Jenna Ortega Was Changing WEDNESDAY Scripts Without Telling Writers Because ‘They Didn’t Make Sense’

It seems that Jenna Ortega had such a crazy experience working on the first season of Tim Burtonfrom the Netflix series Wednesday. The show turned out to be great, but Ortega went through hell to make it happen. We’ve already read stories of how he cried hysterically, couldn’t sleep, and pulled his hair out from his grueling schedule.

She also previously spoke about the multiple directors who worked on the show, making her portrayal of Wednesday confusing and difficult by saying “everyone wanted different things from her.” She explained: “There have never been so many cooks in the kitchen. I was completely lost and confused. I generally have no problem using my voice, but when you’re in it, I just remember feeling defeated after the first month.

Now we’re learning from Ortega that during the production of the show, she also changed the scripts without telling the writers because they didn’t make sense to her character-wise. Speaking on the Armchair Expert podcast, she explained:

“When I read the whole series, I was like, ‘Oh, this is for a younger audience.’ When I first signed on to the show, I didn’t have all the scripts. I thought it would be much darker. It wasn’t… I didn’t know what the pitch was or what the score was going to sound like.

She then went on to talk about some of the things that didn’t make sense for her character saying and why she started turning things around and admits she almost became unprofessional in the process:

“I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my feet on the ground more on a set like I had to on Wednesday. Everything Wednesday does, everything I had to play, didn’t make any sense to her character. Her being in a love triangle? It didn’t make sense. There was a joke about a dress she has to wear to a school dance and she goes, “Oh my god, I love it.” Ugh, I can’t believe I said that. I literally hate myself.’ I had to say “No”. There were moments on that set where I became almost unprofessional in the sense that I just started to switch 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 should go explain why I couldn’t go and do certain things.

Thus, he has played a huge role in shaping the wonderful version of the character that we have seen in the series. She also wanted to make her character out of her and wasn’t interested in playing a version of the character that lacked any kind of growth. Ortega went on to say:

“I became very, very protective of her. You can’t lead a story and not have an emotional arc because then it’s boring and nobody likes you. When you’re little and you say very morbid and hurtful things, it’s funny and endearing. But then you become a teenager and it’s bad and you know it. There are fewer excuses.

She had previously explained: “I remember Tim not wanting me to have any expression or emotion. He wanted a flat surface, which I understand. It’s fun and great, except when you’re trying to push a storyline forward, and Wednesday is in every scene. There were a lot of battles like that because I felt like people didn’t always trust me when I was crafting my path in terms of, “Okay, this is his arc.” This is where he gets emotional.’”

Ortega went on quite an intense journey bringing the character of Wednesday to life, and all of his hard work and sacrifices paid off. That show is so damn good!