Jenna Ortega is our NEW ...

Apigtail-wearing Jenna Ortega walks up to a towering statue of Edgar Allan Poe and snaps her fingers twice - *snap, snap*. It’s a rhythm familiar to most, and instinctively our brain connects the sound that should precede it: tara-ra-ra snap snap, the theme song to The Addams Family, first written in 1964 by Vic Mizzy for the television series. Since its debut as a cartoon in The New Yorker in 1938, Charles Addams’ incantation of a spooky take on the quintessential American family has enchanted the world, from the small screen in the 1960s then as two cult classic films in the ‘90s. The latest iteration focuses on our alt-heroine Wednesday Addams, as brought to life by Ortega, in the Netflix show Wednesday.

There is a general outline to who Wednesday is: sassy, precocious, and brilliant, with a penchant for guillotines and a ubiquitous uniform of jet-black pigtails and a fang-like white collar peeking out from the neckline of a little black dress, symbolizing her precise dedication to discipline and perfection. Twenty-year old Ortega might be a newer name to people who grew up with past Addams adaptations, but like her screen alter-ego, she is disciplined, witty, and highly intelligent, with a career that’s already half her age.

Her break as a child actor came with her turn as young Jane in Jane the Virgin, where she was able to hone her chops. She then graduated into more complex roles, creating buzz with a noteworthy stint on the stalker-core favorite show You. school shooting and its unfolding impact where she was able to give.