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Fans Think Netflix’s New Wednesday Addams Series Is Ripping Off A Woman’s Idea

Natalie Morin
Last Updated February 18, 2021, 5:32 PM
Photo: Snap/Shutterstock.
Teen goth icon Wednesday Addams is getting her own live-action series at Netflix. (Du du du dun, clap clap).
But after reading the details of the project Wednesday, many feel that the streaming giant is doing the beloved character a disservice.
The eight-episode young adult TV show, described as "a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery" is based on the character originally created by Charles Addams. It follows the ghoulish Addams family's only daughter as she attends the supernatural Nevermore Academy, learns to control her psychic ability, attempts to stop a killing spree that has ravaged the local town, and solves a 25-year-old paranormal mystery.
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However fun the idea of a brooding, sleuthing Wednesday at a magical high school may seem, it's less the premise, and more what's happening behind the camera that isn't sitting well with fans. Both of the showrunners, Al Gough and Miles Millar, are men, as well as director and executive producer Tim Burton. Of the other five on the executive production team, only one is a woman.
A slew of recent Netflix originals centered around young women have followed the same pattern: Fate: The Winx Saga, Enola Holmes, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, The Queen's Gambit, and many more are all told through the lens of male showrunners and directors.
What's more, many fans have noticed that the series' premise seems very similar to that of a popular parody web series created by a woman. Before Melissa Hunter's Adult Wednesday Addams was pulled from YouTube over copyright issues in 2015, it ran for 13 episodes over the course of 2 seasons, and garnered over 20 million times. A particular episode about Wednesday getting her revenge on catcallers went viral and received widespread press coverage.
Fans have called for Hunter to be part of the series either as Wednesday herself, or as a writer — anything.
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Despite the uproar online, Hunter took to Twitter to say that she has "nothing against the creators" of the show, although she did reveal her own unsuccessful efforts at creating a Wednesday TV series.
"After my show got pulled, I tried to get the rights to make it a TV series. I was told it was impossible. I'm still sad the gatekeepers never gave me a shot," she tweeted.
"Wednesday is an icon whose story deserves to haunt us all," she concluded.
If only she wasn't haunting us through the male gaze.
Refinery29 reached out the Hunter for comment.
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