Where You've Seen The Cast Of Netflix's Wednesday Before
"Wednesday" is the Netflix original series reimagining another iconic franchise from our collective youths — "The Addams Family." Originally created as a series of cartoons in The New Yorker, Charles Addams introduced the world to this creepy family back in 1938. Since then, they have seen new life on screen in television specials, reboots, and big-screen film adaptations. With "Wednesday," spooky auteur Tim Burton finally puts his own spin on this kooky, offbeat world.
This time, instead of focusing on the entire Addams Family, the series will focus on the daughter of Morticia and Gomez, Wednesday. Although the character has always been a memorable part of the family, and the 1993 Barry Sonnenfeld movie "Addams Family Values" features a storyline devoted to her, this is the first time an adaptation has been aimed solely at her experience with the rest of the family as peripheral parts. The series deals with Wednesday attending Nevermore Academy after getting expelled from her previous school for dropping hungry piranhas in the pool.
Aside from a marquee name like Tim Burton bringing audiences in, the cast is made up of Hollywood legends and newcomers alike. From established names like Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán to recent stars like Jenna Ortega and Hunter Doohan, we're going to take a look at several of the major players in the series and highlight some of their previous work to help you figure out just where you've seen them before.
Jenna Ortega
Historically, Wednesday Addams has primarily been used for cutaway jokes. She and her brother Pugsley are usually seen at the margins of a particular story committing horrible acts of violence against each other or various household products. However, this means she sometimes gets the best lines. That's certainly true in "The Addams Family" movies from the early '90s, where seemingly any scene could be punched-up just by cutting to Wednesday saying something dry and hysterical.
For the Netflix series all about her character, Tim Burton cast relative newcomer Jenna Ortega in the titular role. Despite only beginning her career in 2012 with a small role on an episode of the Rob Schneider series "Rob," she has already built an impressive resume that only continues to grow. The following year, she appeared as the vice president's daughter in Shane Black's "Iron Man 3." Also in 2013, she could be seen as Annie in "Insidious: Chapter 2." Her first major TV role came in 2014 as Young Jane in "Jane the Virgin" for 30 episodes.
Depending on your age (or parental status), you may recognize her voice as Princess Isabel in the animated series "Elena of Avalor: Adventures in Vallestrella." In 2022, she co-starred in the 2022 "Scream" film as Tara Carpenter, the only victim of a Ghostface attack to survive the opening scene. She spends the rest of the movie in the hospital, but she's the very first person we see on screen, making it a memorable appearance.
Catherine Zeta-Jones
The matriarch of the Addams family, Morticia, believes black is a joyful color, a lion is a suitable pet, and thorns are the best part of a rose. In the original television series, she was played by Carolyn Jones. When the characters made the jump to cinema screens in 1991, Anjelica Huston inherited the role. With two recognizable renditions already existing (plus fun performances from Daryl Hannah in "Addams Family Reunion" and Ellie Harvie in "The New Addams Family"), the only way to make a new iteration stand out is to cast a huge Hollywood name. So Tim Burton brought in Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Most Americans will likely recall seeing her for the first time as Elena in the 1998 blockbuster reimagining of Zorro titled "The Mask of Zorro." Before that, however, she also had a notable role in the television drama "The Darling Buds of May," where she played Mariette. In 1996, TV audiences could see her as Isabella Paradine in the TV mini-series "Titanic" (which also starred former Gomez actor Tim Curry). That same year fans Zeta-Jones in the underrated adventure film "The Phantom," where she played Sala.
From 1999 to 2002, she starred in several memorable films like "Entrapment" with Sean Connery, the big-budget remake of "The Haunting," "High Fidelity" with John Cusack, the Steven Soderbergh drama "Traffic," and Hollywood's massive Broadway adaptation "Chicago." She returned to television in 2018 and has been working steadily there ever since.
Luis Guzmán
Gomez has always been a loving and doting father to Wednesday and Pugsley while also treating his parenting duties with Morticia (whom he adores with fierce intensity) as a legitimate partnership. Legendary actor (and father of Sean Astin) John Astin played the part in the '64 series, and the late Raul Julia took the role in the Sonnenfeld films. Once again, this is a role that must be cast carefully because of the pedigree of performers who came before, and Luis Guzmán is a perfect choice.
Given the length of his staggering resume, it would perhaps be much easier to list movies and TV shows he wasn't in rather than the dozens upon dozens of credits to his name. The actor's career got rolling in the mid-'80s with guest roles on "The Equalizer" and "Miami Vice." In 1989, he played Frankie in Ridley Scott's action film "Black Rain." He continued showing up on hit shows through the '90s like "Law & Order," "Homicide: Life on the Street," "NYPD Blue," and HBO's prison drama "Oz."
