Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams

As a child, Jenna Ortega appeared in films like Iron Man 3 (2013) and Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) before breaking out with a recurring role as young Jane on Jane the Virgin (2014–2019). She went on to appear in a number of animated and live-action Disney productions, including Stuck in the Middle (2016–2018), Elena of Avalor (2016–2020), and Bizaardvark (2018).

Ortega graduated to more adult roles with her turn as Tara Carpenter in Scream (2022) and Scream VI (2023), as well as the Ti West slasher X (2022) and Netflix’s serial-killer soap You (2019). Ortega’s starring role as Wednesday helped catapult her to A-list status, with the actress hosting Saturday Night Live in 2023 and lining up a vast slate of upcoming film roles.

Ortega’s talent for deadpan malevolence makes her an ideal choice for Wednesday Addams, and it’s one she takes seriously, especially since becoming a producer on season 2.

“I sit in on meetings and listen and learn,” she said in a recent interview with Harper’s Bazaar. “I’m still finding my footing in that area.” 

But she also spoke frankly about how the role can make it difficult for colleagues to take her seriously. “You know, it’s like how you’re dressed in the schoolgirl costume,” she told the outlet. “There’s just something about it that’s very patronizing. Also, when you’re short, people are already physically looking down on you.”

Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams

For her intoxicating turn as Velma Kelly in Chicago (2002), Catherine Zeta-Jones won an Oscar and a BAFTA. She also won Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards for leading Broadway’s 2009 revival of A Little Night Music. Other notable credits include The Mask of Zorro (1998), Traffic (2001), and Ocean’s Twelve (2004), as well as the Disney+ series National Treasure: Edge of History (2022).

She’ll next appear alongside Ortega, Natalie Portman, and Charli XCX in Cathy Yan’s The Gallerist.

“To go back and do a second season was just wonderful,” the actress told Deadline last year. “The great Jenna Ortega, who really runs the show — I can’t say enough about her as a young woman, as an actor, and actually she’s producing this second season. It was pretty impressive to watch. And we have a whole array of new actors coming in… I think everyone’s waited long enough for season 2 and they will not be disappointed.”

Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams

Luis Guzmán has been one of Hollywood’s preeminent “that guy” actors for more than three decades. He’s appeared in films by some of the U.S.’s best filmmakers, from Brian De Palma (Carlito’s Way, Snake Eyes) and Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight, Traffic, The Limey) to Paul Thomas Anderson  (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love).

Recently, he costarred in the Netflix films Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024) and Havoc (2025), as well as the series Poker Face (2023) and Justified: City Primeval (2023).

“I say the first season came out and it blew the lid off everything, and the second season was like me telling these guys, ‘How you going to outdo season 1?’ And they went above and beyond,” the actor recently told Movieweb. “I will tell you, the world will be amazed by what they see in season 2.”

Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams

Newcomer Isaac Ordonez’s only screen credit before appearing on Wednesday was in Ava DuVernay’s 2018 A Wrinkle in Time adaptation.

Ordonez graduates to a series regular on season 2 of Wednesday as Pugsley Addams, the younger brother of Ortega’s Wednesday. As the season 2 trailer teases, the new episodes will find him harnessing the power of static electricity in the same manner as Fred Armisen’s Uncle Fester.

Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester

Saturday Night Live alum Fred Armisen has 15 Emmy nominations (but no wins) under his belt for his work as a co-creator and star of Portlandia (2011–2018) and Documentary Now (2015–2022), among other projects. Portlandia did, however, win a Peabody Award in 2012, as did Los Espookys (2019–2022), another series Armisen co-created.

Armisen is also a Grammy-nominated musician — he previously served as the Late Night With Seth Meyers band leader — and has appeared in beloved comedies like Anchorman (2004), Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (2008–2010), and Big Mouth (2017–2025).

“When they offered it to me, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m the right guy for that part,'” Armisen told Jimmy Fallon last year. “I don’t usually have that much bravado, but for this I was like, ‘I’m glad I’m doing it.'”

