One of the most shocking things about season two of Wednesday had to be the mid-season body swap episode.
After Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) messes with getting her powers back at the grave of Rosaline Rotwood (Lady Gaga), the powerful specter tricks her. Enid (Emma Myers) ends up waking up in Wednesday’s body and vice versa in a Freaky Friday throwback episode that took viewers on a surprising teen hijinks side quest. The swap shenanigans at Nevermore were a huge tonal gamble, which made for a fun chapter that really dug into why Enid and Wednesday’s polar-opposite friendship is the core of the show.
In a live award season Q&A (shared by Rama’s Screen), Ortega talked about the concerns she had with the challenging episode, which was a late addition to Wednesday season two.
“That script came in a couple of weeks before we shot it. I remember [the showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar] were writing as we were going, and it wasn’t something that we had talked about in the pitch meeting. So it was a very brand-new story. I think it just kind of came out of left field. To be kind of knocked on your feet like that was exciting.”
She was glad to have a strong co-star to play off of. “If I had to do that with anyone, I was so immensely grateful that it was Emma Myers, who plays Enid.”
The time crunch was a concern, though. “To be a producer, there’s a lot more meetings and things like that that you have to go to. So my schedule was pretty tight. Emma and I just didn’t have a lot of time to practice. But she came in and did what she needed to do.”
The biggest challenge, Ortega recalled, was “wanting to do justice to [Enid] and making sure that Emma was happy with everything.”
She continued to give her co-star her flowers for becoming Wednesday. “She was so much of the character’s physicality, and it takes a lot of concentration to be that still. So I felt pretty proud when I saw her take that so seriously. It was just very sweet to see someone put so much time and effort into something that you had placed a lot of effort in.”
Ortega admitted that taking on the role of producer for season two on Wednesday came with a deeper sense of responsibility for the iconic Addams. “It’s a big character and a big show and definitely the most demanding, time-consuming, just kind of monstrous character and show that I’ve ever done. So it’s like, I had forgotten coming into the season what an endurance test is and just being there every day before everybody else and leaving and still working at home.”
Her protectiveness over her role gave her pause initially on the body-swap choice: “I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily proud of that episode. It really sent me into a bit of a panic. And something like that can turn out really bad.”
Thankfully, it all paid off and ended up becoming a hit, much to the star’s relief. “So far on the street and things like that, it seems like that’s what people are the most taken by,” she said, giving Myers credit once more. “Again, a lot of that was on Emma, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had so much energy, let alone in that costume.”
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