Jenna Ortega told costar Emma Myers ‘how beautiful and wonderful she was’ every morning while filming ‘Wednesday’: ‘I’ve never had that desire or urge for anybody else’
On the left: Jenna Ortega and Emma Myers in January 2023. On the right: Ortega and Myers as Wednesday and Enid on season one of “Wednesday.” Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Netflix; Vlad Cioplea/Netflix
Jenna Ortega said that she’s fond of her “Wednesday” costar Emma Myers and thinks about her often.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so protective of somebody,” Ortega said on the latest episode of the podcast “Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard,” released on Monday. “I think about her all the time. I only ever want to make sure she’s OK and good.”
“Wednesday,” which debuted on Netflix in November, stars Ortega as the titular Addams Family character, Wednesday Addams.
Upon being sent to attend Nevermore Academy, a school for outcasts, Wednesday gets paired to live with Enid Sinclair (Myers), a bubbly werewolf and foil to the main character’s dark, dead-pan demeanor.
Over the course of the first season, Wednesday warms up to her roommate and the pair become close friends.
On the podcast, Ortega said that she bonded with Myers and her “Wednesday” costars while filming the show in Romania and feeling isolated from her friends and family back home.
“We get along so naturally,” the “Scream” star said of Myers. “I’m so easily comfortable around her. I used to wake up every day in Romania and before I was even conscious, I would do voice memos and I would sing her a new song every day, talking about how beautiful and wonderful she was and how she was gonna have the best day ever. I’ve never had that desire or urge for anybody else.”
Ortega said she had a similar rapport with Percy Hynes White (Xavier Thorpe) and Georgia Farmer (Aja
“They would wait for me after I wrapped shooting to go for walks, or they would cook me dinner, or they would clean apartments,” she said. “We mothered each other, so whenever someone was busier, like going through something, we were there.”
“She’s a sweetheart,” Ortega added of Myers. “She’s a real person. All three of them are. Friends that I made there are kind of my only friends at the moment.”
Myers has also spoken about her off-camera relationship with Ortega in various interviews recently.
“Jenna is very much like Wednesday,” she told Variety in January. “But because I’m not much like Enid, we don’t have the same dynamic in real life — me poking at her constantly, her brushing me off. We get along so well, I love Jenna. She’s one of my closest friends. I think we have a different dynamic off-screen, but I still don’t think it’s any less important or deep or beautiful than Enid and Wednesday’s.”
And in an interview with Popternative, Myers gushed about Ortega being “a generous scene partner.'”
“Jenna is amazing to work with because for a character that’s so deadpan and monotone and really not supposed to be showing very much, you can read every emotion and every thought she has in her eyes. She gives you so much,” Myers said.
