How Christina Ricci Really Feels About Jenna Ortega

Christina Ricci is widely-known for her breakout role as Wednesday Addams in the 1991 film "The Addams Family." According to Bustle, the actor was just ten years old when she played the creepy eldest daughter of the Addams Family. Her performance in that movie has lived on for decades and the role changed her life. 

"Those movies have clearly had the biggest impact on my career and life," Rucci said during an interview with the A.V. Club (via Bustle). "I spent a lot of my childhood working on them and promoting them, and I've spent the rest of my life talking about them. They're huge in my history."

In February 2021, Netflix made a major announcement that it would be releasing a "Wednesday" series. The TV show pulled in producers from prior "Addams Family" films and is going to be directed by the legendary Tim Burton, who has previously collaborated with Ricci, per Teen Vogue. Per Deadline, Ricci was also set to appear in the "Wednesday" series. Die-hard fans were elated about the highly-anticipated show and wondered if Ricci would be reprising her iconic role. But it seems that the actor was happy to pass the torch to rising star Jenna Ortega. 

During an interview with People, Christina Ricci gushed about Jenna Ortega's involvement as Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series. "I saw some of the wardrobe photos before I went [to set] so I knew [what she looked like in character] and I was like, it's such a great modern take on Wednesday," she told the outlet. The "Yellowjackets" star also described the Ortega as "incredible" as she watched her closely during filming. "It's so true tonally to the heart and soul of [the original], but it's then it's incredibly modern and it's great," Ricci added.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Netflix did a grand reveal of Ortega as Wednesday Addams and viewers became excited about the rising actor's performance in the series. Unlike the past remakes, this particular spin-off will primarily focus on the life of Wednesday and will dig deeper into her as an individual, per DigitalSpy.

"She's already been played to perfection in the past so there's nothing I can do to better," Ortega told Extra. "I've really worked on not ripping anybody off and kind of creating my own thing." While the "You" actor is working on creating her own legacy with Wednesday, fans were also stoked to find out that Ricci was also going to be a series regular.

According to E! News, Christina Ricci was set to star in the series "Wednesday" but her role in the show was undisclosed at the time. The outlet reported that the "Distorted" star would a play a whole new character which, of course, had viewers at the edge of their seats. While it's unclear whether Ricci was cast at the inception of the series, her fans did create a petition calling for her involvement in "Wednesday," per Deadline. Either way, Ricci was just as excited to return to the franchise after more than three decades.

"It's super fun," she told People. "I loved working with Tim [Burton]. I worked with Gwendolyn Christie, it was amazing."  

 In other news, Catherine Zeta-Jones starred as Morticia, Victor Dorobantu was slated to play Thing, George Burcea was Lurch, Isaac Ordonez played Pugsley, and Luis Guzmán appeared as Gomez, per Elle.