'Wednesday' On Netflix–Everything We Know About Wednesday Addams' Return to the Screen (and Christina Ricci's Role)!

Wednesday Addams is finally back in Netflix's upcoming TV series Wednesday. While most people know the iconic Addams Family from past depictions, like the 1990s films directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd and Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams, this project is independent of all the others and a completely new take on the character.

Here's everything you need to know about the upcoming Wednesday TV series.

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What is Wednesday about?

According to Netflix, Wednesday will keep the same tone and heart of past Addams Family renditions, but it will present a new, fresh direction for the characters and story.

As for the specific plot, Netflix describes Wednesday as "a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday’s years as a student at the peculiar Nevermore Academy."

In the show, Wednesday Addams "attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago—all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships of the strange and diverse student body."

The new show will blend dark humor and drama to tell a supernatural tale of mystery. Focusing on Wednesday, we are sure to see a unique take on the classic coming-of-age story, with the protagonist likely to create plenty of extra trouble on her own, all while navigating Nevermore Academy and the old mystery from more than two decades earlier.

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Who is in the Wednesday cast?

The new Wednesday TV show will feature the main Addams Family, including all the original characters you love like Morticia Addams and Thing, but there will also be plenty of new faces introduced in the show.

A lot of the supporting characters will be students or faculty from Wednesday's school, Nevermore Academy, while it sounds like there will also be some tension building with people living in their town like the local sheriff.

Here's the official cast for Wednesday, though more actors might be announced in the future.

Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams

Jenna Ortega, who previously starred in You Season 2 and the latest iteration of Scream, was excited to play Wednesday Addams as an even truer representation of who the character is—including her ethnic background.

“Wednesday is technically a Latina character and that has never been represented,” she said in an interview. “So, for me any time I have an opportunity to represent my community I want that to be seen.”

Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams and Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams

One of the show's creators, Alfred Gough, says that Catherine Zeta-Jones' Morticia plays a key role in Wednesday. "The relationship that kind of hangs over the season is really Wednesday’s relationship with Morticia," he told Vanity Fair. "How do you step out of the shadow of a mother as glamorous as Morticia?"

As for Luis Guzmán's casting, the showrunners and creators wanted the role to be as true to the original comics as possible. "[Burton] wanted the silhouette to look more like the Charles Addams cartoons, which is Gomez shorter than Morticia, versus the kind of suave Raul Julia version in the movies,” Gough explained.

Co-creator Miles Millar added, “[Gomez is] also incredibly debonair and romantic, and I think he has all those classic ingredients of the Gomez that has come before, but he brings something also very different and new. That’s something that was very important to the show—that it didn’t feel like a remake or a reboot. It’s something that lives within the Venn diagram of what happened before, but it’s its own thing. It’s not trying to be the movies or the ’60s TV show. That was very important to us and very important to Tim.”

Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams

Isaac Ordonez plays Pugsley. He's previously appeared in A Wrinkle In Time and 7th and Union.

Victor Dorobantu as Thing

Victor Dorobantu lends Wednesday a hand as Thing.

Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester

Portlandia and Saturday Night Live alum Fred Armisen stars as Uncle Fester. His casting was kept quiet until October 2022.

Christina Ricci as Ms. Thornhill

Ortega previously told Empire of working with Christina Ricci, who made Wednesday Addams so iconic in the '90s, "I felt like I was genuinely having a panic attack when I was told. I was terrified. She’s a really cool lady. I was fine meeting her, but the first time we did a scene together, and she had to see me done up the way she was done up 30 years ago, it was nerve-racking.”

Related: Christina Ricci Reveals If She Gave Jenna Ortega Any Advice on Playing Wednesday Addams

Jamie McShane as Sheriff Donovan Galpin

Jamie McShane stars as Jericho County Sheriff Donovan Galpin. His character is not a fan of Gomez Addams, nor of Nevermore Academy.

Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin, a "townie" who becomes friends with Wednesday

Sheriff Galpin's son, Tyler, is played by Hunter Doohan. While the Sheriff has beef with Gomez Addams, Tyler is friends with Wednesday Addams.

Gwendoline Christie as Larissa Weems, the Nevermore Academy principal

Gwendoline Christie, fresh off playing Lucifer in Netflix's The Sandman, stars as Nevermore Academy principal Larissa Weems.

Joy Sunday as Bianca Barclay and Johnna Dias-Watson as Divina

Joy Sunday, front left, and Johnna Dias-Watson, front right, play Bianca Barclay and Divina, popular students at Nevermore Academy.

Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair, Wednesday's roommate at Nevermore Academy

Emma Myers plays Wednesday Addams' roommate Enid Sinclair, a hospitable and sweet girl who is well-intentioned but annoying to the morose title character.

Percy Hynes White as Xavier Thorpe

Percy Hynes White plays Nevermore Academy student Xavier Thorpe.