A good thing, too. Though he only appeared in one episode of the first season, Netflix is reportedly developing a spinoff, Fester, centered around the Addams Family’s chrome-domed uncle.

Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair

Emma Myers appeared in a handful of projects as a child, then took a break from Hollywood and returned with roles in two megahits: Wednesday and A Minecraft Movie (2025), in which she costarred alongside Jack Black, Jason Momoa, and Danielle Brooks.

Myers plays Enid Sinclair, Wednesday’s bubbly, blonde-haired roommate. “I was kind of scared to go back, because I remember watching scenes of myself from season 1 and being like, ‘I don’t know if I can re-create this now. It’s been so long,’” she told Variety in April. “But when we got to the table read, it immediately came back, like nothing had changed. I think I’ve lived with Enid for so long, it comes very naturally now.”

Ortega, meanwhile, told the outlet that Enid is a “bit more of a badass this time around,” with Myers adding that the character “has changed over the summer” and is “more comfortable with herself” than she was in season 1.

Joy Sunday as Bianca Barclay

Joy Sunday has worked with some of the most exciting voices in independent film, having appeared in S—house (2020) and The Beta Test (2021) from auteur filmmakers Cooper Raiff and Jim Cummings, respectively. She’s also a frequent collaborator of writer and director Justin Simien, who directed her in the film Bad Hair (2020) and the series Dear White People (2021).

Sunday plays a siren named Bianca Barclay, one of Nevermore’s brightest lights and an early antagonist for Wednesday, though the pair’s relationship softened by the end of season 1.

“I think it’s so natural for her and Wednesday to have a little bit of competition. I’m really excited to see their friendship bloom alongside that,” Sunday told EW in 2024.

Of her character, she said, “I’d love to see Bianca really expand and allow herself to be more vulnerable with the people around her, I’m excited to fully realize Bianca as an individual and to continue to roll with her mistakes, to recognize her flaws, and still see her as a multi-dimensional, headstrong character. I love that I’ve gotten to portray someone like [her] and I look forward to playing with that more.”

Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin

Before breaking out on Wednesday, Hunter Doohan cut his teeth alongside a pair of Breaking Bad alums. He played a young Aaron Paul on the Apple TV+ series Truth Be Told (2019—2020) and appeared opposite Bryan Cranston on Showtime’s Your Honor (2020–2021). This year, he debuted as Bastian Cooper, a.k.a. Muse, on the Marvel series Daredevil: Born Again.

Doohan’s Tyler is one of Wednesday’s more complex characters. While the potential love interest for Wednesday was revealed to be the monstrous Hyde of season 1, it turned out he was being controlled by Christina Ricci’s Thornhill.

Doohan talked about some of his “conflicting sides” in a chat with EW, admitting that he still isn’t sure about Tyler’s real feelings for Wednesday.

“Maybe there’s an attraction there and, he probably wouldn’t admit it, but a respect for her, but he’s filled with so much anger and hatred toward her and her family and all of Nevermore because of what happened to his mom,” he said. “She was a Hyde and she died because Nevermore doesn’t accept them and won’t teach them how to control their powers, so I think Tyler’s filled with a lot of rage and that’s how he justifies his murdering spree.”

He continued, “But also, we played around with, like, the first time there’s a flashback to the transformation, I think Tyler’s terrified. But I read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde preparing for this, and it talks about how every time he transitions, it takes over a little bit more and it happens more often and the lines between the two get blurred, so I think that’s also happening. We’ve also never seen Tyler, now that Thornhill is dead, he doesn’t have a master anymore.”

Steve Buscemi as Barry Dort

Steve Buscemi won a Golden Globe for his leading turn as Nucky Thompson on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014), as well as an Emmy for 2016’s Park Bench with Steve Buscemi, but that doesn’t do justice to the breadth and originality of the actor, writer, and director’s work on TV and film.

