Jenna Ortega Kept Turning Down WEDNESDAY Offers and She'd Prefer the Show Not Be Such a Big Hit

Jenna Ortega has no problems being brutally honest about her experience making Neflix’s Wednesday with director Tim Burton. She previously talked about how hard it was to make the project with its insane shooting schedule; how all the directors on the show with different visions of the character confused her, and how she was changing up the scripts without telling the writers.

Now she’s talking about how she never wanted to be in the show in the first place and that she kept turning down the offers to star in it. She was just done with TV and more interested in making movies. She explained in an interview with The Times U.K:

“I got the email, passed on it. I had done so much TV in my life. All I’ve ever wanted to do is film…You have to prove yourself. It’s only in the last three or four years that I’ve been able to start going up for film. I was scared that by signing on to another television show it could prevent me from doing other jobs I really wanted and cared about.”

She went on to explain that one of the only reasons that she decided to do it was because of Burton’s involvement. She explained:

“The only reason I went back is because Tim [Burton, director and executive producer of ‘Wednesday’] is such a legend, and we just happened to get along very well. But even then I said, ‘Ah, no — I think I’m OK,’ a couple [more] times.”

Then she says she never thought the series was going to be as big a hit as it became, saying: “I thought it wasn’t going to be watched. That it will be a nice little gem that someone finds, but [most people don’t].”

Boy, was she wrong! The series was such a massive success! But, she wishes that it wasn’t. She went on to agree that it “would be preferable” if the show wasn’t such a massive hit. You’d think she’d be happy about that! I’m sure that every other person on the show is happy to see the series become such a huge success! Maybe she’s just thinking that now she’s feeling trapped and is now going to be stuck in this show for several more seasons. She went in to say:

“I used to do a Disney show when I was younger. I was a little bit of a public figure, used to get recognized, or whatever. When I look back, I think I was so out of place. I didn’t understand where I was, and you start to see Hollywood for the first time and it’s a bit intimidating, a bit off-putting. I felt like I was a people’s princess. I didn’t really feel like myself. Then it started to slow down and I lived a pretty normal life….Until ‘Wednesday,’ until now, I think.”

I have no idea how many seasons we’re going to get out of Wednesday, but I’m looking forward to seeing the character’s story continue!