The first season of Wednesday on Netflix was a massive hit that turned Jenna Ortega into an equally massive star overnight. Everything that Ortega said became a headline, especially when she said she had to “put her foot down” on the show and even changed some of the lines in the script. The words have been discussed as much as Season 2 of Wednesday itself, and now those writers who had their words allegedly changed are speaking out.
Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who wrote Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as well as Wednesday, have mostly stayed quiet since Jenna Ortega made the viral comments. As recently as last month the actress was asked about the comments and Ortega said she could have used her words better and called herself a “rambler”. Gough and Millar tell THR that they understand Ortega's position and hold no ill will. Gough said…
That’s hard. We’ve done a few of these shows, like Smallville, which was a big hit out of the gate. Suddenly, you have these young stars in the spotlight. They’re going to misstep. They’re going to say things. I think you just have to give them grace and know that it happens. It’s never pleasant, but it just comes with the territory. I think we’re at the point now where the internet’s going to do what the internet’s going to do. What you don’t want to do is give these things oxygen.
Ortega had spoken about changes she had made during Wednesday’s first season, saying that there were aspects of her character that she felt “made no sense” and that she would change lines in the script if she felt what was written wasn’t right. The comments got significant backlash from some writers and were also fodder for jokes during the SAG-AFTRA strike.
While not everybody was happy with what Jenna Ortega said, the writers of Wednesday whose work she allegedly changed don’t seem to mind. Miles Millar points out that Ortega is a producer on Wednesday Season 2 and he says the work between all of them has been very collaborative. He explained…
We work with Jenna very closely on the show. We obviously worked with her on Beetlejuice. It’s always an incredibly collaborative and joyful experience. We couldn’t be prouder of her work and we’ve embraced her as a producer on the show this year. She is one of the hardest working, most talented young actresses in the business, and we are very lucky and feel very proud that she’s working with us. So it is what it is. A show of this size and this scale is always going to have people chattering. But it’s not our reality or her reality.
Filmmaking is always a collaborative endeavor, and it certainly sounds like the star and writers of Wednesday are working well together. Hopefully, that will result in a Season 2 that is as successful as the first.
