Fandom Wars on Wednesday//or is anything else going on in the production of Wednesday?
This post is a personal opinion I've been pondering for a while. The fact that there seem to be factions within the production, with Jenna and Tim on one side and Gough and Millar on the other, and my belief that this conflict has been going on since season one of Wednesday.
It all started because Jenna changed the script in the third season in an attempt to protect Wednesday. She did this without the showrunners' permission, and when she went public, she was heavily criticized. One of her most vocal critics was Steven DeKnight, who called her toxic and that she had "screwed over" the showrunners' work. Steven DeKnight worked with Gough and Millar on Smallville. He did what Gough and Millar probably wanted to do but couldn't. I have no proof, but I also have no doubts. The worst part is that DeKnight shared a link to an article that shattered Jenna's image, calling her a bad, toxic co-worker, and that because of her, one of her former Stuck in the Middle co-stars was removed from the production. I'm not going to share the link for obvious reasons, but the damage had already been done. There's no proof because this kind of thing isn't supposed to be aired in public, as it affects the production's image.
Another curious detail, almost insignificant but true. Miles Millar and his social media (IG). He didn't follow either the female cast of Wednesday or Tim Burton. He started following Emma, Evie (Agnes), and Gwendoline Christie, but still hasn't done the same with Jenna, Tim, and Joy. While social media following isn't an indicator of anything truly important, it does demonstrate a bit of team engagement within a project. The camaraderie. The fact that this guy doesn't follow the two most important people on Wednesday makes me think he's the person in conflict within the production more than Alfred Gough.
Millar is also known for arguing with fans who criticize his writing of love triangles, but I also don't agree with fans harassing the showrunners on social media, because doing so only hurts us as a fandom and favors the other side. And that's where the aforementioned sides are reflected.
The showrunners' idea was to make Wednesday in the same tone as Smallville, and Smallville is a series about the Superman story, but riddled with love triangles. They wrote the basis of Wednesday with that in mind, which Tim liked, but he always went for the gothic side of the story.
Jenna hated the love triangles portraying Wednesday as the typical schoolgirl (Smallville-style) so much that she changed the scripts. The guys had to accept this, just as they did with the fact that, to continue protecting Wednesday, Jenna became an executive producer in the second season. Gough and Millar could no longer write the character the way they wanted because everything would have to go through Jenna and Tim's hands first.
This suggests that Gough and Millar write the skeleton of the season's scripts, and then the series' writing team, along with Jenna and Tim, are tasked with editing everything Gough and Millar previously wrote. In that sense, they no longer have all the power, at least as far as Wednesday is concerned.
Another point of conflict: The Wednesday leaker
The fandom knows there was a leaker in the second season. A person who worked in production and knew what we would see in the series this year. It's assumed they leaked part of the season's plot because they did work on the series that Netflix apparently didn't pay them for, and in revenge, they leaked part of the plot.
Some things he said that were real later in the series.
The camp
Slurp with a code name
That the villain had to do with Pugsley
He mentioned Bruno being related to Enid with a code name
Things we didn't see but the leaker mentioned:
Two hugs, Wenclair. One at the beginning of the season.
And another at the end of the season.
There is evidence of one.
No, it's not AI content. The photo isn't mine either; I'm just using it as an example.
As much as I would have liked the hug, maybe it wasn't meant for the scene so it was scrapped, but... Wenclair Hug...
Whatever the case, the mere fact that someone was angry with the production and Netflix and was able to cause damage with such a leak... is wasted money and time. The person was lucky that their content was only exposed within the fandom and not beyond that.
Fandom Wars
This whole fandom war seems to stem from the same conflict as in the beginning: the slim chance Gough and Millar now have of turning Wednesday into another Smallville.
With Jenna being EP and protecting Wednesday and as much as she can Enid as well, Gough and Millar were simply forced to directly support Tyler/Wyler.
But the reviews are not positive about it.
