Wednesday Season 2 Lead Actor Quits Show Before Scenes Are Finished

Unfortunately, one of those A-list actors, Thora Birch (known for her role in the original Hocus Pocus) has needed to depart the set in Romania and return to the United States, thus leaving her scenes unfinished.

According to Deadline (via Independent), a representative for MGM said that Thora Birch left filming for Wednesday Season 2 due to “a personal matter” back home and “will not be returning to the production.”

Sources have better shed light on the Ghost World actress’s reason for dropping her character as it’s reported that Birch was tending to an illness in the family. While filming has been on hold for quite some time now, it is believed that Birch had “finished the bulk” of her scenes.

Like many other Hollywood productions, Wednesday Season 2 faced massive delays due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. With filming underway in Romania, the cast and crew had already gotten a lot of work done before sets around the world were shut down in July in accordance with the union’s rules.

That means that Birch and the rest of the Wednesday team have been sitting still for four months, waiting for an update on when they can get back.

As for Thora Birch’s departure, it could mean one of two things. On one hand, with most of her parts for Wednesday Season 2 done filming, she may still be involved in the production in the part of Wednesday’s dorm mother, Tamara Novak.

However, on the other hand, the production team may completely scrap Birch’s performance, opting for another actress to fill in the role, or completely wipe away the character altogether.

While the fate of Thora Birch’s role in Wednesday Season 2 may be up in the air for a while (as we presume nothing will be announced until the actors’ strike comes to an end), we do know the rest of the leading cast is set to reprise their roles.

That includes Jenna Ortega as the titular daughter of the Addams family, along with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán, who play Wednesday’s parents, Morticia and Gomez Addams, respectively.

While plot details for Season 2 of Wednesday are under wraps, in the premiere season of Netflix’s hit series, audiences were reintroduced to the character first made famous in live-action form by Christina Ricci.

The show centers on Wednesday Addams who has been expelled from her high school and sent to study at Nevermore Academy – a place where outcasts thrive. It’s here that she discovers that she has psychic powers and attempts to better understand them in order to solve a local murder. 

An immediate hit for the streamer, it was not surprising at all to learn that a sophomore installment was on its way. At this time, Wednesday Season 2 hasn’t set a release window but we expect to hear more when the SAG-AFTRA strike comes to an end.