Wednesday casts Thandiwe Newton in highly-anticipated second season of the Netflix hit show

Wednesday showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have hired Emmy winner Thandiwe Newton to join the cast of the highly-anticipated second season of their hit Netflix show starring Jenna Ortega.

The British 51-year-old - whose best known for her role in HBO's Westworld - will play a mystery character, and production is expected to finally commence late April in Ireland - according to Variety.

Thandiwe's casting came a week after Emmy winner Steve Buscemi was selected to reportedly play the new principal of Hogwarts-like Nevermore Academy.

It's been a full 15 months since the streaming giant renewed Wednesday for season two, which was promptly delayed due to the writers' and actors' strikes that shut down Hollywood last year. 

The Addams Family spin-off scored 12 Emmy Award nominations last year - winning for main title theme music, contemporary makeup, contemporary costumes, and production design for a contemporary narrative program.

Wednesday showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have hired Emmy winner Thandiwe Newton to join the cast of the highly-anticipated second season of their hit Netflix show starring Jenna Ortega (pictured)

The British 51-year-old (pictured in 2022) - whose best known for her role in HBO's Westworld - will play a mystery character, and production is expected to commence late April in Ireland

Jenna Ortega won the best performance in a show popcorn trophy at the MTV Movie & TV Awards last May for her un-blinking portrayal of Wednesday Addams.

The first season scored a 73% critic approval rating (out of 102 reviews) and an impressive 85% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The coming-of-age comedy series about the deadpan, death-obsessed teenager broke records in December 2022 when it officially crossed the 1B hours viewed mark.

Tim Burton directed four of the eight episodes of Wednesday, which recruited the previous Wednesday Addams - Christina Ricci - to play dorm mother and botany teacher Laurel Gates.

The first season of Wednesday also featured Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, Emma Myers, Isaac Ordonez, Gwendoline Christie, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Fred Armisen.

The Addams Family was originally created by American cartoonist Charles Addams back in 1938.

It's unclear if Newton's voiceover character Mona will return for the upcoming eighth (and final) season of Netflix's animated sitcom Big Mouth.

In January, the Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget actress' lookalike 19-year-old daughter Nico Parker won the US Dramatic Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival for her breakthrough performance as Doris in Hulu movie Suncoast.

Thandiwe is also mother to 23-year-old daughter Ripley and 10-year-old son Booker from her 24-year marriage to Ticket to Paradise director Ol Parker, but they legally separated in 2022.

Newton is said to be dating 27-year-old Grammy-nominated rapper Elijah Dias, who's better known by his stage name 'Lonr.'

Thandiwe's casting came a week after Emmy winner Steve Buscemi (pictured December 11) was selected to reportedly play the new principal of Hogwarts-like Nevermore Academy

It's been a full 15 months since the streaming giant renewed Wednesday for season two, which was promptly delayed due to the writers' and actors' strikes that shut down Hollywood last year 

The Addams Family spin-off scored 12 Emmy Award nominations last year, winning four, and Jenna Ortega won best performance at the MTV Movie & TV Awards

The first season scored a 73% critic approval rating (out of 102 reviews) and an impressive 85% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes

The coming-of-age comedy series about the deadpan, death-obsessed teenager broke records in December 2022 when it officially crossed the 1B hours viewed mark 

Tim Burton (M) directed four of the eight episodes of Wednesday, which recruited the previous Wednesday Addams - Christina Ricci (R) - to play dorm mother and botany teacher Laurel Gates