Christina Ricci has said she’s loved seeing Jenny Ortega taking over the role of Wednesday Addams and that the actress is ‘really doing the part justice’.
Back in 1991 Christina was cast as the daughter of Gomez and Morticia in The Addams Family movie, a role which she would go on to reprise in 1993’s Addams Family Values.
The character, a cold and emotionless (and at times totally twisted) teenager, has inspired the new Netflix series Wednesday, in which Jenny takes over the role.
Christina also stars in the show as botany teacher Marilyn Thornhill, who Wednesday meets when she is sent to Nevermore Academy, a school for outcasts.
While it might be understandable to feel a sense of attachment to the role, Christina said that she loved watching what Jenny brought to Wednesday and shrugged off comparisons.
‘That’s a natural inclination. But the “who was a better Wednesday?” thing is unreal,’ she said.
‘I loved being Wednesday,’ she told Elle.
‘I’m very proud of that role. I also think Jenna Ortega is amazing.
‘She is so brave, so cool, and really doing the part justice. Wednesday is her part now…[and] those two things can be true at the same time.’
She also added that Jenny was ‘truly incredible at making Wednesday a modern badass’.
Jenny had also previously said that the pair had avoided trading notes, partly because she didn’t want to ‘rip her off’
‘I think when [Christina] was on set, neither one of us said Wednesday once to each other,’ Jenny said.
‘I don’t think she wanted to get in the way of my performance and feel like she was overbearing.’
Directed by Tim Burton, the series sees Wednesday ends up at Nevermore after causing mischief at her previous school, where she unleashed piranhas on members of a water polo team who had been bullying her brother.
Since being released two weeks ago it’s already broken Netflix records, surpassing Stranger Things season 4 with the most hours viewed in the first week of release (341.2 million hours), and this week became the third-most watched English-language Netflix series in the history of the platform.
Wednesday is streaming on Netflix.
