How old is Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s Wednesday? In this article we look at the iconic character of the 90s movies and the new Netflix series, specifically focusing on Wednesday’s age in both productions.
Netflix has just launched its very own Addams Family spin-off series, focusing on the high school years of the quintessential Goth girl herself, Wednesday Addams. This updating for the modern era is a smart move from the streaming giants, allowing for all the usual supernatural antics the franchise is famous for, now with the added teenage element to draw in the masses. We get to see a different side to the macabre and sarcastic teen, as she meanders through all the usual adolescent predicaments, including love, friendship, and the act of outgrowing your parents. But just how old is Wednesday in the new Netflix series?
Who plays Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s Wednesday?
The series stars Jenna Ortega as the titular character, who you may have seen in the 2022 horror movies Scream and X, or from her appearances in Netflix’s other original series You as Ellie Alves, and Jane the Virgin, where she plays the 12-year-old Jane Villanueva. Ortega brings her own distinctive flair and personality to this latest adaptation of the Wednesday character. Her performance is surprisingly fragile, although she is still just as antagonistic and bitterly deadpan as ever.
Wednesday Addams was made famous by Christina Ricci in the nineties movies, The Addams Family and Addams Family Values. Her iconic portrayal made the character into a household name, with her contrast of cutesy innocence and venomous bite making for a scene-stealing performance. The Netflix series modernizes the role somewhat with a new actress and an entirely new interpretation, but it is hard to forget Ricci’s legendary portrayal, which laid the groundwork all those years ago.
How old is Wednesday in the movies?
Christina Ricci was only ten or eleven years old when she began filming on The Addams Family (1991). Her portrayal of Wednesday is therefore based on a much younger age bracket than the one used in the Netflix series for Ortega’s version. This worked well in the nineties movies, producing lots of comedy gold from its ironic setup. You had an angelic, adorable child spouting the most awful things, whilst talking about intelligent or nihilistic topics that made her appear wiser than her years. It’s a clever running gag that makes Ricci’s role so memorable.
In the sequel, Addams Family Values (1993), Wednesday is sent to Camp Chippewa with her brother Pugsley, where they get up to lots of eventful mischief. Ricci will have been around twelve or thirteen years old at the time of filming the second film, bringing her closer to Ortega’s age and providing her character with new opportunities. Her character spars with a fellow camp goer and she kisses a boy named Joel.
How old is Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s Wednesday?
The Netflix series updates this memorable role for the 21st century and pushes the little tearaway further into teenage territory. Wednesday Addams is portrayed by Jenna Ortega as a fifteen-year-old girl, working within that awkward age between immaturity and adulthood. Interestingly, Ortega herself was 20 years old when filming the series, but she fits the younger age just fine. In the opening installment, Wednesday is expelled from her high school and is swiftly shipped off to Nevermore Academy, a place for outcasts and supernatural beings. Here, Wednesday discovers that she has psychic abilities and tries to hone these skills further, whilst living as a student on campus during the day, an author by night, and a detective in her spare time — quite the busy schedule for a hormonal teen.
More Stories on Wednesday
- Is Netflix’s Wednesday a kids show?
- Is Netflix’s Wednesday an Addams Family sequel, reboot or a spin-off?
- Comparing the characters in The Addams Family films and Netflix’s Wednesday
- Who plays the mom in Netflix’s Wednesday?
- Who is Wednesday Addams brother?
- Who does Wednesday end up with in the Netflix series?
