Posted in: Netflix, Opinion, streaming, TV, TV | Tagged: addams family, Jenna Ortega, netflix, opinion, wednesday

Wednesday: Jenna Ortega Getting Grief for Being Honest Not a Good Look

There are a lot of key issues for writers to fight for during the strike. But taking shots at Wednesday star Jenna Ortega isn't one of them.

As we enter the fourth day of the WGA/AMPTP strike, it's pretty clear that the main issues at play have to deal with proper residual payments when it comes to streaming; proper copyright, financial & employment protection from the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for content creation… and throwing their poop at Jenna Ortega for being honest? Okay, maybe not everyone is on board with that last one – but the Wednesday star was in the spotlight in a pretty crappy way for a pretty crappy reason earlier this week. But for background, we need to take you back to March 2023, when Ortega was a guest on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast. Based on what Ortega had to share, it sounded like the vast majority of the Wednesday Addams that we saw on our screens had a lot to do with Ortega making changes on the fly without consulting the writing team and holding her ground when it came to what worked best for her character. Here are some of the key highlights from the interview:

"Wednesday" Didn't Start Out Dark: "When I read the entire series, I realized, 'Oh, this is for younger audiences.' 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 on Why She Needed to Be "Almost Unprofessional" at Times: "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.' 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.'"

Ortega Was "Protective" of Wednesday's Need for an "Emotional Arc": "I grew very, very protective of her. 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."

At the time, there were some writers who rumbled on social media about Ortega's comments – some having fun with them while others? Eh, not so much. But it kinda seemed to die down – well, at least in public. Flashing ahead about two months, we have the fine folks over at The Hollywood Reporter to thank for these social media examples of how some folks just won't let some things go – like Nick Adams (BoJack Horseman) and Karen Joseph Adcock (The Bear).

Except – where's the problem here? During an interview, Ortega was open & honest in expressing what her experience was like filming the first season – by all accounts, not an easy overseas experience for the actor. So far, I haven't read anyone going on record pushing back on her account of how the filming went. Was Ortega supposed to keep all of that a secret? Or are people pissed that Ortega "dared" step on some "sacred writing" – that Ortega should've "kept in her lane"? Whatever the reason, there's never anything to be gained by punching down or sideways – especially when WGA members need SAG-AFTRA's support come this summer. Maybe not getting pissy about fellow union members (at least in public) is the way to go, and maybe accept the fact that an actor can actually have a better understanding of a character than a writer can – and that's okay. Here's the complete episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard:

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