It has been three months since the development of Tim Burton’s new Addams Family series, Wednesday, was confirmed, and now Netflix has announced that the live-action project has finally found its leading star. Rising actress Jenna Ortega has officially been tapped to portray the titular role of Wednesday Addams, a character created by cartoonist Charles Addams in 1938. This marks the 18-year-old actress’s latest collaboration with Netflix after she starred in films such as The Babysitter: Killer Queen, and Yes Day as well as in shows like You Season 2 and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.
The fan-favorite character was famously portrayed by Christina Ricci in 1991’s The Addams Family and 1993’s Addams Family Values. Her most recent iteration was in 2019’s animated film from Universal Pictures which was voiced by Chloe Grace Moretz, who will again reprise Wednesday in its upcoming sequel.
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
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Wednesday is described as a coming-of-age comedy which will be a sleuthing, supernaturally-infused mystery charting the titular heroine’s years as a student at the peculiar Nevermore Academy as she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability while also thwarting a monstrous killing spree terrorizing the local town and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships of the strange and diverse student body.
The 8-episode series will be executive produced and directed by Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Corpse Bride) in his television directorial debut. This wasn’t Burton’s first attempt at adapting the Addams Family as he was previously attached to write and produce an animated film for Illumination Entertainment. However, three years after the project was announced, it was ultimately canceled.
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Wednesday is created and written by Al Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville, Into the Badlands), who are also serving as showrunners. Executive producers are Andrew Mittman for 1.21 (The Addams Family, Alphas), Kevin Miserocchi (Tee and Charles Addams Foundation), Kayla Alpert (Code Black, Up All Night), Jonathan Glickman for Glickmania (RESPECT, Addams Family 2), and Gail Berman (The Addams Family, Alphas), with MGM and United Artists also attached to produce.
