Wednesday Season 2 Drops Percy Hynes White From Cast
Season two is finally underway, so who's going to join Jenna Ortega, and who's leaving?
Wednesday is set to begin production on its long-awaited second season this week, and ahead of the start of principal photography, producers have revealed the full cast. In addition to some new faces joining the Addams Family spinoff this season, there are at least three characters -- Xavier Thorpe (Percy Hynes White), Yoko Tanaka (Naomi J. Ogawa), and Sheriff Galpin (Jamie McShane) -- that will no longer be series regulars. While those characters all made it out of the bloody first season in one piece, their stories seemingly won't be continuing, or at least will be significantly reduced in the second season.
According to Variety, only McShane is currently scheduled to reprise his role -- presumably to wrap up his season one story arc, which ended with the revelation that his son Tyler (Hunter Doohan) was the murderous monster known as the Hyde. Percy Hynes White's departure is likely the most surprising for viewers, since his character was seemingly being set up to have a bigger relationship with Wednesday going forward.
In 2023, online allegations of sexual abuse surfaced against Hynes White. The reports first emerged in January of last year, and within a few months, the actors publicly denied all charges, calling them "a campaign of misinformation" last June. By September, rumors were circulating that his character had been written out of the show.
Even before those rumors emerged, Ortega -- who is stepping into a producer role this season -- had said that Wednesday season 2 would be backing away from the love story to lean more into horror and macabre elements.
"We've decided we want to lean into the horror aspect of the show a little bit more," Ortega said. "Because it is so lighthearted, and a show like this with vampires and werewolves and superpowers, you don't want to take yourself too seriously."
Ogawa's character had the least to do in the first season, so it's little surprise she isn't returning as a regular -- although the Variety story kind of makes it sound like it was the actress's choice to move on, rather than waiting around to see if they found something for her to do.
Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, and Isaac Ordonez (who play Morticia, Gomez, and Puglsey Addams) will be promoted to series regulars, as will Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo, who played Deputy Sheriff Ritchie Santiago. Returning stars include Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Hunter Doohan, Victor Dorobantu, Moosa Mostafa, and Georgie Farmer. Fred Armisen will return, too, in spite of presumably being busy working on his own Uncle Fester spinoff.
The first season of Wednesday is streaming on Netflix.
