Today, Jenna Ortega is taking on the iconic role of Wednesday Addams in the new Netflix series Wednesday. As fans may know, however, the actress has already starred for the streamer a couple of times before.
Aside from playing Jennifer Garner’s daughter in the family film Yes Day, Ortega also previously starred in the Netflix crime drama series You. And with the show renewed for a fourth season, some fans are theorizing that Ortega can make a return.
Jenna Ortega Was Introduced As Ellie Alves In You Season 2
Back then, the actress was coming off her time with Disney and she was eager to break out of her child actor mold.
“My goal in acting was I never wanted to be pigeonholed into a certain character type. I am so appreciative of my Disney time, and I am so glad I got to do [Stuck in the Middle]. It changed my life,” Ortega explained.
“I just wanna do different things, and I felt like [Ellie on You] was a good role to really be seen in a different light and change people's perspective of me rather than just being this Disney princess. Plus, I am so in love with the writing, so it is superexciting [sic] for me to even be apart of something like that.”
In the series, Ellie is a teen who had to learn to grow up fast as she was forced to make ends meet on her own. She eventually turned to conning adults, including Penn Badgley’s Joe Goldberg.
With You being a huge hit during its first season, however, Ortega was also initially worried that she would fail to meet expectations.
“I remember when we did the first table read for the first script, I was so nervous. I was like, what if I go in there and I am terrible, and they just fire me on the spot? What if nobody enjoys it?,” the actress recalled.
“But after I did some reads with Penn, he looked at me and was like, 'You know what? I am so charmed by you.' Right when he said that, I could just feel my body relax at last, and I was like, alright, it is going to be cool.”
There Were Moments When She Was ‘Genuinely Scared’ While Shooting You
Aside from dealing with the pressure of joining a highly successful show during its sophomore season, Ortega also had to deal with acting opposite Badgley as a serial killer. Those were the moments that proved to be a bit more challenging for the actress.
“There were also times where we would be shooting scenes and I would genuinely get scared,” Ortega admitted.
“Because when he is in it, he gets this look in his eyes, and I don't think I've never seen someone play the line of supersweet [sic] guy but also serial killer so nicely. He could go from charming to like I need to get out of this room right away just with his facial expression, which is so hard to do, but he kills it every time.”
In between takes, however, everything was fine. “Penn actually told me, he said that some of his favorite scenes were the ones that he got to shoot with me because he finally felt like a human and not this disgusting representation of a man,” Ortega even said.
“Anytime he got to film with me, he said it was like relaxing for him because we have these nice, real organic moments.”
And after working on season 2, she immediately expressed interest in returning even if the show wasn’t even renewed for a third season at that time. “I hope Ellie comes back as even more of a badass than she already is,” the actress remarked.
What Has She Said About Returning To You For Season 4
It may have already been a few years since Ortega starred in You, but the actress is still willing to return and reprise Ellie.
“I love that set. The team behind it, the writers are so witty and so funny, and then also just to work with Penn Badgley again,” she once said in an interview. “I had such an incredible time there that if they would like to have me back, I’m more than happy to take a few digs at Joe again.
As it turns out, Ortega was already supposed to return during the third season, but she was just too busy to make it happen. “I almost did a bit more with the third season, but there were scheduling issues,” the actress confirmed.
So perhaps, there is hope that Ellie would come back for season four. That said, Ortega is not really sure about what Ellie up to right now.
“My hope for her is she would still be making movies and writing scripts,” she said. “I would hope that she films something that gets successful enough or puts her in a place that she wants to be.” More than likely, however, Ortega thinks that Ellie is still in Florida.
