Luis Guzmán is your new Gomez Addams in Tim Burton’s Wednesday show on Netflix
Jenna Ortega is set to play Wednesday Addams herself on the Netflix series
TV News Tim Burton
Today, in “Yes, we would like to see that, now that you mention it” news: Luis Guzmán is apparently set to become the next actor to play spooky, ooky, etc. patriarch Gomez Addams. This is per Collider, which reports that Guzmán will co-star in Tim Burton’s upcoming Netflix series Wednesday, which stars Jenna Ortega as its titular goth icon.
The logline on Wednesday is, understandably, fairly focused on Wednesday herself, who’s set to navigate life at Nevermore Academy while attempting “to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the town, and solve a mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago.” (In other words, this sounds a lot like an Addams-branded spin on The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina, but we’ll try to hold off judgment until we’ve actually seen it.) That bit about the parental mystery definitely sounds like it leaves some opportunities for Guzmán to ham it up, though, following in a long line of cinematic and televisual Gomezes that stretches from John Astin, to Raul Julia, to Oscar Isaac (with some side stops for Tim Curry and Glenn Taranto along the way). Gomez’s lust for life/undeath has always made him one of the most delightfully cheerful elements of the Addams franchise, so fingers crossed that Guzmán can bring some of his signature energy to the part.
Wednesday is being created by Al Gough and Miles Miller, who previously told stories about super-powered teenagers with their long-running Superman serial Smallville. Burton, meanwhile, is expected to both executive produce and direct at least parts of the series, some of the first television work he’s ever done. Ortega, for her part,has already carved out quite a path for herself at Netflix, having previously starred in the second season of You opposite Penn Badgley, and filling a major role in the streamer’s horror comedy sequel The Babysitter: Killer Queen last year.
53 Comments
Neat.
snap twicesweetsnap twicepetitesnap twice
Setting aside that no one can ever be as good as Raul Julia, this still doesn’t feel right. I don’t get the suave-ness from Guzman that I expect Gomez to have, whereas I think Ortega is perfect for Wednesday.
If you look at Charles Addams’ original drawings of Gomez, “suave” is the last word that comes to mind.
Very true, but then look at Raul Julia. I suppose I’m just guilty of having one vision of the character, and never wanting any deviation from that version.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE that take on the character, but it’s certainly not the only version of the character.
Reminds me of how pretty much everyone pictures Hugh Jackman when they think of Wolverine because of the movies even though the original comic book character was closer to a short, barrel chested Bob Hoskins.
How dare you make me imagine an X-Men film series where Hoskins played Wolverine, something we can now never have.
Hence why Glenn Danzing was once wanted for the part.
I still think of John Astin. But then, he played him fairly suave as well.
Yes, thank you. This could work.
What can they do? Danny Trejo already turned it down.
Yeah, I don’t know. Guzman always just strikes me as a very down to earth regular guy and most of his acting roles tend not to stray too far from his own persona. This seems a bit outside his range.
He played kind of a casanova in Perpetual Grace, Ltd. … for a while.
This man got a bronze statue from his community college and that don’t happen if you ain’t one suave motherfucker, I can tell you that!
He got so much ass at Greendale!
Facts!!
What more evidence do you need, people? Belly or no belly, this man’s got suave coming out of his ears, no doubt about it!
John Astin was better than Julia.
Fingle?
They’re going to be putting up another statue at Greendale.
He was pretty good innnn…. IMDb
No creative vision
Made by algorithm
Someone please save Guzman
The Adams Family (spinoff)
No offense but isn’t he too old and fat for the role? Unless he got into shape and dyed his hair jet black?
As long as he’s slightly smaller than Fester, I don’t think “too fat” is a thing for Gomez.
Maybe but I still think he should lose some weight for his own health. That potbelly is intense.
Maybe his weight is none of your fucking business.
Didn’t you get the memo? Weight has no connection to health in [current year].
Wednesday is going to be high school or college age, I guess, which would put Gomez in his 50s or 60s. Not that I endorse turning the Addams Family into yet another sexy teen witch show.
Big nope.
I feel like this misses the mark – the Addams family in the New Yorker and the original TV show and the various movies had little in the way of the supernatural about them. Obviously Thing was extraordinary, but not as if by magical abilities. Almost everything otherwise could be accomplished by any ordinary people with a similar amount of luck and the right attitude. Perhaps I misremember the later movies, but the charm of the Addams family was the dry wit; “Are they made with real Girl Scouts?” and “Does it matter?”
Grandma Addams had supernatural powers, or at least she did in the original tv show (like spells and fortune-telling, etc).
But did they work? I need to have a rewatch – the TV show was a delight.
Funny. That got me thinking of Guzman in The Limey, which also got me thinking of Nicky Katt – now I really feel Katt would make an excellent Gomez. Dark, suave, and witty.
Okay, you post that guy, now you’ve got me thinking Tony Dalton, aka Lalo Salamanca.
This is an excellent choice!
The casting is perhaps the only thing that sounds remotely good about this show, because the premise of “we cancelled Sabrina and we need another show like this” is definitely not it.
Godlike Programming Algorithm: CANCEL THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA.Netflix: Really? We’ve only done 36 episodes, but okay!Godlike Programming Algorithm: RENEW THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA.Netflix: But we just cancelled it! We can’t! All the contracts are up.Godlike Programming Algorithm: … … … RENEW THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA.Netflix: Look, we have this Addams Family pitch. With some tweaking we could probably hit the same target demos as Sabrina. Give the girl magic powers, have her go to a spooky magic high school, throw in some season-long mystery arcs. Call it, I don’t know, “Wednesday.”Godlike Programming Algorithm: CREATE WEDNESDAY.Netflix: Okay then.Godlike Programming Algorithm: … … … CANCEL WEDNESDAY.Netflix: Goddamn it.
Christina Ricci as Morticia please and thank you.
Gross
It doesn’t sound very funny. But maybe Guzman will lighten the mood.
I love this casting nice!
I feel this would be potentially far more successful if it were a Disney Plus original.
I feel this would be potentially far more successful if it were a Disney Plus original.
Sabrina ended up being terrible and this sounds like it’s gunning for that right out the gate.How many young women from previous IPs are we going to send off to a magical academy? Can we please STOP?
I’m down for this. I loved him in IMDb.
The Internet Movie Database got turned into a movie? I guess that was the next step after adapting board games and twitter threads.
just because Julia is Puerto Rican and did a great job doesn’t mean you can grab the first random Puerto Rican and get the same results.
Is Ricky Ricardo still available?!?
Right? I mean, who next, Lin-Manuel Miranda? Hahaha!Wait, hang on…..
He’d be good, if a little too young for this version. I think Jimmy Smits could work too.
The only part of that headline I don’t dislike is Luis Guzman getting work.
That synopsis sounds terrible, the key ingredient to the Addams Family is their fish out of water aspect, if you stick Wednesday in an equally dark atmosphere you lose that. Will be surprised if it surpasses Sabrina in number of seasons.