Before Wednesday Season 2, Jenna Ortega expressed some remorse for controversial comments she made about the show’s writing in Season 1.
The Emmy-nominated actress reflected on the backlash she received after publicly stating that some of the storylines and dialogue conceived for Wednesday Addams “didn’t make sense.”
Speaking to Vanity FairOrtega admitted: “I probably could have used my words better to describe all of that. I think I’m often a rambling person. I think it was difficult because I felt like if I had represented the situation better, it probably would have been better received.”
She added: “Everything I said seemed so exaggerated… It seemed almost dystopian. I felt like a caricature of myself.”
Ortega was candid about her experience on the Netflix series, noting that she felt she had to make several changes to her character during filming without consulting the writers.
During an appearance on the Dax Shepard and Monica Padman show Expert in Armchairs In a 2023 podcast, Ortega said, “I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down on a set in a way like I had to do in Wednesday.”
“Everything Wednesday does, everything I had to play, it didn’t make any sense for her character. She was in a love triangle? It didn’t make any sense,” she explained. “There was a line about a dress she has to wear to a school dance and she’s like, ‘Oh my God, I love it. Ugh, I can’t believe I said that. I literally hate myself. ’ I had to say, ‘No. ’”
Ortega went on to say that he changed his lines regularly while filming.
“There were times on that set where I even became almost unprofessional, in a sense, and started changing lines. The script supervisor thought I was doing something and then I had to sit down with the writers and they were like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ And I had to go and explain why I couldn’t do certain things,” she said.
The 21-year-old actress will be back for season two, except this time she’ll have more creative input as a producer. Ortega has already shared that the show will take a darker direction and “lean more towards horror” and ditch the romantic storylines.
“We’re letting go of any romantic interest, which is really cool,” she said. “We’re going to be edgier, darker.” She added that as a producer, she started working with the writers earlier to prepare for Season 2.
“With a character like Wednesday, who is so beloved, I didn’t want to make a mistake,” Ortega said.
Wednesday will return to Netflix in 2025.
