Harry Potter and Percy Jackson remain to be two of the most influential forms of the Young Adult genre in terms of books and their adaptations. However, it would seem that anything remotely related to either franchise, viewers are quick to point out the similarities. Wednesday showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar debunk how their show is different from some similar elements used on the Netflix show.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, when asked if Gough and Millar took inspiration from the most popular Young Adult franchises, Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, the showrunners admit that though they grew up loving both, Wednesday was leaning more on Stephen King and Tim Burton due to the macabre murder mystery theme.
“Tim [Burton] wasn’t on the project when we first started it and created it. The Stephen King element of small towns and teenage emotions run rampant felt like was sort of the elements that [we went for], and then Charles Addams, so those things were really what inspired us.”
Millar continues on to say how, despite similarities and comparisons between Harry Potter and Percy Jackson with Wednesday, the show isn’t in any shape or form supposed to be a homage to either franchise.
“It wasn’t any homage to Percy Jackson or anything like that, or Harry Potter, but as soon as you get to boarding school, the comparisons are there.”
Wednesday was previously close to beating Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and Stranger Things Season 4 on Netflix as the show ranked No. 3 on the all-time chart for English language series and passed 400 million viewership hours in a week. Just last week, Wednesday ended up ranking No. 1 on Netflix Top 10 as the most viewed series, with 173.9 million viewership hours. So it is no surprise if the show will be having their renewal any time soon in spite of some similarities, as the showrunners already confirmed planning Wednesday for multiple seasons and spin offs.
All episodes of Wednesday Season 1 are available to stream on Netflix.
ALSO READ: Wednesday Creators Explain Why They Focused On The Addams Family Daughter
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