Christina Ricci and Uncle Fester were missing from Wednesday’s trailer, suggesting their roles could have a shocking connection in The Addams Family TV show. Netflix’s first trailer for Tim Burton’s Wednesday showed Jenna Ortega brilliantly tackling the teenage version of the murder-obsessed Wednesday Addams. The character was notably the breakout role for actress Christina Ricci, whose portrayal of Wednesday Addams has become an iconic piece of ‘90s pop culture.
While some had hoped for Ricci to reprise her role as an adult Wednesday or even portray Morticia, Tim Burton recruited the actress to star in a so-far undisclosed role on his Addams Family series. Wednesday’s trailer gave a first look at Burton’s take on the classic Addams Family in action, which included Jenna Ortega in the title role, Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia, Luis Guzmán as Gomez, Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley, and George Burcea as Lurch. Some of the new characters featured in Netflix’s Wednesday series include Larissa Weems (Gwendoline Christie), Dr. Valerie Kinbott (Riki Lindhome), Tyler Galpin (Hunter Doohan), Xavier Thorpe (Percy Hynes White), and Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers).
Considering the casting for Uncle Fester and the role of Christina Ricci are being kept under wraps, the two secrets may, in fact, be related. The fact that Ricci would be joining Wednesday was already a highly anticipated reveal for the new series, so it was disappointing to see her missing from the trailer. At the same time, fans noticed that Uncle Fester (played by Christopher Lloyd in the 1990s Addams Family duology) was also absent from Wednesday’s trailer and promotional materials. Intriguingly, it’s now been revealed (via Vanity Fair) that Uncle Fester’s role in the show and casting will remain a mystery until Tim Burton’s Wednesday premieres this fall. With such built-up anticipation for the truth of Uncle Fester’s part, one of the few casting measures that could make sense for so much secrecy would be that Christina Ricci’s new mysterious role is actually a replacement for the Addams Family uncle.
Why Christina Ricci Replacing Uncle Fester In Wednesday Makes Sense
Christina Ricci has been cast as a series regular in Wednesday, which is a pretty sizable role to leave out of the trailers. Uncle Fester’s role being left undisclosed also coincides with Wednesday’s synopsis stating that she’ll be helping solve a supernatural mystery that embroiled the Addams family 25 years ago. Perhaps not a coincidence, Uncle Fester was the subject of a massive mystery in Christina Ricci’s 1991 Addams Family movie, as he was believed to have been lost in the Bermuda Triangle 25 years before. With Wednesday teasing such an important and mysterious plotline, it would make sense for Ricci’s secret character to play a part in this side of the story that also happens to reflect a familiar Uncle Fester twist.
While Christina Ricci portraying Uncle Fester (or a similar replacement for the role) would mean a big twist for the character in Wednesday, it would be a fitting way to maintain the actress as an integral part of Burton’s Addams Family creation. Since Morticia Addams has been teased to play a more significant role than Gomez, Ricci’s Uncle Fester could turn out to be a long-lost sister of Catherine Zeta-Jones’ Wednesday character, thus flipping their positions from the 1991 movie’s mystery. Since there’s also a murder spree of the locals happening in Wednesday’s town, Christina Ricci’s secret role may have a more sinister connection to Tim Burton’s new Addams family.
