Everything to Know About Netflix’s Upcoming ‘Addams Family’ Series, ‘Wednesday’
From the actress in the titular role to the Addams Family alumni joining the cast, here’s a complete breakdown of the Tim Burton series
The creepy and the kooky are coming to Netflix!
A mysterious and spooky Addams Family series, titled Wednesday, is currently in the works and it’s sure to leave you snapping.
Acclaimed director Tim Burton — who is known for his work on famed fantasy-horror hits like Beetlejuice and Corpse Bride — is bringing his eerie expertise to the eight-episode series based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles Addams.
“Tim has had a history of telling empowering stories about social outsiders like Edward Scissorhands, Lydia Deitz and Batman,” said Teddy Biaselli, Netflix’s head of original series said in a statement. “And now, he brings his unique vision to Wednesday and her spooky classmates at Nevermore Academy.”
Addams’ characters were first introduced in a New Yorker comic strip in the late 1930s, consisting of parents Gomez and Morticia Addams, children Wednesday and Pugsley, Uncle Fester, Grandmama, butler Lurch, and Cousin Itt.
Due to its popularity, several onscreen adaptations have been created since, including an ABC sitcom running from 1964 to 1966, two animated series in 1973 and 1992, another live-action show titled The New Addams Family in 1998, The Addams Family movie in 1991, its 1993 sequel Addams Family Values, and two animated films in 2019 and 2021.
From the actress cast as the titular role to the Addams Family alumni slated to make their return, here’s everything to know about the series.
What is Netflix’s Wednesday about?
Burton’s coming-of-age comedy, described as a “sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery,” chronicles high school student Wednesday as she strives to perfect her emerging psychic ability while she juggles the complexities of relationships within Nevermore Academy.
Simultaneously, Wednesday tries to prevent a monstrous killing spree that’s taking over the local town, while attempting to uncover the supernatural mystery involving her parents that took place 25 years ago.
Who’s starring as Wednesday in the Netflix series?
Jenna Ortega takes the lead as Wednesday Addams. The actress has appeared in several of Netflix’s original titles including the second season of Penn Badgley’s You, and films like The Babysitter: Killer Queen and Jennifer Garner’s Yes Day.
Ortega has big shoes to fill (and long pigtails to braid) as she joins the list of actresses who’ve played the iconic character over the years, including Lisa Loring, Christina Ricci, and Chloë Grace Moretz.
Who else is in Netflix’s Wednesday cast?
In addition to Ortega as Wednesday, Catherine Zeta-Jones will play matriarch Morticia Addams, Luis Guzmán will play patriarch Gomez Addams and Fred Armisen will play Uncle Fester.
Rounding out the rather large cast include the following: Hunter Doohan (Your Honor, Truth Be Told), Georgie Farmer(Treadstone, The Evermoor Chronicles), Moosa Mostafa (Nativity Rocks!, The Last Bus), Emma Myers (Girl in the Basement, Taste of Christmas), Naomi J. Ogawa (Skylin3s), Joy Sunday(Dear White People, The Beta Test), Percy Hynes White (The Gifted, Pretty Hard Cases), Thora Birch (Ghost World, The Walking Dead), Riki Lindhome (Knives Out, Another Period) and Jamie McShane (Mank, Bloodline).
Are any original Addams Family cast members appearing in Netflix’s Wednesday?
Christina Ricci, who starred as Wednesday Addams in the Barry Sonnenfeld-directed 1990s Addams Family feature franchise, will be joining the cast of Wednesday. Due to her beloved performance as the ghoulish girl, fans launched a petition calling for her to be cast in the show when the Netflix series was first announced.
Though details of Ricci’s role remain under wraps, she is slated to take on a completely new character — a role that was previously held by Hocus Pocus alum Thora Birch, who pulled out in December after joining the cast in August, per Deadline.
Kevin Miserocchi, Gail Berman, and Andrew Mittman — all of whom worked on the 2019 Addams Family — are set to executive produce alongside Jonathan Glickman, who was an executive producer of The Addams Family 2.