One show that has made headlines after just one season on Netflix is Wednesday. The spooky Addams Family spinoff focuses on Wednesday Addams and her experience at Nevermore, a new school full of unique students. This all happens after Wednesday was expelled for standing up for Pugsly, her brother, who was heavily bullied by the boys’ water polo team. Wednesday dumped piranhas in their pool, and the rest was history.
Now, Ortega is shedding tears over a lost role.
Although there are a lot of oddities in Wednesday, the show is a coming-of-age story which features Wednesday, a 16-year-old girl, growing up, making friends, discovering love, and experiencing heartbreak.
While the show has the titular character of Wednesday played by Jenna Ortega at the centerfold, other cast mates include Gwendoline Christie, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Hunter Doohan, Percy Hynes White, Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Georgie Farmer, Naomi J. Ogawa, Christina Ricci, and Moosa Mostafa.
Season two has already been green lit; however, not all cast will be returning. A few months ago, it was shockingly revealed that Percy Hynes White who played Xavier Thorpe would not be back. The way that season 1 ended, we were able to see Wednesday and Xavier finally stop “hating” each other, as the two exchanged numbers before the school break. Throughout the season, Wednesday suspected Xavier to be a villain, and their arguments hinted at greater feelings, which the number exchange then confirmed.
For many watching, it appeared that Wednesday and Xavier were the long game, a “b” plot, if you will, in the Wednesday storyline when it comes to Wednesday’s love life. Percy ended up having some allegations surface, and although nothing was proven or at all confirmed, Netflix made the choice to remove the character from the Tim Burton series.
In the show, Wednesday is able to gain psychic abilities, much like her mother Morticia Addams possessed, which helps her solve a murder that has been facing the town of Jericho, Vermont for years.
Movie Web reported, “Officially, Wednesday is now the most popular English-language series of all time on Netflix. The feat is made more impressive when considering the show overtook Stranger Things 4, which had the edge with a longer runtime of 13 hours. Wednesday reportedly garnered 252.1 million views compared to 140.7 million views for Stranger Things 4.”
The popularity of Wednesday has even left Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos deciding that as soon as the SAG-AFTRA strike comes to an end, both Wednesday season 2 and Stranger Things season 5 will be the top priority for the streaming platform; this places the two shows above Squid Game, which is the highest viewed show Netflix has ever had.
The SAG-AFTRA strike has put Ortega in the spotlight due to the recent rule created by the union. The rule blocks actors from dressing as their character for Halloween. Town and Country Magazine shared the union’s statement, “SAG-AFTRA issued Halloween guidance in response to questions from content creators and members about how to support the strike during this festive season. This was meant to help them avoid promoting struck work, and it is the latest in a series of guidelines we have issued.”
The statement continues, “It does not apply to anyone’s kids. We are on strike for important reasons and have been for nearly 100 days. Our number one priority remains getting the studios back to the negotiating table so we can get a fair deal for our members, and finally put our industry back to work.”
This meant that Ortega was essentially “banned” from her character for the Halloween season and would not be able to dress as Wednesday in any way, unless she wanted to “scab”, which has been a highly negative term throughout the strike, associated with those who are not standing in solidarity with the unions demands.
Ortega began her acting journey with Disney in the sitcom Stuck in the Middle. Since then, the actress starred in the hit Netflix series YOU, led the Scream franchise in multiple movies, starred in X, another horror film, and now is filming with Burton once again in Beetlejuice 2, as she gears up to play the daughter of Lydia Deetz. The film did recently get some negative news, with a release date setback; however, many cannot wait to see Micheal Keaton return to his black and white suit in the new film.
Although her career is shaping up to be highly successful, it was not always that way. Ortega spoke out in a recent interview on what it was like to lose a role she really wanted.
“I was up for a role in a family adventure comedy, with two young actors who are huge stars. (…) I did a reading with the main actor, the chemistry seemed to be there. Despite everything, in the end, it didn’t happen. How I cried when I heard the news!… When I heard the news, I thought, there you go, another door slammed in my face.”
She did not disclose the film but did state, “I knew I could play more adult and serious roles when I was ready, and in fact I didn’t have to wait very long for the opportunity to present itself. (…) it is God who decides the right time.” Seeing as we are now in the future, it is obvious that things certainly worked out in Ortega’s favor.
Are you a fan of Jenna Ortega? Will you be watching Wednesday season 2?
