While Christina Ricci notably played Wednesday Addams in the two popular The Addams Family films in the 1990s, the Netflix series Wednesday passes the baton to Jenna Ortega, who takes on the lovable, spooky, and quirky role for the new series.
While Ricci had a role in Wednesday, bringing both actors together on set, Ortega claims she never sought Ricci’s guidance.
Ortega told MTV News (via Entertainment Weekly) that she wanted to make sure she wasn’t stealing Ricci’s take on the role, and that Ricci didn’t want to stand in the way of Ortega’s take on the character.
From comicbook.com:
“I think when [Ricci] was on set, neither of us said Wednesday once to each other,” Ortega said. “I don’t think she wanted to get in the way of my performance and feel like she was overbearing.”
She added, “I felt like I didn’t want to pull up something that she did 30 years ago. For the sake of my own benefit, but two, yeah, I didn’t want to rip her off and I didn’t want to be too much like her.”
Ortega also noted that while both her Wednesday and Ricci’s iconic version are based on the original Charles Addams’ cartoons, they are vastly different characters from one another.
