As stated by The Hollywood Reporter, to bring the Addams Family back to life for Tim Burton’s Netflix production, designer Mark Scruton had to think outside the box. Scruton not only had to build the show’s boarding school Nevermore but he also had to create the town where Wednesday took place. Scruton said, “We were not trying to copy anything else — it’s not a sequel, it’s not a reinvention, it’s a new thing.” In order to do that, Scruton had to look back on the Addams Family’s roots by checking out the work of cartoonist Charles Addams, the man who first created the Addams Family.

From there, Scruton worked with Burton and an illustrator to create the unique world for Wednesday, starting with Wednesday and Enid’s dorm room, which ultimately set the tone for the rest of the set.

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“It is a micro of everything. The difference between [boarding school] Nevermore and [the small town] Jericho is the same as between Enid and Wednesday,” Scruton stated. “The window grew from wanting to give a strong graphic bond to the fact that the two were complete opposites. I wanted one half stained glass and one half completely monochrome. But we had to backtrack into it and go, ‘Enid’s done all the coloring herself, so Wednesday can scrape it all off and then it causes even more tension between them.’ You get this fantastic, literal split down the middle, which works so well on the show.”

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Mark Scruton’s Initial Plans for the Wednesday Set Fell Apart

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However, Scruton’s initial plans fell apart after the Netflix series realized that Toronto (the location where the show originally planned to shoot) wasn’t going to work. Scruton said, “[Toronto] just didn’t fit, basically. We had to find somewhere else that could offer us more space.”

So instead, the cast and crew ended up shooting in Romania, which turned out to be the perfect fit for Nevermore Academy, the theme park Pilgrim World, and the small town of Jericho. “In 15 weeks, we went from a swampy shrub land to Jericho town as you see it in the show,” Scruton said. “There was a big farmer’s field next to the studio that we could rent by the strip. We could say, ‘We’ll have 30 of these strips,’ and build from the ground up.”

Likewise, the castle that was used for Nevermore was picked for its stunning Gothic Revival quality. Scruton said, “It had that Addams Family vibe to it. Tim’s not a big fan of color. I know, who would’ve thought? But this castle had a good gray stone and a heavy feel to it. It was perfect for us.” While the turret and front facade exist in real life and were dressed for the show, the rest of the exterior is CGI magic. The dorm room was then redesigned to fit. “When we found the new location, we went back to bring in the design details that matched the castle. The whole front balcony was redesigned, and we took brick and details off the real castle so it all tied together.”

Scruton also praised the Romanian crew that helped assist with the production of Wednesday. “[We] really found people who wanted to show what Romania could do and make it work,” he said. “People that had left the industry came back to work on this show. The sculptors and plasterers, they had been part of the film industry and left because there wasn’t enough film industry to support that many. We weren’t rich on time in the end, and we couldn’t have done it without them.”