Jenna Ortega plans to step away from television once “Wednesday” concludes its run.
The 24-year-old actress revealed her intentions during Thursday’s episode of Josh Horowitz’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, telling the host she expects to be “off the TV for a while” after wrapping the Netflix gothic hit. Ortega explained that she spent her childhood bouncing between series and now wants space for different opportunities.
“I actually haven’t had a lot of franchise conversations. I haven’t,” Ortega shared on the podcast. “But what I’m meant to do will come and find me.”
She continued, “I think after ‘Wednesday,’ I’ll probably be off the TV for a while.” The actress noted she’d already put in “many years doing that” and wanted to “leave time for new things.”
Ortega’s hesitation toward long-term franchise commitments already has precedent. She famously exited the “Scream” horror series after appearing in 2022’s “Scream” and 2023’s “Scream VI,” a decision she discussed in a 2025 interview with the Cut. The departure came after co-star Melissa Barrera was fired for expressing support for Palestine during the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, and after co-directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin opted not to return for 2026’s “Scream VII.”
“The Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart,” Ortega told the publication. “If ‘Scream VII’ wasn’t going to be with that team of directors and those people I fell in love with, then it didn’t seem like the right move for me in my career at the time.”
The actress has been candid about the psychological toll of growing up on set. Earlier this year, she told her “X” co-star Kid Cudi on his podcast that she nearly quit acting entirely before landing her role on the Netflix thriller “You.” She also confessed to going full days without eating or drinking water while working as a child performer.
“It just felt like a good time to call it quits if I was going to,” she shared on Cudi’s podcast.
Netflix’s “Wednesday” has dominated since its 2022 debut, earning four Emmys and an individual nomination for Ortega. The second season streamed in 2025, and production on Season 3 began this past February with new cast additions including Winona Ryder, Ortega’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” co-star, and Eva Green. Netflix announced in September that filming had “met its grave” and concluded, with the season set to drop in 2027.
Ortega returns alongside Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams, Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams, and Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams in the Tim Burton-directed series. Her career spans back to the early 2010s with roles in “Jane the Virgin,” “Stuck in the Middle,” “You,” and films including “Iron Man 3,” “The Fallout,” “X,” and this year’s “Death of a Unicorn.”
The actress first broke through as a child star on Disney Channel’s “Stuck in the Middle” before transitioning to darker, more adult material with “You” and her horror film work. Her “Wednesday” role as the deadpan, macabre-obsessed daughter of the famous fictional family has become her signature performance, spawning viral dance sequences and cementing her as a Gen Z icon.
Season 3 of “Wednesday” is scheduled to premiere on Netflix in 2027.