Finding a star for ‘Wednesday’ who embodies ‘Family’ values with her own kooky twist

Finding a star for ‘Wednesday’ who embodies ‘Family’ values with her own kooky twist.
here was a lot riding on the casting choice for the titular character of the new Netfilx 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.

“It’s always a little bit daunting when you start a process with such legacy and storied roles around it,” casting director John Papsidera said in a chat with CNN.

The show marks a return to the Addams Family world, based on the cartoons by Charles Addams and first presented on screen in the iconic 1960s black-and-white sitcom and later in the much-loved early 90s films by Barry Sonnenfeld. In the new series, Wednesday finds herself at a boarding school called the Nevermore Academy where all manner of outcast and freak can roam free.

For those expecting a tongue-in-cheek rehash 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, is not a reboot, but rather a closer examination and celebration of the majorly macabre and sharp-as-a-razor older sister of the Addams clan.