Netflix announces the hiring of Jenna Ortega to star as Wednesday Addams in their new limited series Wednesday. Wednesday will be only eight episodes, all of which will be directed by horror master Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride). The showrunners will be Al Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville, Into the Badlands).

Jenna Ortega will be taking on the role created by Lisa Loring in 1964 and continued in the Nineties by Christina Ricci. Ortega played Harley Diaz in Stuck in the Middle and Phoebe in The Babysitter: Killer Queen.

Nertflix said “The series is a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy. Wednesday’s attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships at Nevermore.”

Ortega is only eighteen — she’ll be nineteen this fall — but already has 39 roles to her credit. She’s done voicework in Elena of Avalor, Big City Greens, and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous. She played Young Jane in Jane the Virgin. Critics praised her performance as Vada Cavell in The Fallout. She stars as Tara Carpenter in Scream, which will be released January 14, 2022.

The Addams Family, originally created by Charles Addams in the 1930’s, has appeared on television, in movies, in musical theater, and even on Scooby-Doo. Is the 21st century ready for a new adaptation of the Addams family? Are you looking forward to this mini-series?

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