Towards the end of the 1990s, Guzmán started working with director Paul Thomas Anderson, appearing in "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia," and "Punch-Drunk Love." He also showed up in movies like "Traffic" (with Catherine Zeta-Jones), "The Taking of Pelham 123," as well as shows like "Shameless" and "Narcos." In 2003, he even had his own sitcom (featuring an early performance from Charlie Day) simply titled "Luis."
Isaac Ordonez
Of the core Addams family members, Pugsley is often the lesser-served of the bunch. Whenever a new movie or series comes out, Pugsley basically sticks to his role of a trouble-making little guy who doesn't know any better — and that's about it. With "Wednesday" there is the potential to develop his character a little bit more, even if the focus is primarily on his sister. After all, the reason she unleashes piranhas into the pool to begin with is to get justice for Pugsley.
That said, each actor who played him has been great. The original was Ken Weatherwax, with Jimmy Workman playing him in the '90s movies while Jerry Messing and Brody Smith played him in the TV movie "Addams Family Reunion" and series "The New Addams Family." "Stranger Things" star Finn Wolfhard voiced him in the 2019 animated film while Javon Walton of "Euphoria" did so in the sequel.
Burton cast young actor Isaac Ordonez in the new series. He hasn't had a ton of experience yet, but that should change shortly thanks to his work on "Wednesday." His very first credit wasn't a starring role, but it was still a pretty big deal. He doubled the character of Charles Wallace in Ava DuVernay's adaptation of "A Wrinkle in Time." After that, he appeared in several short films before landing a role in the movie "7th & Union." It's early days for Ordonez, but he is already off to an incredible start.
George Burcea
Any actor playing the loyal butler Lurch has some pretty big shoes to fill, literally. His character is a bit of a mystery (since he doesn't say much), but we do know that he is a very tall and imposing figure. The two actors most frequently associated with the role are Ted Cassidy from the original series and Carel Struycken, who played him in multiple movies.
For Wednesday, Burton cast a relative unknown (in the United States anyway) in performer George Burcea. According to his IMDb, Burcea's film and television career began in 2012 with an uncredited role as a soldier in the World War II film "Süskind." That same year, he appeared in two other films. The first was the comedy "A Month in Thailand." The second was the drama "Itaker – Vietato agli italiani."
Burcea continued popping up in uncredited roles and in short films before appearing in an episode of the television series "Comrade Detective" starring Channing Tatum in an episode called "Two Films for One Ticket." A few years later, he also landed a role in the comedy-drama series "Profu." Like Isaac Ordonez, "Wednesday" could be the series that sends his career into the stratosphere.
Gwendoline Christie
When Wednesday begins attending Nevermore Academy, one of her major antagonists is a faculty member named Larissa Weems. When Netflix announced the character would be played by Gwendoline Christie, the studio let us know a little about her character. Specifically, a tweet mentioned that the character "still has an axe to grind with her former classmate Morticia Addams." This suggests the origin of her conflict with Wednesday goes back long before her birth.
As mentioned, Weems (a new character added to the "Addams Family" mythos) is being played by Gwendoline Christie. Chances are if you know her at all, it's probably from her role as Brienne Tarth (or Brienne of Tarth) Lord Selwyn Tarth's only daughter on the ridiculously successful HBO epic fantasy series "Game of Thrones." The incredible thing about Christie's career beyond that, however, is that she started working with legends right away.
Her second role was a small one in the Terry Gilliam film "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus." Later, she would again work with Gilliam on the sci-fi film "The Zero Theorem." Her first major TV credit came in 2012 on the Russel T Davies-produced fantasy sci-fi series "Wizards vs. Aliens," although she was under heavy alien prosthetics. Then she hid her face again in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" when she played Captain Phasma. More recently, she could be seen playing Lucifer in the Netflix series "The Sandman."
Riki Lindhome
According to information shared on Twitter, the character of Dr. Valerie Kinbott is "a local therapist who takes a particular interest in Wednesday." Any mental health professional examining a member of the Addams family has their work cut out for them. On the one hand, they appear to be the strongest, most dysfunctional people on the planet. A closer look, though, reveals that they're probably more loving and supportive of each other than any "normal" family.
Playing the role of this brave doctor is Riki Lindhome. Her career as an actress, musician, and comedian has been so varied that you could recognize her from any number of things. If you're a comedy fan, you're probably familiar with her music. She is half of the comedy duo Garfunkel and Oates along with Kate Micucci. Not only do they perform funny music, but they even had their own series. She also co-created and co-starred in the series "Another Period" with Natasha Leggero.
