Addams Family mainstay Uncle Fester will appear on Netflix's Wednesday, but series co-creator Tim Burton refuses to reveal the actor who will play him.
In an interview with Empire, Burton confirmed that Wednesday and Pugsley Addams' eccentric uncle would "show up" in the series, but was far more secretive when asked about casting. The character of Fester, a bald hunchback with a love of torture (both for himself and others) and a curious ability to generate his own electricity, has been a mainstay of the Addams Family from the beginning. Previous actors to play Fester include Jackie Coogan on the original '60s sitcom, Christopher Lloyd in the '90s feature films and Nick Kroll in the more recent animated movies.
Addams family members already confirmed to appear on Wednesday include Jenna Ortega as the gothic teen herself, Luis Guzmán and Catherine Zeta-Jones as her parents, Gomez and Morticia, Isaac Ordonez as her brother Pugsley, George Burcea as the family's faithful butler Lurch and Victor Dorobantu as the disembodied hand, Thing. Also part of the cast will be Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday in all three '90s movies and whose character in the show is being kept under wraps.
A New Generation of the Addams Family
"I felt like I was genuinely having a panic attack when I was told [Ricci was joining the Wednesday cast]," Ortega said when describing her nervousness upon meeting Ricci. "I was terrified. She's a really cool lady. I was fine meeting her, but the first time we did a scene together and she had to see me done up [as Wednesday Addams] the way she was done up 30 years ago, it was nerve-racking."
Ricci, meanwhile, had nothing but praise for Ortega's performance as the eldest Addams' child. "Jenna is incredible," she said. "I saw some of the wardrobe photos before I went [to set] so I knew [what she looked like in character] and I was like, it's such a great modern take on Wednesday. It's so true tonally to the heart and soul of [the original], but it's then it's [sic] incredibly modern and it's great."
Wednesday will follow its titular Addams as she attends classes at Nevermore Academy (her mother's alma mater), tries to solve a decades-old murder mystery and attempts to navigate her new relationships at school. Co-creator Miles Millar said the series will test Wednesday's perpetual snarky stoicism. "The one thing that terrifies Wednesday Addams is emotion," he explained. "What fascinated us as writers was exploring a character who starts out unable to have human connection and over the course of the first season moves that dial one notch. She sees the world in black and white. Maybe by the end of the first season, she sees a touch of grey."
Wednesday premiers on Nov. 23 on Netflix.
Source: Empire