As an actor, he’s worked with many of the most innovative filmmakers in the U.S., including Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction), Joel and Ethan Coen (Fargo, The Big Lebowski), Jim Jarmusch (Mystery Train, The Dead Don’t Die), and Abel Ferrara (King of New York), among many others.

You may also know him as Tony Blundetto on The Sopranos (2004–2006). and as Lenny Wosniak on 30 Rock (2007–2013).

Buscemi recently voiced Starscream in Transformers One (2024) and will next appear in new films from Taika Waititi and Martin McDonagh.

Following the, um, departure of Gwendoline Christie’s Principal Weems, Buscemi’s Barry Dort steps in as the school’s new principal.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Buscemi revealed he has scenes with all the members of The Addams Family.

“I’ve been a big fan of The Addams Family since I was a kid so it was surreal and very exciting. It was a really, really fun experience,” he told the outlet.

Joanna Lumley as Grandmama

Joanna Lumley is as much a personality as she is an actress, a former model who’s also worked as an activist, TV presenter, and author of several books. As an actress, Lumley has won two BAFTAs for her performance as Patsy Stone on the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous and a Tony for her turn in the 2010 Broadway revival of La Bête.

Lumley has worked with Burton twice previously, on James and the Giant Peach (1996) and Corpse Bride (2005).

A new addition to season 2, Lumley joins the Addams Family as Grandmama, the grandmother to Wednesday and Pugsley.

“She’s a whole different flavor of Addams that brings such delicious fun to the show and into the family,” Millar previously told EW while previewing the season. “We weren’t sure how many episodes that character should be in, but seeing how well it played, I think Grandmama will definitely be coming back if we get a season 3.”

Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo as Ritchie Santiago

Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo balances voice work in podcast series and video games with live-action roles in projects like Alex Garland’s Devs (2020) and the Netflix film Back in Action (2025).

Lewis-Nyawo played Ritchie Santiago, a deputy to Jamie McShane’s Sheriff Galpin in the Jericho Police Department, in season 1. Following the departure of McShane from the series, Lewis-Nyawo has been promoted to a series regular.

Billie Piper as Capri

English actress and singer Billie Piper is veteran of the screen, stage, and recording studio, having released two studio albums before limiting her focus to acting. She has numerous roles under her belt — including the series I Hate Suzie (2020–2022), which she co-created — but she’s best known for her work on Doctor Who.

For more than 30 episodes of the long-running sci-fi series, Piper played Rose Tyler, companion to Doctors played by Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant. In May, the Doctor Who fandom was shocked when Ncuti Gatwa announced his departure from the series with a video that appeared to tease Piper as the Sixteenth Doctor.

Piper is also a new addition to Nevermore Academy. Her Capri Isadora is a music teacher (and werewolf) who quickly develops an academic interest in Wednesday and Enid.

Thandiwe Newton as Dr. Fairburn

Thandiwe Newton counts a BAFTA and an Emmy on her mantle for her roles in the film Crash (2005) and the HBO series Westworld (2016–2022), respectively. The English actress initially found fame appearing opposite Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in Interview With a Vampire (1994), and went on to appear in films like Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), For Colored Girls (2010), and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).

Newton will next appear opposite Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Tom Gormican’s Anaconda sequel, which Black described to EW as “a lot funnier than the original.”

Newton joins Wednesday as Dr. Fairburn, the chief psychiatrist treating Tyler at the Willow Hill Psychiatric Facility.

Lady Gaga as Rosaline Rotwood

The versatile and endlessly captivating Lady Gaga is pop royalty, having won 14 Grammys, two Golden Globes, and an Academy Award, the latter for “Shallow,” the song she co-wrote and performed in A Star is Born (2018). Gaga also scored Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for her performance in the film.

EW broke the news that Gaga was joining Wednesday season 2 last year, though it wasn’t until May 2025 that Netflix revealed her character, Rosaline Rotwood, a “legendary Nevermore teacher who crosses paths with Wednesday.”