Netflix have announced the casting details for season two of the smash-hit series Wednesday, based on the world of the Addams family. These casting updates have brought with them some surprising revelations about the actors returning to the show for the new series.
Much to the joy of fans, the show’s leading actor, Jenna Ortega, is due to return to the Wednesday Addams character. Her role in the project came under some doubt after Ortega recently left the popular animated series Jurassic World: Chaos Theory on Netflix. However, not all of the core cast for Wednesday are returning for the new series.
The casting news has confirmed that Percy Hynes White, who played Xavier Thorpe in the show, will not be appearing in season two of Wednesday. His absence leaves the show’s writers with a difficult task ahead of them, as he was one of the key players within the show, with the character arc of Thorpe setup to continue past the first series.
Specific details surrounding White’s departure from the show are, as of yet, unknown. However, it is likely that this news comes as a result of allegations against the actor, accused of sexual misconduct against numerous women that came to light early last year.
In a series of tweets, which have since been deleted, the actor was accused of supplying various women and young girls with alcohol, before assaulting them at parties he held. Following the social media posts, some fans of Wednesday began to call for his removal from the show, which may have been a contributing factor to his departure from the show ahead of its second series.
For his part, White denied these allegations, writing on Instagram, “Earlier this year, somebody I’ve never met started a campaign of misinformation about me online,” adding, “The rumours are false. […] These are the kind of baseless, harmful claims that can create mistrust toward victims”.
Numerous other stars will not be returning for the second series of Wednesday, including Jamie McShane and Naomi J Ogawa, however their characters were not as pivotal to the main storyline as Xavier Thorpe. The show’s creators are seemingly left with a choice whether to recast the character, or simply write him out of the show – either way, it is not an enviable task.
