Jenna Ortega Almost Turned Down Wednesday Just to Avoid Falling for Tim Burton

Jenna Ortega nearly turned down Wednesday, but the Netflix hit launched her to superstardom and made her Hollywood’s newest breakout star.

Before Wednesday, Jenna Ortega was already making waves in Hollywood with a pretty impressive resume.

But once Netflix’s spooky sensation hit the screen, it launched her into superstardom.

Practically overnight, she became the internet’s new “It Girl,” and she hasn’t stepped off that pedestal since.

Thus, it is pretty wild to think that she almost turned the role down.

Ortega was super close to passing on the part that ended up defining a new chapter in her career.

Here is why!

Why Jenna Ortega almost turned down Wednesday!

In hindsight, it’s hard to imagine anyone but Jenna Ortega bringing Wednesday Addams to life in Netflix’s breakout hit Wednesday.

The series, which premiered in 2022, quickly became the platform’s no. 1, and propelled Ortega to stardom.

Jenna Ortega in and as Wednesday. | Credits: Netflix.

But as she recently revealed in her Summer 2025 cover story for Harper’s Bazaar, the role almost never happened.

She revealed,

I was getting to this point in my career where I was doing movies and getting in the rooms…so I kept telling everyone no.

I almost didn’t want to hear what Tim [Burton] had to say, and really like it, and feel like I needed to do it—which is kind of what happened.

To give more context, when she was offered the part, Ortega was in the midst of a very calculated career shift.

Having already gained recognition from early roles on Jane the Virgin and Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle, she was beginning to break away from her child-star image.

Her performances in HBO’s The Fallout and Netflix’s You marked a transition toward more mature, dramatic projects, and film, in particular, was where she saw her path leading her.

Concerned that a return to something like Wednesday might limit those opportunities, Ortega was initially reluctant to take on another long-term series commitment, even one backed by director Tim Burton.

However, the character and the potential of the project ultimately changed her mind.

That choice ended up changing her career.

Wednesday didn’t just become a global hit, it also helped make Ortega one of the most in-demand stars in Hollywood.

What made Jenna Ortega say yes!

It wasn’t the most conventional audition.

While filming the slasher film X in New Zealand, Jenna Ortega found herself in a Zoom meeting with Tim Burton, still wearing a prosthetic headpiece from a scene where her character had just been graphically killed.

Despite the gory get-up, that conversation would mark the beginning of a career-defining turn.

At the time, Ortega was unsure whether she wanted the role of Wednesday Addams.

Showrunner Tim Burton | Credits: Gage Skidmore, licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

But something shifted after that meeting.

Alone in her hotel room, Ortega found herself thinking about the character, imagining how she would move, how she would think.

She said,

I didn’t want Tim to have that be his last impression of me.

The next day, I was killing time in my hotel room and I found myself thinking about her—like, maybe she moves like this.

And then I realized, Oh, man, I think I’m stuck, because I really love this girl.

Moreover, she realised that though written for a 16-year-old, Ortega, who was 18 when production began, saw parts of herself in Wednesday’s humor and offbeat charm.

She realised she had to do it.

Tim Burton, who also directed the first season, saw it immediately.

For him, Ortega is Wednesday.

And the rest is history!

Wednesday Season 2 Part 1 is set to release on August 6, and Part 2 will follow soon after on September 3, 2025, only on Netflix.