Moosa Mostafa as Eugene Otinger

Moosa Mostafa plays Eugene Otinger, a friend of Wednesday Addams.

Riki Lindhome as Dr. Valerie Kinbott, Wednesday's therapist

Riki Lindhome plays Dr. Valerie Kinbott, who has the undesirable job of being Wednesday Addams' shrink.

Naomi J. Ogawa as Yoko Tanaka, a cool kid vampire at Nevermore Academy

Yoko Tanaka's sunglasses aren't just to look cool. The character, played by Naomi J. Ogawa, is a vampire at Nevermore Academy.

The rest of the cast includes Oliver Watson, Johnna Dias-Watson, Tommie Earl Jenkins, Iman Marson, Gracy Goldman, Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo and more in various supporting roles.

Thora Birch was previously announced as part of the cast, but Deadline reported in December 2021 that she had to abruptly leave the project for personal reasons.

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Who will Christina Ricci play in Wednesday?

As of right now, the identity of Ricci's character is a secret Netflix is keeping very close to the vest. The only thing the company has officially confirmed is that she will be playing an "exciting new character" in the series.

Who is directing Netflix's Wednesday TV series?

Tim Burton, who Netflix describes as a "visionary director and lifelong Addams Family fan," will be making his TV directorial debut with the new Wednesday series. He previously directed an animated TV short miniseries called The World of Stainboy, but other than that, his directing work has exclusively been on the big screen.

Who is composing the music for Wednesday?

The new series will be composed by Danny Elfman, a long-time collaborator with Burton. Previously, Elfman composed the music for some of Burton's best films, including Big Fish, Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands.

Is there a release date for Wednesday?

Wednesday will be released on—you guessed it—Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022. The full season will premiere on the same day, making it a great pre-Thanksgiving binge-watch.

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How many episodes will be in Wednesday Season 1?

There will be eight episodes total in Season 1 of Netflix's Wednesday series. The episodes will chronicle her time at Nevermore Academy. Filming began for Season 1 in September 2021 in Bucharest, Romania, and concluded in late March 2022.

Is there a trailer for the Wednesday TV show?

The first promotional video released of Wednesday was a short clip giving fans their first look at Thing, the disembodied hand. The video was posted on the show's official social media channels on June 1, 2022.

Luckily, Netflix finally released the first official teaser showing Ortega as the title character on June 6 as part of Netflix's Geeked Week event. In it, we see her hands braiding her signature pigtails. When she approaches the camera, Thing is on her shoulder. She adjusts her other signature—a Peter Pan collar on her black patterned dress—and they both snap their fingers.

On Aug. 17, 2022, a teaser trailer was released for Wednesday introducing the title character as changing schools eight times in five years. The crowds in the hallways part as she walks through her high school. When she enters the pool, where the swim team is practicing, one of the swimmers tells Wednesday that it's a "closed practice."

Holding a bag of live piranhas in each hand, Wednesday sternly replies, "The only person who gets to torture my brother is me."

She releases the piranhas, which bite the bully below the proverbial belt. As Wednesday smiles to herself, she narrates that she did the world a favor because people like the bully "shouldn't procreate," adding, "Getting expelled was just a bonus."

We then see Wednesday in the back of a car with her parents, Morticia and Gomez, who bring her to Nevermore Academy, telling her she'll love it and that it's where they first met.

However, when Wednesday enrolls, it isn't entirely what it seems ... and that makes her love it even more.

A full trailer for Wednesday dropped on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022.

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In it, we see literally faceless students at Nevermore Academy, as well as an introduction to Wednesday's roommate at Nevermore, a seemingly anxious, quite hospitable and "smothering" Enid Sinclair. We see Wednesday beat up some bullies in a diner and say that she enjoys it when people dislike her. We also get a first look at Armisen as Uncle Fester, a shot of Wednesday and her classmates canoeing (a throwback to the original movies) and Ricci as a redhead staffer who welcomes Wednesday to the Academy.

Does Netflix's Wednesday have a poster?

Yes, there is an official poster for Wednesday already released. The image shows an artful depiction of Wednesday completely in shadow, save for one arm playing the cello with a sharp knife, leading to a broken string.

Who is playing Wednesday Addams on Netflix?

Jenna Ortega stars as the titular Wednesday Addams. You may recognize her from the latest installment of Scream, as well as the Netflix smash You. She also appeared in Iron Man 3, Insidious: Chapter 2, Jane the Virgin and was the lead in Stuck in the Middle on the Disney Channel.

Is Netflix Wednesday a cartoon?

Netflix's Wednesday is a live-action series, though most of the characters' aesthetics are lifted directly from the original Addams Family cartoons. The main differences are Morticia's complexion (Zeta-Jones isn't as pale as the Morticia many are used to) and Guzman's portlier Gomez.

Check back here for updates on Wednesday as it gets closer to the show's release on Netflix!

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