‘Wednesday’ is streaming with a young talented star in a creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky role on Netflix.
It was a roller coaster ride for the casting choice for the titular character of the new Netflix series “Wednesday.” In addition to someone who could pull off creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky, the role of raven-haired, pigtail-braided Wednesday Addams needed to go to a young actress who could rise to the occasion of playing a character from such an iconic property, casting director John Papsidera said in a chat with CNN.
In searching for their perfect Wednesday, Gough and Millar worked with casting directors Papsidera and Sophie Holland, among others, and said in an email to CNN that it “was always our intention to cast a Latina actress” for the role, because they wanted to honor Gomez Addams’s heritage. While the character of family patriarch Gomez was portrayed by White actor John Astin in the “Addams Family” sitcom from the 1960s, he was portrayed by Puerto Rican actor Raul Julia in the Sonnenfeld movies. In “Wednesday,” Gomez is played by veteran performer Luis Guzmán, also from Puerto Rico.
Finally, the casting team selected teen it-girl Jenna Ortega (“Scream,” “You,” “X”), an actress of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent. “I had talked about Jenna a lot in going into (the casting process),” Papsidera said of Ortega. “It’s also a thin world of girls that can be number one on the call sheet and handle the pressure of that, and also is accomplished in her own right. When you start to talk about a young Latina actress, she rises to the top of the heap.”
“Wednesday” certainly wastes no time in surreptitiously honoring Ricci’s contributions to the character. Without spoiling too much, the pilot episode features a group of people dressed as pilgrims who meet with an unfortunate fate, calling to mind Ricci’s more-than-memorable Thanksgiving scene in 1993’s “Addams Family Values.”
“Wednesday” also stars Gwendoline Christie, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Joy Sunday, among others.
The casting team operated under the direction of Burton, who Papsidera said had a clear vision for the show and characters.
“If anything, that’s where we all kind of started and ended our discussions – with what Tim saw and who he felt he was drawn to as these characters. You want the essence of what those original characters were, but you want it in a new way. So that’s always the challenge, and the reward when you get it,” Pepsidera said.
The web series “Wednesday” is streaming now on Netflix.
