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Jenna Ortega explains why Wednesday Addams doesn't blink in the Netflix show

29 November 2022, 12:39 | Updated: 19 April 2024, 09:48

Jenna Ortega and Wednesday cast react to her dance scene

By Katie Louise Smith

Does Wednesday Addams blink? Here's how Tim Burton's suggestion influenced Jenna Ortega's performance as Wednesday in the Netflix series.

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Did you notice the one very subtle detail that Jenna Ortega did as Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series? Because we didn't...

Jenna has shared all the details that went into creating her own version of Wednesday. She's already explained that she wanted this Wednesday to be different from Christina Ricci's iconic Wednesday, and revealed how she took lessons for cello, archery and fencing on top of learning German for a scene in the show too.

In an interview with Teen Vogue, Jenna dived even further into the process of how she went about physically creating Wednesday. And one of the tiny key details she added to the character was the fact she doesn't blink. She literally does not blink.

Jenna Ortega doesn't blink as Wednesday in the Netflix series. Picture: Netflix

"The first couple weeks of shooting, I did a take where I didn't blink at all and Tim said, 'I don't want you to blink anymore'", Jenna revealed.

"The thing about the blinking is I didn't realise I was doing it. It just kind of happened. Because every time we started a take, I would reset my face, drop all the muscles in my face and Tim really liked the Kubrick stare where I stared through my eyebrows," she continued. "It was just a bit intimidating. I think something like that is not blinking."

Sure enough, if you rewatch the series, there's only a very small handful of times that Jenna actually blinks while in character as Wednesday. (One of them is during a conversation with Enid in their dorm room in episode 1.)

In the vast majority of her scenes, she doesn't blink at all.

Jenna Ortega explains why she doesn't blink as Wednesday. Picture: Netflix

Other physical details that Jenna incorporated into the character included a straight back at all times (which she says has improved her own posture immensely), and limited use of her hands and arms.

After hearing about Jenna's process, I think we can all agree that her version Wednesday is definitely up there with the best of the them.