Wednesday Addams’ Played by a Latina is Important; Here is Why

The Addams Family has been around for quite a bit of time, since the 1930’s to be exact and there have been multiple actors playing this fun and creepy family ever since. However, none of them have been Latinos, even though the dad has a Spanish name, Gómez.

But Netflix has changed that bringing Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in this new fun TV show that is breaking records. Yes, it is more watched than season 4 of Stranger Things. So you know it’s a hit!

Unlike the Addams Family films of the early 90s, in which Christina Ricci played a 10-year-old version of Wednesday Addams, the new eight-episode series, features Ortega as a blown out 16-year-old teenager who is sent to a boarding school for outcasts after an incident involving piranhas in the pool full of bullies that gets her expelled (obviously) from the public school.

Wednesday. (L to R) Moosa Mostafa as Eugene Otinger, Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in episode 104 of Wednesday. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2022

Now Wednesday is on a mission to unravel some dark secrets from her family that might or might not be the cause of someone wanting to kill her. But enough spoilers! Back to the fact that we have an amazing Latina actress playing a role that traditionally has been played only by white people and is having the best ratings ever. How awesome is that?

Wednesday. (L to R) Luis Guzma?n as Gomez Addams, Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Adams in episode 101 of Wednesday. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2022

It’s not just Ortega, we also have Luis Guzman playing Gomez. The beauty of this TV show is that finally we have one of the most iconic American families including Latinos in it without making it about being Latin, and the ratings are a living proof that people are loving it!