Exploring the reasons why a romantic relationship between Wednesday Addams and this character should not happen in Season 3 of the Netflix s
That's the latest criticism of the Wyler romance, but praise continues for the "friendship" between Wednesday and Enid.
Wednesday season 2 ups the family dynamics.
More of Enid is missing, of course.
Season 2 wasn't bad, but according to critics (and some of us, myself included), it felt confusing and rushed. It lacked a focused plot, except it seemed patched together. Many characters lacked proper character development, and once again, the love triangles were something that didn't really contribute to the plot except to make Wednesday and Enid's relationship more meaningful.
In the end, the second season had a very special queer subtext developed that wasn't visible at first glance but in layers. It's aimed at people who can read between the lines, with a gothic romance and queer coding.
Colors:
Enid and the colors aren't something random. Being the colorful girl she is and how important color is in an audiovisual production, it's very interesting that the character has shown us that she belongs to the community without saying it out loud. And she does it through her clothing.
Phrases:
This season, the phrases have also been present, with Enid having the most significant ones.
“ Although Wednesday is literally the tunnel at the end of my light, I couldn’t live in a world without her in it.”
Special phrase that is later “covered” with a heterosexual kiss.
When Enid confronts Wednesday for not including her in his plan with Agnes;
Are you sure we're still friends?
Wednesday responds: That's not in doubt.
Enid telling Wednesday that she's her pack
Wednesday telling Enid that he has no problem hunting her and if she can't come back as a wolf.
Enid losing her humanity to save Wednesday.
I can't let her die
Wednesday spent the entire season trying to save Enid and promising her that he wouldn't leave her alone, only to end up losing her anyway in the final scene of the last episode .
The hiring of Angela Robinson to direct two episodes of the second season.
It's not uncommon to hire other directors for a film or TV series because there's usually more than one working on different parts of a production, but Angela Robinson is special because she's a prominent director specializing in LGBT content who is also part of the LGBT community.
For this reason, it is no coincidence that the best episode of the season (body swap) was about her.
Another detail was Isaac Ordóñez's interview, in which he mentioned that in the final scene, it was Fester who would go looking for Enid, but without Wednesday. Jenna found out and changed the scene, leaving Wednesday with Fester and Thing instead of Enid. By doing so, Jenna changed the entire plot of the final episode, paving the way for a third season that was better than the second.
It's also no coincidence that Lady Gaga was in the series. Jenna wanted her on Wednesday, and she got her. She's also very representative of the community, and I could go on and on detailing every single thing we saw this season related to queer subtext, but it would be too much.
I end this post with the near certainty that my thoughts about the factions within the series exist. They started in season one, and it's possible they will continue to exist as long as Jenna has more power than G and M with the character of Wednesday and they can't continue making another Smallville with the series.
Neither Tim nor Jenna would allow it. Tim said he'd leave if things got complicated, and Jenna said she'd follow him if that happened. This also demonstrates the closeness between Tim and Jenna and the distance between them and the showrunners.
A distancing that was even seen during the official promotion of the second season, because... Has anyone seen photos of the showrunners other than in a group?
Because I don't. And Angela Robinson doesn't have any photos on her IG with the showrunners either. Only with the guys from the cast, Jenna, Emma, and Tim.
These are important details because Gough and Millar are the creators of the series. They had the idea, the Smallville tone they wanted to create it with, and everything that entails, and everything that happened afterward, tells a lot of what we don't see but that they know.
I hope this kind of thing doesn't affect the series again. The reviews for the second season, while more positive than negative, left a strange taste in the mouth for some of us who are still trying to digest the jumble of plots that filled the season.
Wednesday can still improve if they agree on what they want to do for the third installment.
They can get rid of overused plots (Tyler and the Hydes) and focus on plots that they haven't delved into even in the first season, which is the other half of Wednesday.
Enid and the Wolf Pack.
Can they do it? Yes, if they really want to.
Will Gough and Millar do it? That remains to be seen.
I will leave some important links from this post
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The complicated relationship between the showrunners and the production of Smallville
