“Wednesday” has axed two actors from its sophomore season.
Netflix confirmed on Tuesday that the hit series has officially started production on Season 2 — with a few changes to the cast.
Jenna Ortega will return as Wednesday Addams alongside other Season 1 stars, including Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams, Luis Guzman as Gomez Addams, Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams, Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair and Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin.
Several well-known actors are joining the show, such as Steve Buscemi, Thandiwe Newton, Christopher Lloyd and Haley Joel Osment.
The “Wednesday” Season 2 cast, including Jenna OrtegaHelen Sloan/Netflix
But there are two main cast members who didn’t get the invitation to return for Season 2.
Naomi J. Ogawa, who played Nevermore Academy vampire student Yoko Tanaka, is not returning.
Naomi J. Ogawa is not returning for “Wednesday” Season 2.Variety via Getty Images
Lead Percy Hynes White, who played Xavier Thorpe, another Nevermore Academy student with psychic abilities, also won’t be back.
Netflix revealed these changes by sharing a photo of the entire Season 2 cast on set.
“Wednesday Season 2 is NOW IN PRODUCTION,” the streamer wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Following Netflix’s big announcement, Deadline confirmed that Ogawa, 27, and White, 22, were dropped from the show.
Sexual assault allegations against White circulated in January 2023, prompting the actor to release a statement months later.
“Somebody I’ve never met started a campaign of misinformation about me online,” he wrote on Instagram in June 2023. “Because of this, my family has been doxxed, and my friends have received death threats.”
The Canadian native told fans that the “false” and “harmful” rumors about him “can create mistrust toward victims.”
Percy Hynes White played Xavier Thorpe in the first season of “Wednesday.”Vlad Cioplea/Netflix
It’s unclear if the allegations against White had anything to do with him being dropped by the show.
The first season of “Wednesday” premiered on Netflix in November 2022. The show was renewed for Season 2 in January 2023.
Jenna Ortega (in black suit) plays the titular character in “Wednesday.”Vlad Cioplea/Netflix
Ortega, 21, who will also serve as producer for Season 2, teased what viewers can expect from the show’s return at the 2023 Emmy Awards.
“I’ve received some scripts for the second season, and we’re definitely leaning into more horror,” Ortega told E! News at the awards show. “It’s really, really exciting because, all throughout the show, while Wednesday does need a little bit of an arc, she never really changes, and that’s the wonderful thing about her.”
