Netflix ‘Wednesday’: Jenna Ortega reveals she was a 'massive scaredy-cat'

Jenna Ortega stars as the titular character in Netflix’s new thriller series, Wednesday.

The new live-action version, directed by Tim Burton, is a spin-off Sonenfeld-directed franchise in the ’90s and The Addams Family and the 1993 sequel Addams Family Values.

Ortega essays the teenage version of Wednesday as she steps outside of the Addams family bunch and enrols at the Nevermore Academy. The actress, 20, revealed that her Wednesday “won’t let anyone get in her way.”

However, contrary to character in the Netflix series, Ortega, 20, revealed in an interview with New York Times that she was actually a “massive scaredy-cat." The actress also shared that she slept with the lights on until she was a teenager.

Despite her fears, according to NYT, Ortega has previously essayed many frighteningly daring roles. the outlet stated that she has “been locked in a basement with a corpse in X. She has shot a serial killer to death in Scream. She has shredded a satanic cult member with a boat propeller in The Babysitter: Killer Queen.”

“My Wednesday has this concealed confidence,” Ortega said in the interview. “She’s on a mission, and she won’t let anyone get in her way.”

On taking up the mantle, Oretga wasn't as confident as Wednesday. “I definitely had hesitations about doing it,” she said of the Netflix series. “I’d already been there and done that with teen shows,” she added, and there was the added pressure of taking on her first role from a known franchise.

However, the actress shared maintained that it’s not every role that requires you to immerse yourself in learning a half-dozen new skills, including fencing, canoeing, archery, German and twice-weekly cello lessons, per NYT.

“I was pulling my hair out over that one,” she said. “Everyone in my close circle knows what that cello did to me.”

Ortega said it was impossible, though, to completely overlook the pressure of stepping into a role immortalised by Ricci, who plays a newly created character in the series, that of the most “normal” teacher at the school.

“With a character that iconic, you want to do her justice,” Ortega said.

Is she worried she’ll be pigeonholed as a horror queen, especially after Wednesday? “A little,” she said. But she still finds it hard to turn down a horror script.

“Horror is very therapeutic,” she said. “You’re screaming bloody murder — you don’t get the chance to do that in your everyday life — so it’s a way to excavate all the unnecessary, pent-up stress.”