Jenna Ortega Calls Out “Patronizing” Part of Playing Wednesday Addams

Jenna Ortega doesn’t always want to give two snaps to her iconic role.

Ahead of the release of Wednesday’s second season on Netflix this summer, the 22-year-old admitted that she sometimes feels trapped playing the titular teen as she’s grown into adulthood.

“I’m doing a show I’m going to be doing for years where I play a schoolgirl,” Jenna told Harper’s Bazaar in an interview published May 28. “But I’m also a young woman.”

“It’s like how you’re dressed in the schoolgirl costume,” she continued. “There’s just something about it that’s very patronizing. Also, when you’re short, people are already physically looking down on you.”

Adding that boys can often “get away with more,” the Scream actress found herself grappling with the pressure of public expectations that formed after seeing her play such a youthful, yet quirky, character.

“But girls, if they don’t stay as this perfect image of how they were first introduced to you,” Jenna explained, “then it’s ‘Ah, something’s wrong. She’s changed. She sold her soul.’“