Credit: Wednesday

Tim Burton returns to the small screen with Wednesday, a series that follows Ms. Addams after she’s been kicked out of school. Her parents sign Wednesday for a two-century-old boarding school that features a set of outcasts with four main cliques, the Fangs (vampires), the Furs (werewolves), the Scales (sirens), and the Stoners. Wednesday is trying to plan her next escape, but the young girl soon discovers a mystery that holds a dark secret about her family’s past. Jenna Ortega plays the title character, with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzman, and Thora Birch as the supporting cast. As of this writing, the exact date of the Netflix series has yet to be determined. However, here are the top five moments from the Wednesday trailer:

Wednesday Unleashes a School of Piranhas on a Group of Boys

How do you open a Tim Burton series? By having a murderous young girl release a school of piranhas on a swim team, of course! This moment is an excellent attention grabber as it highlights Burton’s signature style – which perfectly complements the subject matter – and gives Wednesday a nice spotlight showcasing her character and the underlying plot. Plus, the dark humor shines through nicely. What’s great about the upcoming series is the realistic and gritty nature of this version seems to be. In the past, The Addams Family was mainly used in fantasy/comedy fodder aimed at families; however, Wednesday is seemingly geared towards Young Adults. Of course, a rating doesn’t particularly determine the quality of a show, but it does give Burton a chance to explore different avenues for the Wednesday character. This wonderful character moment set the stage for what’s to come in the Netflix exclusive.

Nevermore Academy

It’s nice to see that Burton isn’t going with the fish-out-of-water story when it comes to Wednesday. While dividing the school into four main cliques is typical Hollywood, there’s a unique dynamic that Burton can play with her. Plus, throughout the trailers, it gives layers into Wednesday even more, such as her taking up fencing or even dancing. The backdrop surrounding this mysterious school is, without a doubt, intriguing, and it’ll be fun to see how the supporting cast bounces off the personality of the title character. As long as Burton strays away from the typical high school melodrama that plaques nearly every show or movie that focuses on teenagers, exploring Wednesday’s world should be a compelling and fun spectacle when it drops on Netflix.

Credit: Wednesday

Police Searching Through The Woods

The visuals for Wednesday are simply stunning. Tim Burton does an excellent job of making the series look gritty but not unbelievable (even though fantasy elements exist). More importantly, the cinematography and visuals perfectly capture the world of Wednesday. However, the trailer emphasizes a mystery, and though it doesn’t detail exactly what this mystery is, it helps exemplify that this story is more significant than just the character itself. Wednesday is the prime focus here, so Morticia, Gomez, and Pugsley are barely featured in the trailer. However, since the synopsis states that it’s a dark secret involving the family, it should be interesting to see how Burton characterizes the other members of the Addams family. What dark is this secret? Are the police searching for someone close to Wednesday? Is the secret a big twist that turns the Addams Family on its head?

Blood Splatters On Wednesday

This only further continues the adult nature of the Tim Burton show. As previously stated, the series was mainly a sitcom that highlighted the fish-out-of-water aspects compared to the Addams Family’s neighbors. Since it was a PG sitcom, it never explored darker themes that would’ve ideally suited the iconic characters. It isn’t just that Wednesday will feature blood and murder, but how the unique sensibilities of Tim Burton’s style will complement the series altogether. It’s nice that Netflix allowed Burton to push the boundaries of intellectual property. Hopefully, this ends up being one of Burton’s more vigorous efforts in vain of Beetlejuice and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Wednesday Snapping Her Fingers

Who could forget the iconic Addams Family intro with them snapping their fingers? This moment is more than just a callback to the signature theme song, but a representation that Burton is staying true to the original characters. Of course, there will be changes here and there. Still, the trailer makes it clear that the series will document the family that audiences have grown accustomed to, which means that Burton understands both the world and characters of intellectual property. This is a promising sign for the Netflix series.Catherine Zeta-Jones