Jenna Ortega Almost Passed On Wednesday For A Very Silly Reason
Jenna Ortega almost passed on Wednesday because she did not want to get locked into a television role and potentially miss film jobs.
Starring in a Netflix global smash hit can catapult your career into superstardom; just ask Stranger Things stars Millie Bobby Brown, Noah Schapp, and Finn Wolfhard. However, it can also feel like a trap, which according to Deadline, Jenna Ortega felt about her new series, Wednesday. According to the publication, the actress nearly turned down the iconic role because she didn’t want to tie herself down and prevent herself from getting film roles, which is what she actually wants.
Jenna Ortega wasn’t new to the industry when she took on the titular role in the Netflix series Wednesday. Still, her self-choreographed dance in episode four went viral on TikTok, exploding her onto the world stage even outside the film/tv industry. But in an interview with UK Times, she revealed that she passed on the role multiple times, even telling Tim Burton she didn’t want to take the part because it would prevent her from being in films.
Filming a TV series can be quite time-consuming; not only does an actor have to spend time on set filming the series, but then they have to do press tours, then turn around and get started on the following season to keep it going. For Jenna Ortega, she was afraid that taking on Wednesday would keep her from being able to accept film roles she believed in and wanted to do, which is what she revealed had always been her goal in Hollywood. Fortunately for her and her fans, she has been able to give us some stellar performances.
Jenna Ortega may be setting herself up to be the newest Scream Queen in the business, having starred in horror franchises with James Wan when she appeared in Insidious Chapter 2, the newest installment in Wes Craven’s slasher series with last year’s Scream, and in the A24 low budget film X, which featured a prequel called Pearl. She has also appeared in other horror projects like the horror comedies Studio 666 and American Carnage, setting her up to be one of the go-to actors for Hollywood to cast if they want to elicit the horror lover’s attention. But Jenna Ortega isn’t even new to horror tv with Wednesday, as she appeared in a season of the stalker thriller series on Netflix, You, with Penn Badgley.
She isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, as the actress actually started in very different genres, appearing in Iron Man 3 as the Vice President’s daughter and multiple Disney Channel series such as Richie Rich and Stuck in the Middle. She then moved on to appear as a young Jane in Jane the Virgin and lent her voice to Elena of Avalor and Jurrasic World: Camp Cretaceous. Looking back at her career, Jenna Ortega had plenty of experience with tv that caused her to hesitate on Wednesday.
At the end of the day, adding legendary director/creator Tim Burton to her list of industry-defining horror creators like James Wan and Wes Craven couldn’t hurt her in any way. And while Jenna Ortega may have balked at the prospect of returning to tv with Wednesday, we are glad she changed her mind.
