For two seasons now, Wednesday has been one of the best shows to binge on Netflix, and with Season 3 on the way (likely next year, rather than on the 2026 TV schedule), it really feels like Jenna Ortega has captured the spirit of the titular Addams Family character — balancing both the creepy and the kooky! So I was a bit surprised to hear the actress talk about the big struggle she still has each season playing Wednesday Addams.
Jenna Ortega is obviously not the first actress to play Morticia and Gomez Addams’ daughter, but the current version of the goth character is a bit older than the portrayals that came before her — allowing Wednesday more autonomy as she navigates the life of a teenager at Nevermore Academy. Ortega told the AP she gave a lot of thought to how to honor the past while still moving the character’s story forward. She said:
I was so nervous. She’s been done so perfectly by both Lisa Loring and Christina Ricci. They are legends and had such different takes, and I wanted to be able to honor both of those performances while also aging Wednesday up. So it was a lot of calculation as to, OK well, when you’re dark and sardonic and say something in this kind of like dry attitude, it’s really funny and charming when it’s coming from an 8-year-old, but when you’re 16, and you’re older and you should know better, it’s really easy to come off as bratty or pretentious or this or that.
That’s a really interesting perspective, and she’s totally right. Kids may say the darndest things, but the same words in the mouth of a teenager aren’t going to be accepted in the same way.
Jenna Ortega seeks to offset that issue by injecting her character with a touch of whimsy. She continued:
So it was kind of weird trying to find where to add childlike humor and amazement, and it was really important to me that Wednesday’s never mean. She’s never bitter. Her interest in things comes from an honest place.
We see this a lot through Wednesday’s friendship with Enid (Emma Myers). Their characters definitely didn’t understand each other when they first became roommates, but it’s become more and more obvious over the first two seasons (streaming with a Netflix subscription) how much they care about each other.
Jenna Ortega toed that line a little more in Season 2 with Agnes’ friendship story, as well as in her conflicts with her mother Morticia and other Nevermore students and faculty. The Scream actress admitted that finding the right balance is still a daily struggle, even with 16 episodes under her belt. Ortega said:
I’ve been doing this character for so long now, but it’s still the same conversations when we get on set every day. Where we do a take and you go, ‘No, that was mean.’ Yeah, it’s a very fine line.
I appreciate that the actress puts so much thought and work into finding the right way to portray a teenage Wednesday Addams, and I can’t wait to see how she continues to grow in Wednesday Season 3.
