On January 28, just a few weeks shy of her 65th birthday, Lisa Loring passed away. She was the original actress responsible for bringing Wednesday Addams to life. In light of her passing, it has been observed how Jenna Ortega, who currently plays the morose child in Netflix’s Wednesday, paid homage to Loring in her performance.
At the age of just six, Loring played Wednesday from 1964 to 1966 in The Addams Family. She was one of the longer-surviving cast members of the original ABC series. Releasing on Netflix on November 23, 2022, Wednesday has brought the Addams Family franchise to a modern audience and has already been renewed for a second season.
Jenna Ortega took inspiration from the Wednesday who started it all, Lisa Loring
The Addams Family has been viewed in many forms; it started as a comic strip before making it to live action and has been imagined with 2D and 3D animation. After Loring, Christina Ricci took up the mantle for the Addams Family films The Addams Family and Addams Family Values, before Ortega introduced her version in Wednesday. But in addition to bringing her own unique interpretation and skills to the character, Ortega also took cues from the groundwork Loring laid out.
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After all, fans first saw Wednesday as a stationary, black-and-white drawing. Anything that happens beyond that would need to come from the imagination of an actor. So, it was Loring who gave Wednesday her deadpan and sarcastic way of speaking and moving around in her very first TV costume. It’s these exact treats that Ortega considered, taking inspiration from Wednesday’s origins with Loring and bringing them all into the 21st century.
Luring in viewers with Loring inspiration
If y'all watched Wednesday did y'all catch this little Easter egg? Was real quick. pic.twitter.com/uf3DCd59rP
— CrushCityLoop (@DosXXslangin) December 2, 2022
Indeed, much of Wednesday is a love letter to the famous earlier versions of The Addams Family. Think back to season 2 episode 29 when Wednesday teaches Lurch dance moves to help him have a chance with his love interest, warning that without them the object of his affections might “think he’s a square.” Among the moves that Wednesday teaches Lurch, one move is a fun, jaunty shuffle that sees her kick her feet and legs, swiveling her ankles all the while.
Wednesday has reintroduced that dance in a famous sequence that sees Ortega bust a move on the dance floor. More than that, Ortega even includes the shuffle that Loring first performed almost three decades ago. Check out the side-by-side in the Twitter post.
Check out Jenna Ortega’s version of the Wednesday Addams dance!
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