When Wednesday hit Netflix in November, it became an overnight hit. Within three weeks of release, the show, based on The Addams Family intellectual property, became the second-most watched English-language Netflix series. It has already received two award nominations, Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and also Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for the show’s star, Jenna Ortega.
In a new interview, the 20-year-old revealed that she is so deeply invested in her character and remaining faithful to her that she refused to say a simple line that was written in one of her scripts – and her fans love her for it.
In one of the show’s most iconic scenes that have been highly hyped around the world is Jenna’s dance solo to the tune of Goo Goo Much by The Cramps. In it, she wears an attention-grabbing black lace dress.
In a previous scene, Wednesday goes shopping with Thing. She spots the dress in a store window, and the show’s writers wanted her to say a certain line.
“I remember there’s a line where I’m talking about a dress and initially she was supposed to say: “Oh my God I’m freaking out over a dress, I literally hate myself,” Ortega said during a Netflix Q&A.
Jenna wasn’t too fond of the line because it didn’t seem like something her character would say. “And I was blown away because that sounded like… it was just a bunch of little things like that. I felt like we were able to avoid a lot of dialogue in an attempt to make her sound human,” she continued.
Her fans agreed. “They gotta let Jenna into the writers room for season 2,” a person on TikTok said about the clip. “Gotta give credits to actors who know their characters better than the writers sometimes. I’m glad they didn’t add this. I think her just staring at the dress in the window and Thing getting it for her was enough of a reaction,” another added.
Jenna has also discussed her viral dance scene and what inspired the choreography. “I watched videos of Siouxsie and the Banshees… I found archival footage of Goth kids dancing in clubs in the 80s… just anything that I could get my hands on. And then on the day, I thought, ‘Alright, well, I’m just gonna do it,'” she said in another interview.
“I paid homage to Lisa Loring, the first Wednesday Addams, I did a little bit of her shuffle that she does. And, of course, they cut out of camera when I did do it. But it’s there – I know it is,” she added.