Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, creators of the hit live-action series Wednesday (Netflix’s record holder for most hours viewed in a week for an English-language series at 341 million hours) have revealed in the debut episode of Deadline’s Crew Call podcast that they are working on a new animated feature adaptation of The Addams Family. The project is set up with Amazon MGM Studios, and will be a “brand new” story unconnected to their popular, Primetime Emmy-nominated show.
Gough revealed on the ‘cast that they are working in collaboration with Kevin Miserocchi, head of the Addams Foundation and someone who knew the franchise’s cartoonist creator Charles Addam, as well as producers Gail Berman and Jonathan Glickman. He noted that the reboot is in the “very early stages,” so fans will have to wait for further details.
Berman, an Oscar nominee for her work on the biopic Elvis, is an executive producer on Wednesday and produced the two prior The Addams Family animated features; her credits also include the supernatural adult animated comedy Grimsburg and the fan-favorite series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Glickman is also an executive producer on Wednesday and exec produced the animated sequel The Addams Family 2; his prior credits include the Rush Hour film franchise, and big screen adaptations The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Inspector Gadget and Underdog.
The original Addams Family single-panel comics by Charles Adams ran in the The New Yorker from 1938 until the creator’s death in 1988, and have since expanded into multiple formats including television, film, a stage musical, comic books, video games and merchandise. On television, audiences first got to see Gomez, Morticia, Pugsley, Wednesday, Uncle Fester, Grandmama, Lurch, Thing and the rest of their mysterious and spooky circle in 1964’s live-action sitcom The Addams Family. They first appeared in animation in a cross-over TV movie, The New Scooby-Doo Movies: Wednesday Is Missing (1972), launching Hanna-Barbera’s The Addams Family (1973).
The success of Barry Sonnenfeld’s live-action films The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993), followed by a threequel Addams Family Reunion in 1998 directed by Dave Payne, gave fresh energy to the IP and led to a new cartoon in 1992 (The Addams Family) and live-action series in 1998 (The New Addams Family). Twenty years later, MGM tapped Bron Creative and Cinesite to bring the CG-animated reboot The Addams Family (2019) and The Addams Family 2 (2021) to the big screen, both directed by Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2, Sausage Party) and Greg Tiernan (Thomas & Friends franchise, Sausage Party).
The latest adaptation, Wednesday starring Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy nominee Jenna Ortega, premiered on Netflix in 2022 and recently launches Part 1 of its second season, with a third on order. Season 1 was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards and won four Creative Arts Emmy Awards out of nine nominations, as well as two Golden Globe noms, a BAFTA nomination for Best International Program and others accolades.
You can listen to the Crew Call podcast via Deadline.
[Source: Deadline]
