Class in session. Christina Ricci is not reprising her role as the morbid and sadistic Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s upcoming Wednesday, but she will play a teacher at Nevermore Academy, where Jenna Ortega’s version of the beloved character is enrolled.
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Earlier this month, it was officially revealed that Ricci would be playing Ms. Marilyn Thornhill in Tim Burton’s adaptation, which also stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzman, Gwendoline Christie and Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester. (Ricci’s Now and Then costar Thora Birch will appear in a few episodes too.)
“It was super fun. I was really excited to work with Tim again,” Ricci exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting her partnership with Stella & Chewy’s. “I was so excited also to work with Gwendoline. Jenna is so amazing and so good in this part and was so great to work with. And so it was really lovely.”
The eight-episode spinoff series was initially announced in February 2021. Ricci previously played Wednesday Addams in 1991’s The Addams Family opposite Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia and Christopher Lloyd and returned for its sequel, Addams Family Values, in 1993.
While audiences await Wednesday’s debut in November, Ricci has also been keeping busy filming Yellowjackets season 2. The Showtime drama became an overnight smash, recently earning seven Emmys nominations.
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“I mean there’s so many positives with both genres and a few negatives,” Ricci told Us of working in both television and film. “I like doing TV because you kind of get to spend a longer time with the character, and if you do like the character, then that’s fantastic and great. And then I do like movies as well because you do have this beginning and end and a really in-depth** understanding of who it is you’re playing. And so that’s sort of like a warm security blanket, but TV’s not like that. I’m right now growing and learning and changing and developing new muscles. And I do like that about TV that even at my age when I’ve been doing this for 35 years, it’s forcing me to grow and develop new skills.”
Ricci plays Misty in the psychological thriller, who reconnects with her former high school peers who (un)luckily survived a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness while heading to a soccer tournament years prior. For the Casper star, she’s most drawn to roles that she’s never come across before.
“I usually concentrate on the character that I’ll be playing when I’m just being hired as an actor. So for me, what I’m looking at is is the character something I haven’t seen before? Will I be getting to grow as an actor? I just always want to do things that I feel are original and unexplored in some way,” she explained. “I mean, obviously almost every aspect of human nature has been explored at this point by art, but you know, there are tiny little differences that can be made to make something new.”
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The show also pairs Ricci with fellow ‘90s actor Juliette Lewis and features Melanie Lynskey and Tawney Cypress rounding out the powerhouse adult cast. Looking back at her career beginnings, Ricci’s advice to her younger self would be: “To just keep concentrating on the things that I do or that I did. … I would tell her to keep sort of leaning into cultivating what she does that’s special that other people don’t do.”
When not on screen, the Lizzie Borden Chronicles alum is also a “big animal lover.” She recently partnered with Stella & Chewy’s for the brand’s “All You Need Is Raw” campaign.
She and her husband, Mark Hampton, have a full house. In addition to 8-year-old son Freddie and daughter Cleopatra, 9 months, they have three dogs — Logan, Patrick and Karen Carpenter.
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“I love all kinds of animals really, but I’ve always had cats and dogs and my main dog, Karen, who I always say is my first baby, I got her when I was 29 and she traveled the world with me and is still with me,” Ricci told Us. “As she got older, I was really interested in making sure that I sort of helped her with really good nutrition that would keep her comfortable and alive for as long as possible. And so I did some research, looked into things, and I found Stella & Chewy and I started feeding her and my other dogs Stella & Chewy. Karen is an old dog now. She seems very active and energized and my younger dogs — their coats are better and they seem healthier and they love the food. So I was excited to partner with them and support this campaign because I really feel very passionately about the product and what it’s done for my animals.”
Ricci sadly lost her cat a few months ago, but she still plans to expand. She gushed: “We are in the process of fostering, of adopting two kittens. So soon there will be five animals in this house.”
