Lisa Loring played Wednesday in the 1960’s Addams Family TV show. Netflix’s Wednesday Season 2 may have a perfect way to pay homage to that.
Netflix’s Wednesday pleased a huge number of Addams Family fans with its sly update of the long-standing franchise. It works not only by centering the story on the family’s eldest daughter — a perennial fan favorite — but by honoring previous incarnations of the Addamses in both small and big ways. Foremost among them was the casting of Christina Ricci as Marilyn Thornhill, paying homage to her beloved turn as Wednesday in the two live-action Addams Family theatrical films.
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Ricci’s casting proved to be a hit, and while she’s unlikely to return for Wednesday Season 2, her presence is just too strong to be ignored. That provides an opportunity for another Wednesday actor to return in a similar fashion. Lisa Loring, who originated the role in The Addams Family television series in 1964, is now in her mid-60s. That age is ideal for playing a member of the clan as yet unseen on Wednesday: Grandmama Frump. Considering how well Ricci’s turn was received, the move makes all kinds of sense.
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Lisa Loring First Played Wednesday Addams at the Age of Six
Cartoonist Charles Addams — who created The Addams Family for The New Yorker — first gave his characters names for the television series. That gives Loring the singularity of bearing the name first. According to the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation, Addams originally described Wednesday as “a solemn child, prim in dress and, on the whole, pretty lost.” That translates into the actor’s performance on the show. Her Wednesday is strangely sweet, and despite her macabre activities such as raising spiders, she exhibits an openness that later versions of the character lack.
That changed with Ricci’s iconic performance in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values. She played Wednesday as a bloodless sociopath, which made her the darkest member of the entire clan — an impression that stuck. In Netflix’s Wednesday, Jenna Ortega pulls more from Ricci’s version of the character than Loring’s, which ironically opens the door for Grandmama Frump. Charles Addams described the eldest Addams family member as “foolishly good-natured,” which is far more in keeping with Loring’s take on Wednesday than later versions. Pairing the actor with the part becomes a lot easier to imagine after that.
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Wednesday Can Honor Loring the Same Way It Honored Ricci
One of the true strengths of Ricci’s appearance on Wednesday is that she plays a fully realized character. Far from a cameo, Marilyn Thornhill aka Laurel Gates plays a key role in the series. Ricci also plays this character without the need to remind anyone of her past in The Addams Family franchise. The same can hold true for Lisa Loring. Grandmama Frump has a reasonably slight shadow in previous versions of the franchise: largely relegated to cameos. That gives Wednesday a chance to expand and develop her character in ways no other production has thus far.
If show runners Miles Millar and Alfred Gough do introduce Grandmama Frump in Season 2, Loring is the ideal candidate. Not only is she suitable for the part, but she can give Grandmama Frump a connection to Wednesday that no other actor can match. The production can easily play up her link to the part without turning it into a glorified cameo. Like Ricci, it lets Wednesday honor the character’s past while still advancing its own story on its own terms.
Perhaps most importantly, Wednesday’s first season entailed Wednesday Addams discovering precognitive abilities — something she inherits from the other women in her family. (Grandmama Frump has alternated between being Gomez’s mother and Morticia’s, depending on the production.) The upcoming second season will doubtless expand upon that, and with the first season already delving into Morticia’s abilities, the stage is set to bring Grandmama Frump into the subplot. Doing so would allow both her and her granddaughter to continue to develop in new directions. With Loring in the part, it would keep it all properly in the family.
