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Last November, we first told you all about how NBC is itching to cash-in on the horror-thriller craze epitomized by “American Horror Story” by resurrecting the CBS monster comedy “The Munsters”… and turning it into an hour-long drama called “Mockingbird Lane”.

 

At the time, we all scratched our stitched-up heads trying to figure out how series creators, Bryans Fuller and Singer, were going to re-imagine this camp classic into something, you know, serious.

 

More details are finally starting to emerge about the tone and focus of the show, as well as a full cast roster. For starters, intellectual Brit comedian Eddie Izzard will serve as the family patriarch, Grandpa, while fellow TV vets Jerry O’Connell and Portia de Rossi will be the titular married couple, Herman and Lily. 12-year-old Mason Cook will play little Eddie Munster, and English starlet Charity Wakefield will fill the role of Marilyn, Eddie’s cousin and lone “normal” member of the gruesome bunch (pictured above). From a purely physical standpoint, each of these casting decisions are sound ones, as every actor indeed possesses a rather macabre quality to their countenance. It’s not hard to imagine them in the guise of a supernatural being.

 

From what I can tell, though I have not seen confirmation of this, most if not all of the characters will maintain their original “quirks” – that is, Herman as a Frankenstein’s monster, Lily and Grandpa as vampires, and Eddie as a werewolf. As far as the scope and pilot of the show goes (which is currently filming), the series will more or less revolve around little Eddie and his coming-of-age… or rather, his coming to terms with the fact that he’s a little monster and so is his whole family. The primary joke surrounding the original series was the fact that this clan of oddballs somehow managed to lead a “normal” life, with Herman holding down a regular 9-5 job, Lily keeping house, and Eddie going to public school. It’s unclear whether this theme will carry over into the reboot, but it seems that these new versions will be less “obvious” and thus able to blend in with regular society while keeping their true identities a secret. (The below recently released pic of Izzard as Grandpa would seem to confirm this.)

 

 

Time will tell! “Mockingbird Lane” is slated to premiere sometime next year.

 

 

- Katie Marzullo, YH Staff Editor

katie@younghollywood.com