Netflix’s Wednesday Star Jenna Ortega Reveals the Moment During Filming That Made Her Actually Start Crying

Wednesday was a fan-favorite new release on Netflix last year and the show has officially been renewed for a second season. The series was a new twist on The Addams Family and was helmed by legendary director Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Batman). The series starred Scream and X‘s Jenna Ortega in the titular role, which earned Best Actress nominations at the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and more. Recently, Ortega appeared on Hot Ones and talked about her time making the horror comedy. She was asked about working with magician Victor Dorobantu who provides the hand work for Wednesday’s trusty sidekick Thing. 

“Oh, it actually was that Thing operating room scene where they weren’t on him, but they were shooting my coverage and it’s the first and only time Wednesday cries,” Ortega shared. “And I went to reach my hand out to him and he pet my hand, he was like comforting me and I actually started crying … I restarted the line because it actually made me sad, and we just laughed and that was like a real bonding moment for Victor and I. 

She continued, “But kudos to him because they had him in all kinds of crazy positions, because like in a whole chroma key suit that they edit out later … The hands were there, but he’s physically there acting with you… there’s a blue man in the entire show and he’s just, they took him out, but I remember they would build all these set pieces for him so they did like a wild desk so he was sitting crunched in a desk or they built holes in the floor, but that was a real task. I would say and he killed it.”

What Struggles Did Jenna Ortega Face Making Wednesday?

Last month, Ortega took part in a Netflix-hosted Q&A panel in Hollywood (via Variety) and talked about the grueling production schedule in addition to taking cello and fencing lessons.

“It was show up to set two hours early, do that 12-14 hour day, then go home and then get on a Zoom and have whatever lesson that I had. Or show up to my apartment, my cello teacher was already waiting for me,” Ortega said. “It was just constantly going, and if you could on a weekend, if we weren’t shooting the sixth day that week, it was ‘All right, well then, we’ll get your lessons in on that day.’”

“I did not get any sleep. I pulled my hair out,” Ortega added. “There’s so many FaceTime calls that my dad answered of me hysterically crying.” The actor explained that she was worried about her cello performances in the show. “I didn’t know where my hands were even supposed to go and then I had to make two cellos come out of one cello, which was ridiculous.” She added that Burton reassured her by saying, “Oh, don’t worry, you’re going to do great. It’s gonna look great.”

Wednesday is available to stream on Netflix.