Wednesday star Jenna Ortega has revealed that season 2 was directly inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death, a short story genre fans will likely be familiar with. Netflix subscribers, too, it turns out, given that it was also the basis for one of the gnarliest episodes in Mike Flanagan’s macabre miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher.
“I think the feel that we’re going for is a little bit more horror-inspired,” Ortega told Vanity Fair recently, though it’s worth noting that she cited the 1964 film adaptation of Poe’s 1942 work, starring Vincent Price, as a specific starting point. “Not to say that suddenly we’re the goriest show of all time. I mean, there [are] six-year-olds watching.”
That said, Wednesday creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are leaning into horror tropes, even with the titular misanthrope herself. “We’re doing this thing now where Wednesday just kind of appears. She is a little bit of a jump scare herself,” Ortega went on to explain.
Much of the Addams Family spin-off centers on the pig-tailed, po-faced teen enrolling at Nevermore Academy, and using her psychic gifts to track down a monster that’s been offing folks all over campus. Its last episode expectedly culminates in a reveal, but Wednesday’s adventures clearly haven’t stopped there. Far from it in fact, what with Tyler (Hunter Doohan), the sweet-natured barista who’s discovered to be the Hyde, seemingly escaping in the finale.
In Poe’s short story The Masque of the Red Death, a character called Prince Prospero tries to avoid being struck down by a dangerous plague, known as the Red Death, by hiding out in his abbey. To ease his isolation, Prospero throws a masquerade ball for his well-to-do peers, but dies after a curious encounter with a stranger disguised as a Red Death victim – as do all of his swanky guests.
It provides the title for The Fall of the House of Usher’s second episode, too, as it sees Sauriyan Sapkota’s protagonist succumb to a similarly grisly fate during the first (and subsequently, last) of his planned season of super-exclusive kink parties.
Wednesday season 1 and The Fall of the House of Usher are streaming now. For more, check out our list of the best Netflix shows for some viewing inspiration.
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