Jenna Ortega Nearly Turned Down Netflix's 'Wednesday' Series

Jenna Ortega kept things brutally honest when discussing ‘Wednesday,’ her Netflix series that tells the story of a young Wednesday Addams. Since the premiere of ‘Wednesday’ last November, the show quickly became Netflix’s second most-watched English-language series of all time.

Now, Ortega - who made her hosting debut on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live - revealed in a recent interview with The Times U.K. that she almost turned down playing the titular character of Netflix’s Addams Family spin-off to focus on films. Not only did Ortega not want the role of Wednesday Addams, but she turned down multiple offers to star in what later ended up becoming a breakthrough role.

“I got the email, passed on it,” Ortega said. “I had done so much TV in my life. All I’ve ever wanted to do is film… You have to prove yourself. It’s only in the last three or four years that I’ve been able to start going up for film. I was scared that by signing on to another television show it could prevent me from doing other jobs I really wanted and cared about.

In the end, Tim Burton was the reason Jenna Ortega took on the role of Wednesday. After meeting Burton, the director and executive producer of ‘Wednesday,’ Ortega found that she and Burton got along well with each other.

“The only reason I went back is because Tim [Burton] is such a legend, and we just happened to get along very well,” Ortega added. “But even then I said, ‘Ah, no - I think I’m okay,’ a couple [more] times.”

Ortega herself never expected ‘Wednesday’ to become a global phenomenon. “I thought it wasn’t going to be watched,” she said. “That it will be a nice little gem that someone finds, but [most people don’t].”

Not only did Ortega not expect Wednesday to be a global phenomenon, but she preferred that it hadn’t. When asked by the Times if “that would be preferable,” referring to the show being a small gem and not a massive hit, Ortega answered, “Yeah.”

As a former child star with a lead role in Stuck in the Middle, Ortega says work on the Disney Channel show was "crazy," which may have contributed to why she was afraid another series could keep her out of films.

“I used to do a Disney show when I was younger,” Ortega said. “I was a little bit of a public figure, used to get recognized, or whatever. When I look back, I think I was so out of place. I didn’t understand where I was, and you start to see Hollywood for the first time and it’s a bit intimidating, a bit off-putting. I didn’t really feel like myself. Then it started to slow down and I lived a pretty normal life… Until ‘Wednesday,’ until now, I think.”

Even after accepting the role of Wednesday, Ortega wasn't entirely on board with the script and structure of the show. During an appearance on the “Armchair Expert” podcast on March 6th, Ortega shared that she opposed a lot of the show’s dialogue and changed some of her lines while on set without telling the series’ writers because she felt “very, very protective” of her character.

“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,’” Ortega said. “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.’ And I had to go, ‘No, there’s no way.’”

Ortega continued, “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.”

In the end, the decision to make ‘Wednesday’ may help rather than hinder the actress’ film ambitions. By starring in such a successful Netflix series, Ortega is more likely to catch the eye of movie producers who want her in their films.

That’s not to say ‘Wednesday’ is the actress’s only claim to fame. Over the last several years, Ortega has earned her title as the screen’s current “scream queen” with her appearances in ‘Insidious: Chapter 2,’ ‘The Babysitter: Killer Queen,’ ‘American Carnage,’ season two of Netflix’s serial-killer series ‘You,’ and her most current release, ‘Scream VI,’ which premiered on March 10.

Following the strong viewership of Season 1, ‘Wednesday’ was officially renewed by Netflix for Season 2 on January 6th.