There was a lot riding on the casting choice for the nominal character of the new Netfilx series “ Wednesday. ” In addition to someone who could pull off creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky, the part of raven- haired, cornrow- pleated Wednesday Addams demanded to go to a youthful actress who could rise to the occasion of playing a character from such an iconic property.
“ It’s always a little bit daunting when you start a process with similar heritage and fabled places around it, ” casting director John Papsidera said in a converse
The show marks a return to the Addams Family world, grounded on the cartoons by Charles Addams and first presented on screen in the iconic 1960s black- and-white sitcom and latterly in the important- loved early 90s flicks by Barry Sonnenfeld. In the new series, Wednesday finds herself at a boarding academy called the Nevermore Academy where all manner of castaway and freak can bat free.
For those awaiting a lingo- in- impertinence reappraisal of “ The Addams Family ” – complete with the double-snap theme song – think again. This “ teen- centric dark comedy, ” as described by showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar, isn’t a reboot, but rather a closer examination and festivity of the majorly lurid and sharp- as-a-razor aged family of the Addams clan.
In searching for their perfect Wednesday, Gough and Millar worked with casting directors Papsidera and Sophie Holland, among others, and said in an dispatch to CNN that it “ was always our intention to cast a Latina actress ” for the part, because they wanted to recognize Gomez Addams’s heritage. While the character of family primogenitor 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 pictures. In “ Wednesday, ” Gomez is played by expert performer Luis Guzmán, also from Puerto Rico.
The part of son Wednesday ultimately went to teen it girl Jenna Ortega( “ Scream, ” “ You, ” “ X ”), an actress of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent. Gough and Millar knew they had set up their Wednesday as soon as they met Ortega, they said.
