Wednesday landed on Netflix just a week ago, and the Addams Family spin-off has already recorded the best debut of the platform's English-language shows. In short, it's proving super popular – but the streamer didn't always have faith that the show would be a big, mainstream hit.
In a new interview with Indiewire, co-creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar revealed that Netflix initially wanted to cut some of the more macabre lines from the show, including one delivered by the titular misanthrope herself, as they feared they'd be too dark for audiences. One quote, in particular, sees Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) confess to being a fan of stabbings when her roommate Enid (Emma Myers) urges her to "take a stab at being social".
"Netflix was always very supportive and the executives were huge Addams Family fans, [but] we still did have executives wanting to cut some lines," Gough said, before explaining that that moment alarmed them.
"That's the whole point of the character," Millar added. "To lose that or dilute that is a betrayal of the character."
Also starring Gwendoline Christie and Christina Ricci, Wednesday sees its po-faced antagonist shipped off to Nevermore, a famed academy for vampires, werewolves, and more, after she sets a school of piranhas on her former school's bully. There, she stumbles across a mystery and soon finds herself attempting to work out the true identity of a Hyde monster that's been killing folks all over town.
For Gough and Millar, Wednesday's moving out of her family home was essential to the show's themes and her finding her independence. "Because of the Harry Potter of it all [the question was] should she be at a regular school and then be a fish out of water?" Millar explained. "But it felt kind of one-note and she'd always have to return home at night to the family that [we] wanted to get away from."
All episodes of Wednesday are streaming now. If you're keen to see what else the platform has to offer, take a look at our guide to the best Netflix shows.
