It’s going to be a big (and enjoyably weird) next couple of years for Jenna Ortega. The 21-year-old talent is starring in the second season of her record-breaking Netflix seriesWednesday , which is likely to hit the small screen sometime in 2025. This year, she will join Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder on screen in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice , the sequel to the original 1988 fantasy horror comedy, Beetlejuice .
During a recent interview with Vanity Fair for its 30th annual Hollywood Issue, Ortega talked about why she thinks Wednesday director Tim Burton sought her out for the title character. “I don’t know if it was a dry sense of humor more so than I had a lot of horror projects coming out, and I was coming up on the horror scene a little bit,” Ortega said.
Ortega also explained why in past interviews, she described episodes of Wednesday as more comparable to movies than a TV series.
“In the first season, we had episodes that really stood out visually, like the dance episode was a really big one for people, and that setting was very particular and it felt like Prom Night, a little bit, or Carrie,” she said. “Every episode [of season 2] that I’ve read so far is like that.”
Ortega went on to say, “It just stands out on its own as a very memorable scene or bit or setting, which I think is what I’m most excited for, because to pull that off for eight episodes is, I think, really incredible and really lucky.”
As for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Ortega, who plays Astrid Deetz, the daughter of Lydia Deetz (Ryder) from the original movie, is looking forward to sharing the sequel with a new generation.
“I feel like studios nowadays, of course, they want people in seats and you’ve got to do reboots or sequels or things like that to get people entwined, but to bring Beetlejuice back – of all of the stories – is so good because people need to revisit weird, strange, off-putting stories again.”
