Star actor Jenna Ortega has gone on the record about why she chose to change Wednesday dialogue that would have changed the Addams character.
Wednesday star Jenna Ortega has revealed that she needed to change some of her character’s dialogue. Wednesday, the recent reboot of The Addams Family, sets itself apart by focusing on Wednesday’s journey as a student in Nevermore Academy, a school for outcasts. While Wednesday gets to know werewolves, vampires, gorgons, and more supernatural creatures, she is also forced to solve a murder mystery while coping with the reality of life in a seriously atypical boarding school. Wednesday, who struggles with social relationships, has to learn to care about others, despite the fact that half of the school is plotting against her along the way.
With Wednesday being left to deal with school dances and typical high school drama, there are occasional moments where she has to comment on the reality of the situation. While that often meant insulting those around her, there are places where Ortega had to step in to correct the character before she could become too unrelatable. For Ortega and Christina Ricci, who both played Wednesday, the challenge of the character is balancing relatability. In a TikTok Q&A that Ortega ran, per ComicBook.com, she made went into detail about one line in particular that she pushed the producers to change. Check out her quote below:
I remember there’s a line where I’m talking about a dress, and initially she was supposed to say, ‘Oh, my God, I’m freaking out over a dress, I literally hate myself.’ And I was blown away because that sounded like — it was just a bunch of little things like that. I felt like we were able to avoid a lot of dialogue in an attempt to make her sound human.
Why Wednesday Addams Is Relatable
As much as Wednesday acts unlike like most teenagers, her attitude is still something that can make younger viewers to relate to her. Wednesday has many varied skills — many things that Ortega had to learn for Wednesday — including playing cello, speaking German, fencing, archery, and dancing. While they may seem very random, each gives a new opportunity for those with similar skills to reconsider their own similarities with Wednesday. The fact that she has such a wide range of interests also makes her feel like a more fully realized person, rather than a two-dimensional Goth teen that would be otherwise limited.
Her inability to relate to even other outcasts is something that many people can also relate to. Considering how many people struggled with social relationships in high school, the fact that Wednesday is a stand-out as an outcast makes her remarkably understandable to anyone watching. Even Ortega’s Wednesday dance shows off her personality, as it proves just how little Wednesday actually cares about the expectations of those around her. She is fully satisfied being herself, even when the whole of the world wishes to change her, and that can be incredibly fulfilling.
What’s Next For Wednesday Addams
While Netflix can occasionally be stingy about TV show renewals, another season is on the way — even if the official announcement is still to come. Wednesday‘s showrunners have three to four seasons planned, meaning that they won’t even need to change continuity to pull off Wednesday season 2. The showrunners have also discussed potential spin-offs surrounding the entire Addams family, and Wednesday would have a place in them all. With the extreme success of Wednesday, Tim Burton’s Addams Family universe is on its way to growing tremendously, meaning that Wednesday Addams will be on screens for years to come.
