Netflix’s live-action The Addams Family series Wednesday just had a hiccup in its production, as one of its stars exited before the show wrapped on Season 1. Thora Birch left the series, which is currently filming in Romania, and headed back to the United States to attend to a personal matter.
Thora Birch entered Wednesday in the role of series regular character Tamara Novak. Now Deadline reports that she’s out of the series and headed back to the United States, and the reason is said to be so she can deal with a family illness. Birch will not return to production, though reports indicate that a bulk of her scenes are filmed for the inaugural season of the Tim Burton-directed series.
Tamara Novak was originally set to play Wednesday’s “dorm mother” at Nevermore Academy and was apparently the only “normie” on campus. The show will not recast the character despite Thora Birch’s exit, and instead, a new actor is coming into the show. It’s not entirely clear whether or not this new character will replace the character of Tamara Novak, or their presence will help close out the character’s storyline. The scenes Birch shot will remain in Wednesday as is.
Despite any roadblocks, there’s still much excitement for Netflix’s Wednesday. Beyond the fact that it’s a spinoff of The Addams Family, Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar are responsible for the writing and serve as showrunners. Let’s not forget that Tim Burton is directing the project, and stars folks like Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia, Luis Guzmán as Gomez, and Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams. All of this sets a high bar for the series, which will take the weird family franchise in a direction it hasn’t gone before.
Netflix’s Wednesday will focus on the creepy and kooky Wednesday Addams as she attends high school at Nevermore Academy. She’ll develop her psychic powers, attempt to stop a monstrous killing spree on the town, and even develop new relationships with others. I’m not sure if that means romance for Wednesday, but I can’t imagine how any normal teen would react after coming to dinner for a night at the Addams’ household.
There’s also a tease that the series will examine a supernatural mystery that plagued her family 25 years ago. Unfortunately, it’s not clear exactly what that mystery could be, though there’s a part of me that wants it to explain why Wednesday and her family are so weird. I’ll confess, it’s been a while since The Addams Family interested me this much, so I’m really hoping everything about this show is as good as it sounds.
Wednesday is still in production overseas, so it could take a while before it’s available to stream over on Netflix. CinemaBlend will keep an eye out for updates on its production in the meantime, as well as report on all major news happening in the world of movies and television.
