Jenna Ortega tells Christina Ricci how she avoided rehashing her portrayal of Wednesday Addams
The latest interpretation of The Addams Family, starring Jenna Ortega as Wednesday, hits Netflix next month

At just 20 years old, Jenna Ortega has become one of today’s top scream queens, appearing in the new Scream, Foo Fighters flick Studio 666, and A24's X this year alone. Now, she’s about to be seen in a new corner of the horror world, joining the iconic Addams Family in Netflix’s Wednesday.
America’s preeminent goth family got its start as a New Yorker cartoon in 1938 and has been interpreted for the screen throughout the decades. Though recent animated movies boasted the star power of Oscar Isaac and Charlize Theron in the voice cast, it’s the pair of early ’90s films that have loomed the largest in popular culture. Ahead of the new series’ release, Interview Magazine facilitated a conversation between Ortega and Christina Ricci, who starred in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values. Of course, they talked about their experiences playing Wednesday.
“Honestly, it was more difficult than I was anticipating because everything that you did is so flawless,” Ortega tells Ricci.
With Tim Burton behind the camera for several episodes, Wednesday puts a fresh spin on the Addams Family by focusing on its title character, though of course there will be appearances by Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), Gomez (Luis Guzmán), and Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen). Ortega’s Wednesday is off to boarding school at the Nevermore Academy, where she gets caught up in a Nancy Drew-style mystery. In a meta casting, Ricci has a supporting role as the supervisor of the school’s dorm.