Jenna Ortega and Christina Ricci: stars who shared the screen with others who previously played the same role

How would you feel stepping into the shoes of someone who has been strongly linked to a character their whole lives? Honoured? Worried? Ambitious? Now imagine being given the role only to find out that a certain predecessor would star alongside you.

Despite Wednesday Addams being known to portray no emotion, Jenna Ortega has admitted to feeling ‘intimidated’ as she took on the role of the young fiend in Tim Burton's re-imagined Netflix series, while her predecessor Christina Ricci was on set.

Ricci played Wednesday Addams in the Barry Sonnenfield 1991 movie ‘The Addams Family’ and has become synonymous with the deadpan daughter who has a love for all things wicked.

The 1991 ‘Wednesday’ now returns in Netflix’s spin-off show as Miss Marilyn Thornhill alongside You’s Ortega taking the titular role.

Ortega told Digital Spy: “Obviously it’s weird when I’ve grown up my entire life viewing [Christina Ricci] as Wednesday. So it’s a bit disorientating. I think it took me a couple of days to kind of loosen up and warm up around her.

“[But our Wednesdays] are very different. Which is interesting. Because I feel like a lot of the humour and a lot of the lines are similar….but they’re very different people. I hope that there’s not too much comparison going on, because it’s not necessary.”

Jenna and Christina are not the first co-stars to share the same screen and character, as People World dive into the world of predecessors returning:

Jenny Agutter and Railway Children

50 years after the Railway Children first premiered, the children return as adults in the 2022 sequel.

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Fans of the 1970 film will recognise the return to Oakworth station in West Yorkshire as well as a familiar face.

Jenny Agutter, who played Bobbie in the original movie, made tracks to reprise her role and felt nostalgic returning to both the character and the station.

She said: “It’s hard to describe exactly what that feels like because you’re taken back as though there is no time at all in between, and yet you realise you have had this whole life in between…the most nostalgic thing for me was actually watching the film and seeing the children and seeing how the film began and being on the station.”

Karen Gillan and Peter Capaldi in the TARDIS

Before Peter Capaldi starred as the 14th Doctor Who, the Scottish actor had a minor role in the series appearing in the 2008 episode ‘The Fires of Pompeii’ as Tennant held the title of ‘Doctor’.

Eagle-eyed TARDIS fans would also recognise fellow Scot Karen Gillan from the same 2008 episode, who too went on to get a promotion in the Doctor Who franchise, later taking on the role of Amy Pond.

Karen’s Amy was adjacent to Matt Smith’s Doctor Who in 2010, some two years after her minor appearance.

Donald Glover in Atlanta

Donald Glover may time-travel between music artist Childish Gambino and actor Donald, but the creator, star and showrunner of Atlanta has also scored himself several parts in the show.

Donald usually appears in the FX dramedy as Earn but took a step further in season two by starring as two characters - adding Teddy Perkins to his cast roster.

Teddy was an ethereal character mirroring Earn’s protagonist, which showcased Donald’s wide acting playbook.