#Jenna Ortega Is Wednesday in Tim Burton’s Addams Family Netflix Reboot

Tim Burton has found his Wednesday Addams in Jenna Ortega (Jane the Virgin). As previously reported, the Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands director has been tapped by Netflix to develop a reboot of The Addams Family. Titled Wednesday the new series will specifically follow an older Wednesday as a student at Nevermore Academy, though the other kooky members of the Addams family are bound to show up.

Happy Wednesday! @JennaOrtega will play the iconic Wednesday Addams in our upcoming live-action Wednesday series, directed by Tim Burton. pic.twitter.com/yQRJXgnUo4

— Netflix (@netflix) May 19, 2021

Wednesday is described as a coming-of-age comedy and a “sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery” that chronicles Wednesday’s days at college. Per Deadline, that’s where the popular Addams Family member “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.
RELATED: Lily-Rose Depp Should Be Tim Burton’s Wednesday If Dad Johnny Is Gomez
Prior to her casting, Jenna Ortega was one of the names that was rumored to be up for the role. Along with her role as Young Jane on Jane the Virgin, Ortega is also known for her roles as Harley Diaz on the Disney Channel series Stuck in the Middle and Ellie Alves on the Netflix thriller series You. Also appearing in Insidious: Chapter 2 and along with the upcoming slasher sequel Scream 5, the 18-year-old actress is also quickly becoming a staple of the horror genre.

Ortega is the first name that’s been officially announced as a part of the cast, so it remains to be seen who will play the other Addams family members. There’s been a lot of speculation over the role of Gomez Addams in particular, with Johnny Depp often coming up as a strong possibility given his relationship with Tim Burton. Some fans also would have wanted to see his daughter Lily-Rose Depp as Wednesday if Depp was cast as Gomez. Rami Malek and Oscar Isaac are Family two other popular contenders with fans.

Wednesday Addams was famously played by Christina Ricci in the original live-action Addams Family movies in the 1990s. There have been unconfirmed rumors that Ricci would be brought in to Wednesday to play Morticia Addams, which would be an interesting full-circle moment for the actress. If Depp had been cast as Gomez, then Ricci’s casting would serve as another big reunion, as Depp and Ricci previously co-starred in Burton’s movie Sleepy Hollow.

The Addams will continue to move forward with its series of animated movies as well. After the first animated movie was released in 2019 to great success at the box office, the family will be back in a sequel this year with The Addams Family 2 set to bow on Oct. 1, 2021. The movies feature the voice of Oscar Isaac, one of the actors people want to see play Gomez in a live-action project as well.

MGM Television is producing Wednesday with Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar serving as the writers and showrunners. Tim Burton is directing, with the project marking his first-ever stint directing a TV series. Burton executive produces with Gough, Millar, Kayla Alpert, Steve Shark, and several producers associated with the Addams Family IP: Andrew Mittman, Kevin Miserocchi, Jonathan Glickman, and Gail Berman. A release date hasn’t yet been set at Netflix, but we can’t be too far off from production with the cast now starting to take shape. This news comes to us from Deadline.

Topics: The Addams Family, Wednesday