work always reflected the same twisted, iconoclastic glee. The upcoming Netflix series, Wednesday, gives him carte blanche -- with eight episodes all helmed by Burton himself -- making the pairing seemingly inevitable.

Yet the fact remains that Burton has never been involved in an Addams Family project before now, though he came close earlier his career. That makes Wednesday all the more cause for celebration, as well as generating tons of curiosity to see what the director will do with material so tailor-made for him. Indeed, the thematic and practical connections between them are surprisingly powerful.

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The protagonists of Burton's films often stand in contrast with a bland, suburban version of Americana. That's in keeping with his reported upbringing, which often feeds into his films. Alison McMahon's biography, The Films of Tim Burton, covers the details, as do a number of other sources. The best example is likely Edward Scissorhands, whose title character found himself lost amid the cul-de-sacs and manicured lawns of a middle class community similar to Burton's hometown of Burbank, California. Similar threads appear in everything from Beetlejuice to Frankenweenie, whose bizarre characters are contrasted by their bland tract home surroundings.

Many of Burton's movies are posited as a rebellion against that world, and the expectations it placed upon him. His unhappy stint as an animator for Walt Disney Pictures -- with its pedigree and inferred elitism -- can be seen in Ed Wood's celebration of the openly kitsch, as well as the Joker defacing an entire museum's worth of fine art in Batman. Burton's Gothic sensibilities are the weapon he uses to puncture that bubble, and Wednesday has already delivered more of the same. According to The Films of Tim Burton, he played water polo in high school, matching the trailer's central gag where Wednesday sets a school of piranhas loose on the varsity squad.

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Wednesday Jenna Ortega Netflix

The Addams family were positioned in an almost identical way long before now. Charles Addams' original cartoons were a scathing pushback of the enforced normality of the 1950s, as his creepy characters happily subverted the enforced norms of the nuclear family. Both the 1964 TV series and the now-classic movies from the 1990s reflected that, sometimes literally. The series typically entailed "normal" people arriving to visit the family, only to ultimately flee in horror. The movies directly emulated a number Addams cartoons that reflected similar misanthropy, such as the clan pouring hot oil on Christmas carolers or Pugsley's hobby of removing traffic safety signs to decorate his room. The targets are the same as Burton's, as are the Gothic trappings used to deliver them.

Naturally, this isn't the first time the director has been considered for such a pairing. According to Den of Geek, Burton was closely connected to the first live-action Addams Family movie in 1991, which underwent a torturous production process for reasons that had little to do with either him or the results. Screenwriters Caroline Thompson and Larry Wilson had previously penned Edward Scissorhands for Burton, and Wilson contributed to his 1988 smash hit Beetlejuice. But Burton passed on the project to direct Batman Returns, which featured similar themes and an identical Christmas setting. Director Barry Sonnenfeld eventually helmed The Addams Family and its sequel Addams Family Values, which both became commercial hits and eventual comedy classics.

The fact that Burton is getting another shot at the Addams family is a testimony to both his longevity and theirs. By extension, it means that their shared DNA is evergreen; there will always be norms and weirdos who push against them. In this case, artist and subject are informed by the same standards. It took over 30 years to finally get them together, and it feels like just the right time.

Fans will see how successful the pairing is when Wednesday is released on Netflix later this year.