Christina Ricci Reacts To Working With The New Wednesday On Addams Family Series
The former Wednesday Addams Christina Ricci reveals her thoughts about working with future Wednesday Addams Jenna Ortega.
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When it was announced that Christina Ricci would appear on the upcoming Netflix Addams Family show Wednesday, it caused the hearts of all 1990s former and current goths to beat a little faster. After all, Ricci had broken out to audiences with the Barry Sonnefeld-directed hit movies The Addams Family and Addams Family Values, before becoming an indie darling with movies like Buffalo ‘66 and The Ice Storm. Her return to the spookiest family around (you heard what we said, Munsters) was greeted with excitement, even if her role is still being kept under wraps. Christina Ricci spoke at the recent Pittsburgh Steel City Con and expressed her happiness at working with the new cast. Of new Wednesday Addams, Jenna Ortega, Ricci said:
It was great working with Tim, and Jenna is amazing. I think people are going to absolutely love her as Wednesday.
And she followed it up with praise for the rest of the cast, including Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie:
All the kids in it are really fantastic, so I think it’s gonna be great.
Wednesday is part of something of a continuing revival for The Addams Family. While the Christina Ricci-starring 1990s films were far and away the most successful installations of the franchise, the series has been in pop culture since the original publications of Charles Addams’ cartoons in The New Yorker in 1938. A live-action series in 1964 fleshed out the characterization of the family members (including the creepy, yet lovable vibe of Wednesday that Christina Ricci would later perfect); while it only lasted two seasons, it developed enough of a fan base to hang on in cultural memory. The Sonnenfeld films were unexpected blockbusters (and launched the best pinball machine in history). For many years, the franchise lay dormant except for the occasional direct-to-DVD movie. A CGI-animated cartoon film in 2019 was a surprising success and garnered a sequel. And now Netflix is getting in the game with Wednesday.
For many years, filmmaker Tim Burton has been circling The Addams Family intellectual property and it looks like this will finally be the marriage of his trademark pop-goth sensibilities and the original friendly gothic family. Having Christina Ricci on board is also a big get for the Netflix show; while fans were hoping that the former Wednesday Addams might be playing the family matriarch Morticia, that part is being played by Catherine Zeta-Jones. There is some speculation as to what character she might be playing, so we are going to lay our prediction down right now and say that Christina Ricci will be playing a future version of Wednesday that travels back in time through dark magic means and gives Jenna Ortega some terrifying but useful tips on how to kill her brother Pugsley. Prove us wrong, Netflix.
Wednesday is not the only Christina Ricci-related property to be revived recently. Reportedly, NBC’s streaming platform Peacock is developing a series doing one of those “dark reimaginings” of a beloved element of childhood. In this case, it is Casper, the 1995 adaptation of a comic starring a friendly dead child, Christina Ricci, and Bill Pullman. Apparently, it will be live-action, include elements of horror (makes sense with the ghosts and all), and be something like Riverdale, the sexy CW adaptation of Archie Comics. So get ready, because soon you may be hearing the words “Casper… got hot!”
