Meet Rob Zombie's Munsters In First Look At The New Cast

When it was first announced that Rob Zombie was remaking "The Munsters," many were fearful that the characters would get a gritty re-design the same way his characters in his "Halloween" remakes suddenly all had matted hair and bathrooms that looked like the inside of a punk dive bar. Skeptics fear no more, as Rob Zombie took to Instagram today to give the first look at Herman, Lily, and Grandpa Munster in front of 1313 Mockingbird Lane ... aka, on-set in Hungary. The photo confirms that frequent Zombie collaborators Jeff Daniel Phillips, Sheri Moon Zombie, and Daniel Roebuck are playing Herman, Lily, and Grandpa, respectively.

The Legacy of The Munsters

Premiering in the fall of 1964, the same year that audiences would fall in love with "The Addams Family," you might think "The Munsters" was a long-lasting show spanning decades, considering the popularity and iconography of the show has continued for generations. In reality, the show was only on the air for two seasons. The Munster family were a collective of monsters based on the Universal Monsters of the 1930s. Patriarch Herman Munster shares a striking resemblance to Frankenstein's monster and is happily married to the vampiric Lily who dons a single white streak in her hair like the titular "Bride of Frankenstein." Together they have a werewolf son named Eddie and the family also houses Lily's father, Grandpa Munster, who resembles Count Dracula, and their very conventional-appearing niece Marilyn who laments that her "ugliness" of not looking like a ghoulish creature is why she struggles so much to find a boyfriend.

The show was produced by the same people who made "Leave it to Beaver," with "The Munsters" serving as the subversion of the traditional family sitcom. The show exploded in popularity and became a merchandising sensation, something we still see today thanks to companies like Retro-A-Go-Go. "The Munsters" was far more philosophically progressive compared to most sitcoms, juxtaposing the monstrous look of the family to express themes of learning to base opinions of people on who they are and how they act rather than what they look like on the outside. Despite the premature cancellation, "The Munsters" enjoyed a great life of syndication and spawned multiple spin-offs, films, and tv specials.

Rob Zombie's Love of The Munsters

"The Munsters" are a beloved show for generations, but there are few people who love the show quite like Rob Zombie. Before Zombie began filmmaking, he was a prolific musician, with his most famous song being "Dragula." The song gets its namesake from the "Drag-U-La" drag racing car Grandpa Munster makes in the episode "The Munsters: Hot Rod Herman." Rob Zombie quite literally owes his entire career to "The Munsters" and the inspiration it provided him.

Based on the photo shared to Instagram, Rob Zombie knows the importance of keeping true to the spirit of "The Munsters."

So far, everything Zombie has been posting regarding "The Munsters" has all been in black and white, leading many to speculate that the final film will follow suit. Zombie has been trying to make a reboot of "The Munsters" for over two decades, so it's exciting to see the film finally coming to fruition.