Jenna Ortega keeps it brutally honest when she talks about “Wednesdays,” her hit Netflix series that ranks behind only “Stranger Things 4” as Netflix’s most-watched English-language series of all time. In a recent interview with The Times UK, Ortega revealed that she wasn’t desperate for the role of Wednesday Addams. He even turned down several offers to take on the role that would become his breakthrough.
“I got the email, I forwarded it,” Ortega said. “I have done so much television in my life. I have ever wanted to make a film… You have to prove yourself. It’s only in the last three or four years that I’ve gotten into movies. I was afraid that by signing on to another TV show, it might prevent me from doing other jobs that I really wanted and cared about.”
“The only reason I came back is because Tim (Burton, director and producer of ‘Wednesday’) is such a legend and we just happened to get along,” Ortega added. “But even then I said, ‘Ah, no – I think I’m fine’ a couple (several) times.”
Ortega never expected “Wednesday” to become such a global phenomenon. “I thought it wouldn’t be watched,” he said. “That it becomes a nice little gem that someone finds, but (most people don’t).”
When asked by the Times if it would be better, Ortega replied that the show was a little gem and not a big hit that everyone watched.
“I used to do a Disney show when I was younger,” Ortega said. “I was a bit of a public figure, used to getting recognition or whatever. Looking back, I think I was so misplaced. I didn’t understand where I was, and you start seeing Hollywood for the first time, and it’s a little scary, a little depressing. I felt like a people’s princess. I really didn’t feel like myself. Then it started to slow down and I lived a pretty normal life… ‘Until Wednesday’ I think until now.”
During an appearance on the “Armchair Expert” podcast earlier this month, Ortega revealed that she objected to much of Wednesday’s dialogue and changed her line on set without telling the show’s writers in advance.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down on the stage as much as I did on Wednesday,” Ortega said. “Everything Wednesday does, everything I had to play, didn’t make sense for his character at all. Is she in a love triangle? It didn’t make any sense. There was a line about the dress she had to wear to the school dance, and she goes, “Oh my God, I love it. Oh, I can’t believe I said that. I literally hate myself. I had to go ‘No.’
Ortega continued, “On that set, I even became almost unprofessional in that I just started changing lines. The script supervisor thought I was going to do something, and then I had to sit down with the writers and they were like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ I had to go and explain why I couldn’t go do certain things.”
Netflix has renewed “Wednesday” for season 2.