Addams Family star Christina Ricci shares reaction to Jenna Ortega's Wednesday look

"It's true to the spirit of the character."

By Dan Seddon

22 Oct 2022

The Addams Family star Christina Ricci has some thoughts on Jenna Ortega's incarnation of Wednesday Addams, a character she played across two movies as a kid.

Ortega, who's previously appeared in Netflix drama You as Ellie Alves, returns to the streamer next month as the lead of Wednesday, an Addams Family TV spinoff (co-created by Tim Burton) also featuring Ricci as Marylin Thornhill.

The new show follows a teenage Wednesday at Nevermore Academy, a boarding school where she spends her free time investigating odd local murders and navigating the relationships with her 'all together ooky' family.

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For Interview Magazine, the two stars recently got together to discuss the show's approach to Wednesday.

Ricci said of Ortega's look: "There are a lot of nice goth nods without it being over-the-top. When I saw pictures of you, I was like, 'Oh, wow. It's such a great, modern interpretation.' It's true to the spirit of the character.

"I didn't originate this character, so I'm always like, 'She's a cartoon and a TV show. It's not Shakespeare, but it's the same idea. We keep redoing the thing.' And you wear pants.

"I was like, 'Oh, my God. The pants were so good.' And you wear creepers."

moosa mostafa, jenna ortega, naomi j ogawa, joy sunday, wednesday

Netflix

Ortega also recalled seeing The Addams Family movies for the first time, which were directed by Barry Sonnenfeld in the early 1990s.

"I first saw the '90s films when I was eight or nine and loved them," she recalled. "I could watch them over and over. They're perfect films, honestly.

"You don't always see it, but I have a very dry sense of humour to the point where I get myself in trouble because everyone thinks I'm serious.

"So I've gotten the comparison to Wednesday a lot, and to me that was the greatest honour, especially because after that I became obsessed with Wednesday."

Wednesday has a November 23 release date on Netflix.