On the big movie side of things, she played a member of Hilary Swank's greedy family in "Million Dollar Baby." She also played a despicable character in the 2009 remake of Wes Craven's "The Last House on the Left." Then, in 2019, she was part of the amazing ensemble cast in Rian Johnson's instant classic "Knives Out."
Hunter Doohan
Young actor Hunter Doohan plays Tyler Galpin in the series. He may have only started acting in 2012 (according to his IMDb), but Doohan has already proved he has the chops to handle both drama and comedy with his impressive career. After working in short films, his first TV role was in the mini-series "The Other Client List" in 2015. That same year, he also appeared in "Coffee House Chronicles."
However, his first big credit was an episode of HBO's sci-fi drama "Westworld" in 2018. The following year, things really started to take off when he showed up in "Schooled," a spin-off of "The Goldbergs," and the Apple TV drama "Truth Be Told" starring Octavia Spencer and Kate Hudson. Not long after that, he starred as Adam Desiato, the son of a judge and perpetrator of a hit and run incident in the Showtime drama "Your Honor." The judge in that series was played by none other than Walter White himself, Bryan Cranston.
Percy Hynes White
Xavier Thorpe (another new character to "The Addams Family" cannon) is, according to a fan account on Twitter, "a charismatic and supernaturally artistic Nevermore Academy student, who comes from wealth thanks to his celebrity psychic father." Playing the role is Percy Hynes White, a young actor who has already built an impressive resume for himself.
His first major credit came in 2014 when he played C.J. Fredericks in "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb." In 2015, he played Monguno Ksaruko in two episodes of the Syfy series "Defiance." In 2014 he joined the 8th Season of the long-running mystery period drama "Murdoch Mysteries" as Simon Brooks. His run on the series lasted eight episodes. In the 2015 Netflix sci-fi series "Between," which is about a disease that kills everyone over the age of 22, he appeared as Harrison.
Another massive role for him came in the 2017 "X-Men" series "The Gifted." In the show, he played Andy Strucker, a telekinetic mutant. Shortly thereafter, he appeared in one of the stranger episodes of "The Twilight Zone" from 2019 called "Not All Men," where a potentially alien infection causes most (but not all) men to go on an id-centric rampage. More recently, he could be seen in the series "Pretty Hard Cases" as Elliot Wazowski.
Emma Myers
Nevermore Academy (with its obvious allusion to Edgar Allan Poe's timeless poem "The Raven") seems like the perfect school for a dreary student like Wednesday Addams to attend. However, there are those who will make it difficult for her, like the principal Larissa Weems and a roommate named Enid Sinclair. She may not be an outright antagonist, but her character description shared on Twitter certainly sounds like her mere existence will be tough for Wednesday to stomach: "She is Wednesday's sunny and colorful Californian roommate at Nevermore Academy. Enid hails from a pack of San Francisco werewolves."
Playing the part of Enid is Emma Myers. Like most actors, her career on screen began with small, uncredited roles. For instance, she appeared as a nameless school bus passenger in the 2010 movie "Letters to God" and as Paige Slayton in an episode of "The Glades" titled "The Girlfriend Experience." About ten years later, she was in the pilot episode of the series "The Baker and the Beauty" playing a character named Stephanie. Then, in 2019, she was in two episodes of the zombie series "Dead of Night."
In 2020, she played characters in two very different movies. The first is your classic Christmas romantic comedy "A Taste of Christmas." The other is a dark thriller starring '80s teen icon Judd Nelson about a father who locks his teenage daughter in the basement, titled "Girl in the Basement."
Christina Ricci
Originally, former child star Thora Birch had been cast as Tamara Novak, "Wednesday's dorm mother and the only 'normie' on staff at Nevermore Academy, with a focus on all things botanical." However, Deadline reported that Birch left the series during production. Thankfully, Deadline followed that announcement by revealing that another former child star was brought in to replace her, but the character has been changed from its original intent. That actress is, of course, Christina Ricci.
If you're reading this, you likely know who Christina Ricci is. For an entire generation, she was Wednesday Addams. Her appearance in the two films from 1991 and 1993 is so iconic that she has become even more associated with the role than its originator Lisa Loring or Nicole Fugere, the actress who played the character in both "Addams Family Reunion" and "The New Addams Family."
It's only natural to bring her into the series. Of course, there's the history she has with the character, but there's her existing working relationship with Tim Burton, as she has previously appeared in his film "Sleepy Hollow." Beyond that, there's Ricci's natural affinity for creepy material. From "Casper" to "Cursed" to "Yellowjackets," Ricci has never shied away from the dark side of storytelling. If you're still not sure where you know her from, it could be one of her other dozens of credits like "Buffalo '66," "Black Snake Moan," "Lizzie Borden Took an Ax," or her time as Liza Bump on "Ally McBeal."