Jenna Ortega says she was “devastated” when she realised that committing to Wednesday would mean she couldn’t appear in the latest season of You.
The actor was believed to be returning to You for season four, however, her lead role in fellow Netflix show Wednesday meant she was effectively barred from getting on set. Filming the show during the pandemic meant that it wasn’t easy for Ortega to leave Romania, where the Addams family spin-off was being shot.
“I was devastated,” she said of the situation in a red-carpet chat with Entertainment Tonight. “You’re talking about Sarah Gamble, love her, easily one of my favourite sets that I’ve ever, ever been on.
“I was so devastated when they reached out because I miss Ellie and I had been wanting to go back to Ellie for such a long time. But, I was in Romania, shooting Wednesday. I couldn’t travel back and forth with the pandemic and everything like that.”
She added: “When you’re committed to a show, there was just no way it could have worked out. But that one, bummed me out.”
You’s showrunner Sera Gamble has also talked about Ortega’s absence, telling IndieWire: “We wanted to bring Ellie back and we heard, ‘Oh, Jenna is doing some show.’ 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.”
Preparing for Wednesday was no walk in the park for Ortega though. She recently spoke about the intense filming schedule for the Netflix series, revealing preparation for one sequence left her “hysterically crying”.
“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,” she explained (via Variety).
“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.’”