What if the Addams Family, the creepiest, kookiest family on television, has been Latino all along?<\/p>\n
It is a question that feels especially timely as the Addamses step back into the spotlight.<\/p>\n
After a three-year wait, Tim Burton\u2019s hit goth series Wednesday<\/em> returns to Netflix, and fans were ready. Season two arrived in two parts, with the first dropping on August 6 and the second coming in September.<\/p>\n In the lead-up to the much-anticipated series debut, IMDB sat down with the cast for an afternoon in Hollywood. Jenna Ortega, in her Wednesday Addams uniform of all black, sat poised and intent. Luis Guzm\u00e1n, full Latino dad mode in a guayabera-style shirt, spoke with the warmth and authority of Gomez Addams. Fred Armisen, ever the wildcard, slipped into Spanish mid-interview as Uncle Fester. Together, they made clear the Addams family is Latino, by design. And, according to Ortega, that choice matters.<\/p>\n When Wednesday first premiered in November 2022, it opened at number one in 83 countries and collected more than 341 million viewing hours in its first week. It blended macabre teen mystery with sharp, knowing comedy, reimagining Charles Addams\u2019 characters for a streaming-era audience.<\/p>\n In this telling, the family\u2019s Latinidad is woven into the world. Guzm\u00e1n\u2019s Gomez moves with the quiet authority of a Boricua father. Catherine Zeta-Jones\u2019 Morticia is a telenovela matriarch (even if the actress is not Latina herself). And Ortega\u2019s Wednesday explains the family\u2019s complex Latino roots with her special powers.<\/p>\n \u201cFor many years The Addams Family has Hispanic and Latin roots, but hasn\u2019t fully embraced them until Wednesday,\u201d Cinema Blend writes. When Monse, IMDB\u2019s bilingual Latina interviewer, asked about Latinos\u2019 long connection to horror and how that lens shapes the series, Ortega leans in. \u201cI think it helps make it a bit more tangible and real,\u201d she says. \u201cIt is very easy to make them sort of this mythical, ethereal family\u2026 but it is nice to be able to make it a bit more personal and a bit more real world.\u201d<\/p>\n For Guzm\u00e1n, the connection is rooted in memory. \u201cEverybody does not really see us as a Latino family\u2026 but we gravitate to that,\u201d he says, recalling nights when his mother tuned in to Chiller Theater<\/em> and he sat nearby, half watching, half hiding. \u201cIt is like this comedic, generational type of show that is inspired by some of that old horror stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Armisen adds, \u201cThe goth community in the Latin community is gigantic \u2026 going way back. Even in the \u201980s, it was crystal clear.\u201d<\/p>\n The Addams Family began as single-panel cartoons by Charles Addams in The New Yorker <\/em>during the late 1930s and 1940s.<\/p>\n \u201cThis original iteration of the Addams family did not have any Latino or Hispanic origins attached to it, just a family of ghoulish characters with one off gags for readers to laugh at between reading news articles and such in the magazine,\u201d Cinema Blend explains.<\/p>\n The shift came in the 1960s, when NBC adapted the characters for television. Gomez was given a name, and actor John Astin chose \u201cGomez\u201d instead of the cartoonist\u2019s idea, \u201cRepelli.\u201d The name carried a Latin flair that gave Gomez a distinct persona.<\/p>\n Around this time, his Castilian Spanish ancestry was written into the dialogue. Morticia calls him a \u201cmad Castilian\u201d in one episode, and Gomez references ancestral land in Spain. These were small flourishes, not an overarching statement about the family\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n The real turn toward Latino representation came in the 1990s, when Puerto Rican actor Ra\u00fal Juli\u00e1 played Gomez in two feature films. His performance infused the role with a warmth and charisma that resonated deeply, marking the first time many audiences saw Gomez as fully Latino.<\/p>\n In Wednesday<\/em>, the creative team embraced the idea that had been quietly building for decades. Ortega, who is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, has says, \u201cWednesday is technically a Latina character and that\u2019s never been represented. So for me, any time that I have an opportunity to represent my community, I want that to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n The show even nods to Gomez\u2019s Mexican background.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 Wednesday\u2019s newfound psychic visions introduce us to one of Gomez\u2019s ancestors from Mexico, Goody Addams, who started a secret society to \u201cprotect outcasts from harm and bigotry,\u201d Time magazine writes.<\/p>\n <\/a>Through ancestors like Goody Addams, a character rooted in 1600s Mexico, and through subtle cultural details in food, music, and design.<\/p>\n When the first finger snaps hit, the Addams Family signals a theme song that carries a lineage. And this time, it is proudly, unmistakably, nuestro<\/em>.<\/p>\n Featured image provided by Deposit Photos<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post The Addams Family Latino Roots: From Gomez\u2019s Name to the Netflix Cast<\/a> appeared first on Nuestro Stories<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What if the Addams Family, the creepiest, kookiest family on television, has been Latino all along? It is a question that feels especially timely as the Addamses step back into the spotlight. After a three-year … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[148],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\nThe<\/strong> Addams Family Latino Roots<\/strong>
\n<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nWere the Originals Latino? <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Who Made the Addams Family Latino and Why It Matters Now<\/h2>\n