Jenna Ortega may already play the title role in Wednesday, but in Season 2, shell be taking even more ownership of the project. The 20-year-old star has been elevated to a producing role on the smash hit Netflix series, and during a conversation with Elle Fanning for Varietys Actors on Actors, she revealed some of her biggest priorities for the next installation.
Weve decided we want to lean into the horror aspect of the show a little bit more, Ortega told Fanning. Because it is so lighthearted, and a show like this with vampires and werewolves and superpowers, you dont want to take yourself too seriously.
Were ditching any romantic love interest for Wednesday, which is really great, she added, referring to the Season 1 storyline that saw Wednesday in a love triangle between Tyler Galpin (Hunter Doohan) and Xavier Thorpe (Percy Hynes White). In the past, Ortega has commented that the plot made no sense for her character.
Though Ortega is a first-time TV producer, she says that the move was a natural progression from the workplace environment on Season 1.
We had already been throwing out so many ideas, and Im somebody whos very hands on. I want to know whats going on, she said. And with a character like Wednesday, who is so beloved and such a legend, I just really didnt want to get her wrong. So I try to have as many conversations as possible. On set, with the writers and Tim [Burton], we all would get together and decide, Okay, what works and what doesnt? It was naturally already very collaborative.
So in preparation for a second season, we wanted to get ahead of the curve and make sure that we could start the conversations earlier, she continued. And Im just so curious. I want to see the outfits, new characters that are coming in, scripts, and they were gracious enough to let me put the producer hat on.
In their conversation, Ortega and Fanning discussed how growing up as child actors made it difficult to learn how to assert themselves on set.
Someone like Wednesday forced me out of my shell in that sense, Ortega said. Being a young woman in the industry, sometimes people dont take you as seriously or as open to the conversations before. Ive had insane conversations with people in terms of I just stay in my place, and I dont know because Im not this or that, or Im just an actor. You become a puppet. But the most beautiful experiences that Ive had on a job, or the jobs that Im most proud of, have always been the ones where everyones voice is heard. Everyone pitches in.