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 wait, Tim Burton’s hit goth series Wednesday 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.
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 Guzmán, 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.
The Addams Family Latino Roots
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’ characters for a streaming-era audience.
In this telling, the family’s Latinidad is woven into the world. Guzmán’s Gomez moves with the quiet authority of a Boricua father. Catherine Zeta-Jones’ Morticia is a telenovela matriarch (even if the actress is not Latina herself). And Ortega’s Wednesday explains the family’s complex Latino roots with her special powers.
“For many years The Addams Family has Hispanic and Latin roots, but hasn’t fully embraced them until Wednesday,” Cinema Blend writes.
When Monse, IMDB’s bilingual Latina interviewer, asked about Latinos’ long connection to horror and how that lens shapes the series, Ortega leans in. “I think it helps make it a bit more tangible and real,” she says. “It is very easy to make them sort of this mythical, ethereal family… but it is nice to be able to make it a bit more personal and a bit more real world.”
For Guzmán, the connection is rooted in memory. “Everybody does not really see us as a Latino family… but we gravitate to that,” he says, recalling nights when his mother tuned in to Chiller Theater and he sat nearby, half watching, half hiding. “It is like this comedic, generational type of show that is inspired by some of that old horror stuff.”
Armisen adds, “The goth community in the Latin community is gigantic … going way back. Even in the ’80s, it was crystal clear.”
Were the Originals Latino?
The Addams Family began as single-panel cartoons by Charles Addams in The New Yorker during the late 1930s and 1940s.
“This 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,” Cinema Blend explains.
The shift came in the 1960s, when NBC adapted the characters for television. Gomez was given a name, and actor John Astin chose “Gomez” instead of the cartoonist’s idea, “Repelli.” The name carried a Latin flair that gave Gomez a distinct persona.
Around this time, his Castilian Spanish ancestry was written into the dialogue. Morticia calls him a “mad Castilian” in one episode, and Gomez references ancestral land in Spain. These were small flourishes, not an overarching statement about the family’s identity.
The real turn toward Latino representation came in the 1990s, when Puerto Rican actor Raúl Juliá 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.
Who Made the Addams Family Latino and Why It Matters Now
In Wednesday, the creative team embraced the idea that had been quietly building for decades. Ortega, who is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, says, “Wednesday is technically a Latina character and that’s never been represented. So for me, any time that I have an opportunity to represent my community, I want that to be seen.”
The show even nods to Gomez’s Mexican background.
“… Wednesday’s newfound psychic visions introduce us to one of Gomez’s ancestors from Mexico, Goody Addams, who started a secret society to “protect outcasts from harm and bigotry,” Time magazine writes.
Through ancestors like Goody Addams, a character rooted in 1600s Mexico, and through subtle cultural details in food, music, and design, the Netflix Addams family is undeniably Latino.
So, when the first finger snaps hit, and the Addams Family signals their theme song, they’re signaling something familiar. And this time, it is proudly, unmistakably, nuestro.
Featured image provided by Deposit Photos.
