Addams Family Reboot Composer Says Jenna Ortega Is the Perfect Wednesday Addams

The latest stab at an Addams Family reboot comes in the form of Netflix’s Wednesday series, focusing on the eponymous trickster played by Jenna Ortega. After two decades toying with the idea of an Addams Family project, legendary filmmaker Tim Burton has finally boarded the project, and his longtime collaborator Danny Elfman has nothing but excellent things to say about it. Speaking with ComicBook.com in support of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Elfman says the series is coming along swimmingly. Not only that, but Ortega is shaping up to be the perfect choice for the coveted role.

“It’s really fun,” Elfman tells us. “I’m just trying to finish up the second episode out of four with Tim and the young actress who’s playing Wednesday Adams is really perfect, perfectly cast. She’s just Wednesday through and through and it’s a lot of fun.”

Elfman crafted the theme for the series and is scoring the episodes. Netflix ordered eight episodes for the show’s first season.

Coincidentally enough, Tim Burton also happened to get Christina Ricci on the project. Ricci played the infamously morbid character in both The Addams Family and The Addams Family Values. Ricci previously revealed she wrapped her role on the project in late March.

“I just finished it two weeks ago, and it was great,” Ricci said. “It was great working with Tim, and Jenna is amazing. I think people are going to absolutely love her as Wednesday.”

Netflix describes Wednesday as a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ (Ortega) years as a student at Nevermore Academy. That’s where she 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.

The coming-of-age supernatural comedy also stars Academy Award-winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago) as Addams Family matriarch Morticia Adams and Luis Guzmán (Code Black) as patriarch Gomez Adams, Isaac Ordonez (A Wrinkle in Time) as Pugsley, George Burcea (Comrade Detective) as Lurch, and Victor Dorobantu as Thing. 

Stay tuned for details on Wednesday, which has yet to receive a release date from Netflix.