Wednesday: Christina Ricci joins Netflix’s Addams Family series

Christina Ricci is returning to the Addams Family as Deadline has reported that she’s joined the cast of Wednesday, the upcoming live-action Netflix series which revolves around the titular Addams Family member.

Of course, Christina Ricci played Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and The Addams Family Values thirty years ago, but she won’t be stepping back into the role for the Netflix series. It’s said that she’ll be playing an exciting new character and will play a major part in the series. The actress has actually been working on the series for months and filming will finally wrap up in Romania by the end of the month.

Wednesday stars Jenna Ortega in the title role and has been described as a coming-of-age supernatural mystery comedy. The series will focus on Wednesday’s years as a high school student at Nevermore Academy, where she attempts to master her psychic powers, stop a monstrous killing spree of the town citizens, and solve the supernatural mystery that affected her family 25 years ago — all while navigating her new relationships. In addition to Ortega, Wednesday also stars Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams and Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams. Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Gwendoline Christiie, and more also star. The series was written by Al Gough and Miles Millar and Tim Burton himself has returned to direct.

Jenna Ortega teased earlier this year that working on Wednesday with Tim Burton has been “an insane experience.“

To step into the shoes of somebody who’s a bit more eccentric and frightening has been really exciting for me, and definitely a challenge — especially with such a beloved character, I really want to take care of her and do her justice. … The thing is, there are several different paths that anyone could have taken for this character. We’ve never seen Wednesday Addams as a teenage girl, so some of her harsh mannerisms may come off as hilarious when she’s younger, but as you get older, how much of that can you get away with? Or how do you keep that at the forefront of her personality without people growing to dislike her or find her annoying? So just trying to balance that … I’ve never felt so much pressure on a job, and I’m trying to keep my cool.

In addition to Wednesday, Christina Ricci is expected to return for the second season of Showtime’s breakout series, Yellowjackets.