JENNA ORTEGA became an overnight sensation after the release of Netflix’s Wednesday, which currently stands as the streamer’s second biggest English-language series of all time.
However, the road to bringing Wednesday Addams to life beyond the script required Ortega getting directly involved, which she has never done on a television or film set before.
Ortega said on a recent episode of the Armchair Expert podcast that many of the original Wednesday scripts made no sense to her from a character perspective.
“When I read the entire series, I realised, ‘Oh, this is for younger audiences,'” Ortega said.
“When I first signed onto the show, I didn’t have all the scripts. I thought it was going to be a lot darker. It wasn’t ... I didn’t know what the tone was, or what the score would sound like.”
She further explained that she had to put her foot down several times because “everything that Wednesday does did not make sense”, such as being in a love triangle.
Ortega further admitted that she became “almost unprofessional” on Wednesday’s set by changing lines, which led to the script supervisor and writers needing to sit down with her for an explanation.
Essentially, the actress wanted Wednesday to be more three-dimensional than how the character read on the page.
She didn’t want to play a Wednesday who lacked growth and was constantly monotonous, morbid and droll. For Ortega, that approach wasn’t going to work for a teenager.
“When you are little and say very morbid, offensive stuff, it’s funny and endearing. But then you become a teenager and it’s nasty and you know it. There’s less of an excuse.”
The changes made by Ortega clearly worked as her portrayal and characterisation of Wednesday garnered rave reception from fans and critics alike.
Most recently, Ortega won the award for Favorite Female TV Star and the show nabbed Favorite Family TV Show at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2023.
The show has also been renewed for a second season.
