Jenna Ortega Changed Wednesday’s Scripts to Protect Character

Jenna Ortega burst into superstardom for her portrayal of Wednesday Addams on Netflix’s hit show Wednesday and recently revealed that in order to get things right, she wasn’t always following the script of the show.

During a recent episode of the “Armchair Expert” podcast, Ortega revealed that when she first signed on to the show, the scripts she received were significantly different then what she assumed the show would be.

“When I read the entire series, I realized, ‘Oh, this is for younger audiences,’” Ortega said (via Variety). “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.”

Ortega went on to say that she had to put her foot down several times while on set for the series and that there were plenty of times when things she was written to do “did not make sense for her character at all.” Ortega noted that there were times when she “became almost unprofessional” in a way.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down more on a set in a way that I had to on Wednesday,” said Ortega. “Everything that Wednesday does, everything I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all. Her being in a love triangle? It made no sense. There was a line about a dress she has to wear for a school dance and she says, ‘Oh my god I love it. Ugh, I can’t believe I said that. I literally hate myself.’ I had to go, ‘No.’ There were times on that set where I even became almost unprofessional in a sense where I just started changing lines. The script supervisor thought I was going with something and then I had to sit down with the writers, and they’d be like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ And I’d have to go and explain why I couldn’t go do certain things.”

The more filming went on, Ortega said, the more she became “protective” of the character, noting that she didn’t want to just play a character who was constantly morbid all of the time, because it would becoming boring to the audience.

“I grew very, very protective of her,” Ortega said. “You can’t lead a story and have no emotional arc because then it’s boring and nobody likes you. 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.”

To Ortega’s credit, the moves worked out, as Wednesday became a smash hit largely due to her portrayal of the character. Currently, a second season of the series is in production, although no definitive release date has been set yet.