‘The Addams Family’: Who Played the Original Wednesday Addams?
Tim Burton’s Netflix series Wednesday has reignited the spark into the Addams family and the pop culture icon character Wednesday Addams. Jenna Ortega gets passed the pigtail torch, playing the macabre teen in the series. Christina Ricci was the last actor to play the live-action role in 1993 in Addams Family Values. But the original Wednesday Addams first came to life in the 1964 sitcom.
Lisa Loring played the original live-action Wednesday Addams in the black-and-white series
Before becoming the infamous goth family on the small and big screen, the Addams family first came to life as a series of cartoons for the New Yorker by Charles Addams. In 1964, The Addams Family became the first live-action sitcom about the family. For the first time, fans met the original Wednesday Addams as a young girl. Thus began the fascination with the famed character’s pigtails, black dress, and morbid personality.
Actor Lisa Loring played the original Wednesday Addams in the sitcom until 1966. Unlike the following versions, Loring’s rendition of the character was bizarre but had a much sweeter nature. Out of all the installments in the Addams family franchise, Loring played the youngest version on screen. The character became her most recognized work.
The Addams Family sitcom started with Carolyn Jones as Morticia and John Astin as Gomez Addams. Ken Weatherwax played Wednesday’s brother Pugsley. The sitcom lasted two seasons but gained pop culture notoriety thanks to the movie franchise and Ricci’s version of Wednesday.
Christina Ricci turned Wednesday Addams into a character fans could relate to
While Loring was the original Wednesday Addams, Ricci’s tween version of the character in The Addams Family movie skyrocketed to fame. Unlike Loring’s version, Ricci’s was slightly older but not hitting the level of a full-fledged teenager. But the actor embodied the role seamlessly and soon became the epitome of Wednesday Addams.
She first appeared as the macabre teen in 1991 alongside Anjelica Huston as Morticia and Raul Julia as Gomez Addams. The movie became the poster for the Addams family and all they stood for. Its growing cult classic popularity skyrocketed after its sequel installment, where Ricci reprised the role. Wednesday Addams is well known for her fascination with death, destruction, murder, and anything to do with the macabre. Fans who grew up with Ricci could not imagine another actor playing the character.
Ricci was the last live-action portrayal as Chloë Grace Moretz voiced the character in the 2019 animated movie The Addams Family and the sequel. But the macabre teen would soon grace the screen again with the help of Tim Burton behind the camera. Jenna Ortega plays the role of Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series Wednesday in a coming-of-age story.
Jenna Ortega did not discuss Christina Ricci’s Wednesday with the actor
Ortega had big shoes to fill when Netflix announced the Scream actor would star as the macabre teen. Not only did she have to add her spin to the character’s coming-of-age story, but be the following live-action portrayal following Ricci. Ortega admits the challenge of taking on the role and even lost her footing while filming Wednesday.
But the actor has been compared to Wednesday Addams her whole life and would bring to life an older and more complex character for the Netflix series. But Ricci was not too far away when Netflix announced she would join the series as Ms. Thornhill. Fans were over the moon knowing she would still be connected to the franchise, as she revealed the character had so much bearing in her life and career.
But to fans’ surprise, Ricci and Ortega did not discuss the character while working together. According to Collider, “I think when [Ricci] was on set, neither one of us said Wednesday once to each other. I don’t think she wanted to get in the way of my performance and feel like she was overbearing… 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, I didn’t want to rip her off and I didn’t want to be too much like her.”
Ortega’s Wednesday is a fresh new Latina take that fans will love or hate. But the actor did pay homage to the original Wednesday Addams, Lisa Loring, in her now-famous dance number for the series. In a tweet by Ortega, she revealed her inspirations. “Siouxsie Sioux, Bob Fosse’s Rich Man’s Frug, Lisa Loring, Lene Lovich, Denis Lavant, and archival footage of goths dancing in clubs in the ’80’s. Helped me out on this one,” tweeted the actor. Fans would recognize Loring’s iconic quick feet shuffle dance.
