Considering how the show’s hero might behave, it would be wrong to say that anyone is excited for the second half of Wednesday Season 2, so let’s just say that fans will be somewhat interested to find out what happens. Following the dizzying success of the first eight episodes in 2022, Jenna Ortega’s second run as the character is such that it’s probably difficult for some viewers to remember a time when anyone else played the role—but they did.
Ortega herself has been nothing but respectful towards the performers who came before her, so let’s take a moment to do the same. Listed below, with consideration for lasting power and cultural significance, we’ve ranked every on-screen version of Wednesday Addams.
Honourable Mention: Karina Vadadi (2022-present)
Along with rejigging the character for a new generation, Wednesday actually brought in two stars to play the role. Jenna Ortega (more on her later) is obviously the star, but Karina Vadadi (who was nine years old during the shoot) did an admirable job playing the younger Wednesday in Chapters I and VI of the show.
Vadadi isn’t given a huge amount to do (hence the mention), but she brings the right kind of attitude—enough to suggest that Wednesday has been herself since the day she was born.
8. Noelle Von Sonn (1973)
The least well-known actor on this list is so obscure that you will struggle to find a clip of her online.
In 1973, Von Sonn played Wednesday on “The Addams Family Fun-House” for ABC, a musical variety show pilot written by Jack Riley and Liz Torres, who also starred as Gomez and Morticia, respectively. There is so little information available about this show, it’s practically impossible to say anything about Von Sonn’s performance, but the Lost Media Wiki page does have the only surviving promotional picture, in which Von Sonn looks agreeably emo—as nobody would have said at the time.
7. Cindy Henderson (1973)
The first cartoon version of The Addams Family started life as a crossover with Scooby-Doo. The first episode to feature them involved Scooby and the gang being asked to babysit Wednesday when their van breaks down outside the Addams’s house. This proved popular enough that the producers at the beloved Hanna-Barbera animation house decided to give the family their own show.
This incarnation of Wednesday hasn’t quite got the deadpan insolence we’ve come to expect from the character, but Cindy Henderson’s voicework was perfectly commendable. The actress continued to work in television after the show’s fondly remembered 16-episode run, appearing in series like Bewitched and The Brady Bunch. The show itself is probably only essential for Addams Family completists.
6. Chloë Grace Moretz (2019-2021)
The most recent animated Wednesday is 2019’s The Addams Family. She’s voiced by Chloë Grace Moretz, who broke out in the industry for her profanity-laden turn in Kick Ass when she was still just 12 years old. I have the feeling that, had anyone decided to reboot The Addams Family at that time, Moretz would have surely been first in line for the part.
As it happened, she had to wait until 2019 to play the character among a starry voice cast that included Finn Wolfhard as Pugsley, Snoop Dogg(!) as Cousin Itt and Oscar Isaac and Charlize Theron as Gomez and Morticia.
The movies weren’t a huge hit with critics, who bemoaned the lack of macabre fun that defined the show, but it was a big enough success at the box office to justify its relatively successful sequel. This one is probably best described as a Wednesday for younger audiences.
5. Nicole Fugere (1998-1999)
Coming in the wake of two iconic early ‘90s incarnations of the character was never going to be easy for Nicole Fugere, but the actress put her own spin on Wednesday for The Addams Family Reunion, a direct-to-video movie that spawned The New Addams Family TV show.
Fugere is as monotone and sarcastic as the best Wednesdays, but also brings a campy energy to the role—somewhat thanks to her big, arching eyebrows. That physical trait makes her a good match for the similarly-browed Tim Curry, who plays Gomez in the movie but, like every cast member except for Fugere, didn’t return for the show.
If you like slightly goofier versions of the characters (or you simply like Tim Curry in general), the movie is worth seeing, but the show is probably not so essential.
4. Debi Derryberry (1992-1993)
When Hanna-Barbera decided to revive (every pun intended) their animated show in 1992, they offered the role of Wednesday to Debi Derryberry, a voice actor who has since gone on to have a remarkable career. Across 350+ credits, Derryberry has worked consistently for Disney, PlayStation and Studio Ghibli, but is probably best known as the voice of Jimmy Neutron.
For this early ‘90s Gen-X era version, Derryberry’s Wednesday has all the requisite attitude that fans of the character have always loved. As she explains in this delightful video, her Wednesday is monotone and goth, as all good Wednesdays should be. With respect to the others, it’s probably the definitive animated version.
3. Jenna Ortega (2022-present)
It probably seems like the safest bet ever now, but surely not even the bean counters at Netflix could have imagined the immediate cultural impact that Wednesday would have in 2022.
As it turned out, former Disney star Jenna Ortega was an inspired choice for the role: the actress stays faithful to the character while bringing a different kind of energy, certainly enough to strike a chord with Gen-Z viewers.
Ortega’s Wednesday became one of the biggest sensations of 2020s TikTok thanks to an iconic dance sequence—which she allegedly performed while recovering from COVID-19. The actress has gone on to cement her place as a budding scream queen, with roles in Ty West’s excellent (again, all puns intended) X as well as two Scream movies and the Beetlejuice sequel.
2. Lisa Loring (1964-1966)
This was a close call next to Ortega (though one I think she might agree with), but it would be wrong not to give props to Lisa Loring for being the first screen incarnation of the character.
The Addams Family originated as a single-panel cartoon in the New Yorker magazine before being optioned by an ABC executive in the early ‘60s. The resulting show, simply titled The Addams Family, offered a different tone to the happy-go-lucky ‘60s sitcoms of the day and was an immediate and unlikely hit.
Watching clips of Loring now, it’s amazing how much of what she brought to the role still reverberates in more recent performances: the drab delivery, the straight-faced sadism, the cool indifference. It’s not necessary to revisit all 64 episodes, but “Wednesday Leaves Home,” the 25th of the second season, laid the foundations for future incarnations to build on.
1. Cristina Ricci (1991-1993)
This was really a no-brainer. Is it too much to say that Wednesday was the role Cristina Ricci was born to play? You could certainly make the argument—it’s been reported she even ad-libbed some of her most famous lines.
Ricci impressed opposite Cher and Winona Ryder in Mermaids in 1990, but director Barry Sonnenfeld presumably didn’t have to think too much before offering her the role opposite Anjelica Huston (Morticia), Raul Julia (Gomez) and Christopher Lloyd (Fester) in his 1991 reboot.
The first movie, The Addams Family, was generally liked by both critics and audiences at the time and is still widely appreciated today, but the sequel, Addams Family Values, especially Wednesday’s trip to Camp Chippewa, her rivalry with Cristine Baranski’s Becky Granger and Joel Glicker’s (a young David Krumholz) endearing attempts to woo her, is nothing short of iconic.
Addams Family Values is the essential Addams Family movie and features the essential Wednesday performance, hands (or hand—sorry, Thing) down.
