Jenna Ortega on ‘Wednesday’ backlash: ‘I’m very opinionated’

Jenna Ortega has spoken out about the backlash to her “Wednesday” comments.

“I’m someone who is very opinionated,” Ortega, 20, said in a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter. 

“…I know what it’s like to be a people-pleaser in this industry, and I know how unhappy or how frustrating it’s been in the past. When I went into ‘Wednesday,’ I really put my foot down and made it clear that everything that I had to say mattered and was heard.”

Ortega, who starred as a version of Wednesday Addams in the Netflix hit “Wednesday,” (executive produced by Tim Burton) made waves in March for her controversial comments about her behavior on set. 

While appearing on the “Armchair Expert” podcast with Dax Shepard, 48, Ortega revealed that when she first signed onto the Golden Globe nominated show, which follows the gloomy Wednesday as she solves a mystery at her high school, she thought the tone would be darker. 

Once she realized it was more of a whimsical tone geared towards a teen audience, “I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down more on a set in a way that I had to on ‘Wednesday,’” she shared on the podcast. “Everything that Wednesday does, everything I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all.”

“There were times on that set where I even became almost unprofessional in a sense where I just started changing lines,” Ortega said. “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’d have to go and explain why I couldn’t go do certain things.”

This prompted a wave of criticism from Hollywood insiders. 

Veteran producer and filmmaker Steven DeKnight (“Spartacus”) blasted Ortega’s comments as “beyond entitled and toxic.” 

“In this business, it’s extremely bad form to throw your collaborators under a creative bus,” he stated. 

“She’s young, so maybe she doesn’t know any better (but she should),” he continued in a Twitter thread. “She should also ask herself how she would feel if the showrunners gave an interview and talked about how difficult she was and refused to perform the material.”

Ortega is no stranger to getting clap-backs on social media. After she was spotted puffing on a cigarette, her own mother posted on Instagram about the dangers of smoking.

Even after that wave of backlash in March, Ortega stands by those comments, in her Hollywood Reporter Comedy Actress Roundtable. 

“I’ve had experiences in TV where I felt my voice wasn’t heard, that I was meant to be a puppet,” she told the outlet. “I’ve been told on sets, ‘You wouldn’t know because you’re not a writer,’ or, ‘Just shut up and do your job.’ From 12 years old, I’ve been hearing things like that.

“I went into ‘Wednesday’ with hesitance. But I was fortunate to be working with someone like Tim Burton, who pulled me in his trailer one day and said that he wanted to be a soundboard for my voice.”

She revealed that she will also serve as a producer on the show’s second season. 

So, despite the widespread criticism about her “unprofessional” podcast interview, things are going well for her. 

“I feel really lucky to be able to be in the room early next season and be talking about scripts and giving notes,” she said.