Jenna Ortega has revealed that she turned down the hit Wednesday role "a couple" of times before eventually accepting.
The 20-year-old actress took on the titular role in the Addams family spinoff series. The iconic character Wednesday Addams is the 13-year-old daughter of Gomez and Morticia Addams and the story follows her navigating the mysteries of Nevermore Academy.
The eight-episode Tim Burton show emerged as a huge hit on Netflix after its debut on November 23 and became the second-most-watched English-language show in the streaming service's history.
While Ortega quickly become a global star following the comedy horror, she has now shared that she initially wasn’t interested in the role.
In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, the Scream actress said she originally wanted to steer clear of the character because she starred in several TV shows, and wanted to focus on elevating her film catalog for now.
"I got the email and passed on it. I had done so much TV in my life, all I've ever wanted to do is film," she shared. "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."
Prior to the show, Ortega had starred in the horror movies Scream 5 and 6, and Insidious: Chapter 2. She said that said she was persuaded back to the Wednesday Addams role after meeting with the 64-year-old filmmaker behind so many dark classics.
"Tim [Burton] is such a legend, and we just happened to get along very well," she said, although she admitted that there was still some hesitation on her part. "But even then I said, 'Ah, no - I think I’m OK,' a couple [more] times."
After initially being hesitant, Jenna was soon all-in for the role and series.
In a recent appearance on the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast, the Fallout star disclosed to viewers that she "became almost unprofessional" on the popular series by getting involved with the script's writing because she felt "very protective" of her character.
"I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down on a set in the way that I had to on Wednesday because it’s so easy to fall into that category, especially with this type of show," she said. "Everything that she does, everything that I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all. Her being in a love triangle made no sense.
"There was a line about like, this dress that she has to wear for a school dance and she said, 'Oh, my God, I love it. Ugh, I can’t believe I said that. I literally hate myself.' And I had to go, 'No, there’s no way,'" she elaborated.
"There was times on that set where I even became almost unprofessional, in a sense, where I just started changing lines," Ortega explained, revealing that the script supervisor thought "that I was going with something".
"I would have to sit down with the writers and they would be like, 'Wait, what happened to the scene?' And I would have to go through and explain why I couldn't do certain things. I grew very very protective of her," she added.