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It looks like Christina Ricci, who played the delightfully morbid Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and The Addams Family Values ,will be returning to the family mansion, according to an exclusive Deadline report. The new report announced today that Ricci will be joining Tim Burton's hotly anticipated Netflix series, Wednesday, though exact details of her role are unknown.
Rising scream queen Jenna Ortega, who just recently starred in the A24 slasher film X and Scream 5, is set to play the eponymous Wednesday Addams in the series. The new report from Deadline noted that Ricci would not be playing her previous role as Wednesday in any capacity. Instead, Ricci will be playing a new role, similar to the role that Thora Birch had held on the series. However, Birch has since dropped out of the project for personal reasons. Birch was set to play Wednesday's dorm mother at the remote and spooky Nevermore Academy. Ricci's character will not be the same as Burch's — however, it will be similar.
The series is set to be a coming-of-age story, centering on Ortega's Wednesday as she makes her way through Nevermore Academy, working on solving mysteries during her time in the school. Also joining the project are Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams and Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams.
The return of Ricci to the Addams Family is no doubt a welcome one. When news of Burton's adaptation of the property was first announced, Ricci's inclusion was one of many fan requests made at a high volume. Her stint as Wednesday has colored (or blackened) many a millennial's aesthetic choices and world views. Ricci's ability to delivery deadpan (emphasis on the dead) humor made her a standout in two films packed to the gills with some of comedy's most animated actors at the time. This role comes shortly after Ricci's work on Showtime's Yellowjackets, in which she has a starring role. The series tells the story of a group of teenage girls who struggle to survive after they are stranded in the Ontario forests after a plane crash. She is set to return for Season 2 of the series. Ricci also recently starred in Matrix: Resurrections.
Season 1 of Wednesday will consist of eight episodes. The series will be available to stream exclusively on Netflix. No exact premiere date has been set, but the series is expected to premiere sometime in 2022.