The Addams Household tree simply bought a bit greater. “Wednesday” season 2 marks the arrival of the oldest and trickiest member of the Addams clan, Grandmama Addams, and she or he’s each a large departure from earlier iterations of the character whereas being brilliantly Tim Burton-branded all on the similar time. As a substitute of the virtually feral-looking, birds-nest-hair-wielding Grandmama we’re used to, this model is a much more refined girl who appears extra prone to ask her magic mirror who’s the fairest of all of them than spend her days stirring ugly recipes over a cauldron. It is smart, actually, what with legendary British actor Dame Joanna Lumley taking up the function right here.
Well-known in the UK for her extremely elegant voice, Lumley started her profession in tv within the British spy thriller collection “The New Avengers” (no, not these guys), in addition to showing in one of many important James Bond films, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” together with “Path of the Pink Panther” and “The Curse of the Pink Panther.” It was in 1992, nonetheless, that she turned a comedy nice after showing within the British sitcom “Completely Fabulous,” which spanned a decade and even bought its personal movie. Now, she’s bringing her classiness to “Wednesday,” which marks the newest event that Lumley and Burton (who’s each an govt producer and director on the Netflix collection) have crossed paths, with Lumley having beforehand lent her voice to a pair of beloved animated films he both produced and/or directed.
Joanna Lumley and Tim Burton labored collectively previous to Wednesday season 2
Lengthy earlier than she was taking on residence on the Addams Household’s house, Joanna Lumley appeared in 1996’s “James and the Big Peach,” which reunited Henry Selick and Tim Burton as a director and producer, respectively, after their earlier collaboration on “The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas.” Half live-action and half stop-motion animation, the Roald Dahl novel adaptation is even perhaps scarier than “Nightmare,” between its imagery of a rampaging, parent-killing rhinoceros and Lumley as James’ evil Aunt Spiker alongside Miriam Margolyes because the equally merciless Aunt Sponge. So far as youngsters’ film villains go, Lumley does an distinctive job and makes for a terrific addition to a movie that is woefully ignored, regardless of being among the best diversifications of Dahl’s work. It additionally explains why, roughly a decade later, Lumley bought the decision to look in one other stop-motion challenge related to Burton: 2005’s “Corpse Bride.”
This time each produced and co-directed by Burton alongside Mike Johnson, with Johnny Depp starring reverse Helena Bonham Carter because the titular character, “Corpse Bride” undoubtedly sits within the higher half of Burton’s directorial efforts. Lumley, in the meantime, co-stars as one of many villains of the piece, the disagreeable Girl Maudeline Everglot. Now, with the actor having already performed a pair of depraved ladies for Burton, it makes for an exquisite change of tempo to see Lumley in a Burton challenge the place she will get to be devious and a bit darkish, however in the absolute best means. As Grandmama, she’s maybe one among season 2’s highlights, in addition to strong proof that Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) will get her fantastically bleak perspective from her pricey previous granny.
“Wednesday” season 1, half 1 is now streaming on Netflix. Half 2 will premiere September 3, 2025.
