You’ve got to hand it to Netflix, they came prepared for this weekend’s TUDUM event. And what better way to show off what’s on hand for the streamer than a scene from Addams Family spinoff Wednesday, featuring none other than Thing himself. Because he’s a hand. That was the joke, people.
Anyway, in the new look at the November 23 debuting series, Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) has just been enrolled at Nevermore Academy, a school for supernatural students. She of course hates it, and wants to leave — which is when Thing pops out. Turns out, the disembodied hand has been tasked with spying on Wednesday for her mother, Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and her father, Gomez (Luis Guzmán). By scene’s end, Wednesday has turned Thing to her side, and begun her plan to escape the academy.
Here’s the (sorry) thing, though: that is one upsetting disembodied hand. Thing has always been a weird element in a family full of weirdos, but there’s always been a lightness to the visual feel of the character, as well. Not so here. Perhaps its just this clip, but there’s a weight to the way the hand moves that seems like its being pulled constantly by gravity. In the ’90s films, Thing almost seemed about to float off into space; here, it feels like the hand is seconds away from being sucked into hell.
That certainly matches the dark take we’ll seemingly get from Tim Burton (who directed the first four episodes of the eight episode season), but it also makes it difficult to watch, at least for this Addams fan.
Wednesday also stars Gwendoline Christie, Jamie McShane, Percy Hynes White, Hunter Doohan, Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Naomi J. Ogawa, Moosa Mostafa, Georgie Farmer, Riki Lindhome and Christina Ricci. Additional episodes were directed by Gandja Monteiro and James Marshall. The show is showrunner, written, and executive produced by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.
You can watch the scene above, and let us know if you agree about Thing. That sounds non-specific, but you know what we mean.
