Every Allegation Of Drama On The Set Of 'Wednesday' (2024)

What’s black and white and red all over? Jenna Ortega’s recent press coverage.

The emerging actress, whose meteoric rise comes courtesy of her breakout role in Netflix’s chart-topping Wednesday, has recently come under fire for her on-set antics, leading to the star being labelled as “entitled” and “toxic”.

Despite being the face of the cult-favourite series—which debuted as the third most-streamed show in Netflix’s history—new allegations have been flung at the 20-year-old, alleging the star’s behaviour on Wednesday was “unprofessional”.

But as any fan of the show would know, Jenna isn’t just on the receiving end of allegations about the toxicity of the show, she’s also directed claims herself, even going so far to reveal the gruelling filming schedule left her “hysterically crying”.

So, what actually went down on the set of Wednesday? And what does this mean about the future of season two?

Below, your comprehensive guide to all the drama around Jenna Ortega on the set of Wednesday season one.

Jenna Ortega Apparently Exposed The Show’s Cast And Crew To COVID During The Filming Of Wednesday’s Most Popular Scene

The first hint of on-set drama came from an innocuous interview with NME, in which Jenna revealed she filmed the dance scene while awaiting a positive COVID result. Yikes.

“It’s crazy because it was my first day with COVID so it was awful to film,” she told the publication.

“I never get sick and when I do it’s not very bad—I had the body aches,” she added.

“I felt like I’d been hit by a car and that a little goblin had been let loose in my throat and was scratching the walls of my oesophagus.

“They were giving me medicine between takes because we were waiting on the positive result.”

Of course, this naturally earned the ire of the internet given how serious the consequences are from being exposed to COVID.

Jenna Ortega Claims Wednesday’s Gruelling Filming Schedule Left Her Hysterical

Then, in February 2023, Jenna made headlines for calling out Wednesday’s gruelling filming schedule and the extensive demands placed on her for the role, which caused the actress physical and emotional distress.

“It was show up to set two hours early, do that 12-14 hour day, then go home and then get on a Zoom and have whatever lesson that I had,” the star explained at a Q&A hosted by the streaming giant.

Jenna explained that in order to achieve some of the show’s more demanding scenes—like the ‘Paint It Black’ cello montage—the star was required to take lessons, some of which even occurred after a 14 hour work day.

Jenna added that she’d show up to my apartment only to find her cello teacher waiting for her. “It was just constantly going, and if you could on a weekend, if we weren’t shooting the sixth day that week, it was ‘All right, well then, we’ll get your lessons in on that day’.”

While completing the eight-month shoot in Romania, Jenna revealed the conditions were so gruelling that she almost suffered a breakdown.

“I did not get any sleep. I pulled my hair out. There’s so many FaceTime calls that my dad answered of me hysterically crying.”

She didn’t blame anyone on the crew for those conditions, but added she put a lot of pressure on herself to ensure she delivered the best performance possible, even if it came at a cost.

Jenna Ortega Refused To Say Certain Lines During The Filming Of Wednesday

Speaking to actor Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast, Jenna revealed that she was borderline “unprofessional” for rejecting some lines that were written for her character, Wednesday.

She explained that she became “very protective” of Wednesday, and clapped back at writers who wanted to change or dilute parts of the character.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down on a set in the way that I had to on Wednesday because it’s so easy to fall into that category, especially with this type of show,” she said.

“Everything that she does, everything that I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all,” Jenna said alluding to the possibility of Wednesday being in a love triangle and taking part in a flash mod.

“Her being in a love triangle made no sense. There was a line about this dress that she has to wear for a school dance, and she says, ‘Oh, my god, I love it! I can’t believe I said that. I literally hate myself.’ And I had to go, ‘No, there’s no way’.”

She also said that the show’s iconic dance scene would’ve been very different originally if the show’s producers got their way.

“Initially, it was supposed to be a flash mob, and she was supposed to start dancing, and everyone was supposed to pick up on it and start dancing with her. And that, I vetoed because why would she be OK with that? I said, ‘Either cut it or have Wednesday knock someone out, and then it’s done’.”

Jenna also divulged that the character’s arc was going in a very different direction that she even started going off script.

“There were times on that set where I even became unprofessional, in a sense, where I just started changing lines,” she said.

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

Jenna Ortega Is Slammed By A Producer For Unprofessional Behaviour By Going Off Script

Following the revelations that Jenna adlibbed some of her lines, a producer, Steven DeKnight, took to Twitter to call her “entitled” and “toxic”. It’s worth noting that DeKnight isn’t associated with Wednesday, nor was present on set.

“She’s young, so maybe she doesn’t know any better (but she should). She should also ask herself how she would feel if the showrunners gave an interview and talked about how difficult she was and refused to perform the material,” DeKnight tweeted.

“This kind of statement is beyond entitled and toxic. I love her work, but life’s too short to deal with people like this in the business,” he also wrote on the platform.

Of course, this has led many people to conflate his tweets with the fact Jenna was acting bratty on set.

However, it seems that he is rather trying to highlight what it would be like from an actor’s perspective if a writer would go on a popular podcast and argue he changed all their work.

Nevertheless, this whole scenario reveals that the on-set environment of Wednesday was certainly not the best working conditions.