Tim Burton has addressed the controversy surrounding Jenna Ortega’s portrayal of Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s Wednesday. The hit show, based on The Addams Family, became hugely popular when it first premiered in November 2024, and Ortega’s involvement sparked some controversy from fans online.
With Season 2 set to premiere in August 2025, Wednesday has already been renewed for a third season, signaling continued success for the show.
In anticipation of the new season, Ortega and Burton sat down for a conversation about the series, and naturally, the backlash surrounding Ortega’s comments on Season 1 came up.
During a previous podcast interview, Ortega revealed that she had pushed back against some of the lines in Wednesday’s script, even going so far as to improvise certain moments.
This led to some criticism, with a few accusing the young actress of being disrespectful to the show’s writers and creators.
Reflecting on the situation, Ortega admitted she felt terrible for how things played out, explaining, “In no way did I mean to come across that way. I spend a lot of time in my head and I have all these different trains of thought, and all I needed to say was, ‘I improvise.’ Also, nobody, before, ever cared what I said. It was a good lesson.”
Ortega hit back at her critics, sharing that people will always find something to criticize you on.
She commented, “In this new media world, people will find one thing you say and that’s it. You can’t stop it. It’s like a virus.”
Meanwhile, Burton, who has been no stranger to media scrutiny himself, added that such situations often feel like a modern-day version of the Frankenstein villagers with torches and admitted he “felt bad” for the actress,
“I just felt bad for her because I know her, and I know the media, and I know what happened. I’ve had certain things happen to me where somebody tried to concoct some kind of story about me. This is why I don’t hardly talk to anybody.”
“Then it becomes like the villagers in Frankenstein. Mass hysteria. People with torches… And it’s upsetting because you can’t really do anything. It doesn’t matter if you retract it, or say, ‘I didn’t mean to say that.’ Nobody gives a sh*t,” The Frankenweenie director added.
Following the backlash, it’s been said that the new season of Wednesday will feature a subtle nod to Ortega’s controversy.
In one scene, Wednesday Addams receives a letter from an editor criticizing her for being “hard to work with” and ignoring feedback on a book she wrote.
While neither Ortega nor Burton confirmed that the scene was a direct reference to the media backlash, Burton hinted at its possible connection, saying, “It’s always fun to have life and art intermingling. I don’t know how meta it was for me. But I do think the great thing about the Wednesday character is she’s constantly making societal remarks and just kind of degrading the public. So I think that that was a funny bit to touch upon and acknowledge it.”
Fans can look forward to more of Wednesday when Season 2 drops its first part on August 6, 2025.
The second part will follow on September 3, 2025, with each part consisting of four episodes.