Wednesday Addams actress Jenna Ortega recently revealed what exactly made her so excited and passionate about signing on as the lead for Tim Burton's new show. The horror-comedy series will be coming to Netflix and was created by Smallville pair Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.
Netflix's The Addams Family inspired show will center and follow the eldest daughter amongst the clan, Ms. Wednesday, as she embarks on a new adventure to kick-start her high school career. Wednesday heads off to Nevermore Academy, where she will attempt to master and learn how to control her evolving psychic abilities. However, practically as soon as Wednesday arrives at the academy, she becomes informed of a gory killing spree that has been happening to those who occupy a nearby town. Now, young Wednesday is tasked with the job of not only mastering her craft, but guaranteeing its strong enough to go up against the deadly opposition. The series quickly develops into a thriller, as Wednesday must solve the mystery of this ominous killer and uncover the connection it has to her family’s haunted past. Joining Ortega and the cast of Wednesday are Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzman, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Hunter Doohan, Georgie Farmer, Moosa Mostafa, Emma Myers, Naomi J. Ogawa, Joy Sunday, Percy Hynes White, Gwendoline Christie, and Victor Dorobantu.
Development of the series was first announced in late 2020 by Burton himself, when he signed on to lead and executive produce an untitled Addams Family spin-off at the time. Now that casting is complete and production is coming to a close for the series, some cast members have revealed what drew them to the project, and more importantly, what fans can expect from the upcoming first season. In a recent interview with Empire, leading lady Ortega spilled that one of the main reasons she quickly attached herself to the show was due to its emphasis and spotlight on Latinx representation. Ortega shared, “A big part of the reason I signed on is that she’s technically a Latina character and that’s never been shown or represented. As someone who struggled, and still struggles to this day, with some sort of feeling of representation or relatability in mainstream media and film and television, I recognized this was an opportunity for me to give that relatability to other girls like myself.”
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Although Wednesday Addams is known for her extremely pale complexion, Ortega claims it was a rare occasion for wiggle room in terms of diversity. "Looking the way I do and having the cultural background I have, there aren’t many iconic characters out there," she stated. "So when an opportunity like this comes up - she’s someone I’ve been compared to my whole life, just because of my humor and dry nature, so it just seemed fitting. I thought it would be a nice way to flex my muscles in a different way.”
Burton clearly had a strong vision in mind for what this new spin-off series could do in terms of delivering a level of diversity and representation to his discography - which is almost completely made up of all white characters. It will be more than exciting for fans to see Ortega in the new series, it will be comforting and healing in terms of bringing a newfound sense of representation to such an already established, beloved clan of characters.
The eight-episode first season of Wednesday is set to be released for streaming on Netflix sometime later in 2022.
Source: Empire