Jenna Ortega has been on quite a hot streak in recent months. Not only is she about to reprise her role as Tara Carpenter in this March’s highly anticipated Scream 6, but she’s become a global superstar following her breakout performance as Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s newest original drama Wednesday.
Since releasing in November 2022, Wednesday has captured the hearts of millions of viewers across the globe. The show’s debut season has racked up over 1.24 billion streaming hours to become the third most-watched Netflix Original of all time, topped only by Squid Game season 1(1.65 billion hours streamed) and Stranger Things season 4 (1.35 billion hours streamed).
Not just has the show become one of Netflix’s most popular series, but it also helped to launch Ortega’s career into the stratosphere. She’s become one of the most-talked-about actresses in the world, gaining an astounding 26 million followers on Instagram alone following the release of the show.
It’s a role that has opened countless new doors for Ortega; however, it seems Wednesday also closed a few doors in the process including one that would have allowed Ortega to return to another Netflix hit series this spring.
Jenna Ortega is not in You season 4 but she almost was
Prior to her breakout role in Wednesday, Jenna Ortega won audiences over in the second season of Netflix’s psychological thriller You as Ellie Alves, the younger sister of Joe Goldberg’s new neighbor. Across the season, Ellie and Joe formed a unique connection as she helped show him the way of LA living and managing the world of social media.
After her sister is murdered by Joe’s girlfriend Love Quinn, Joe helps Ellie flee to Florida to start a new life before Love is able to frame Ellie for a crime she did not commit. While Ellie did not return for season 3, it was revealed Joe had still remained in touch which gave fans hope that she could perhaps return for a future season. As it now turns out, it seems the plan was to bring Ortega back for You season 4; however, Ortega was unable to return as planned due to her lead role in Wednesday.
In a new interview with IndieWire, You showrunner and co-creator Sera Gamble revealed the creative team had planned on bringing Ellie back in season 4. Sadly, they weren’t able to make it happen because Jenna was tied up working on Wednesday‘s first season.
“We wanted to bring Ellie back and we heard, ‘Oh, Jenna is doing some show,’” Gamble told IndieWire. “It’s been just such a pleasure to see Jenna this year. We have ideas for Ellie if her schedule allows her to visit us again.”
While the door seems to remain open for Ortega to return as Ellie in a future season, Ortega’s busy schedule might end up being too difficult to work around — especially with filming on Wednesday season 2 likely to take precedent over a possible role in You season 5 (assuming Netflix orders a fifth season).
Source: netflixlife.com