Jenna Ortega says she will 'probably be off TV for awhile' after Netflix hit Wednesday ends

Jenna Ortega revealed she plans to step away from television roles after her Netflix series Wednesday concludes.

The 24-year-old actress noted she has spent 'many years doing that' and 'bouncing from show to show as a kid' during Thursday's episode of Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast.

'I actually haven't had a lot of franchise conversations. I haven't,' she said. 'But what I'm meant to do will come and find me.

'I think after Wednesday, I'll probably be off the TV for a while.'

Ortega, whose past TV credits include Jane the Virgin and Disney’s Stuck in the Middle, has starred in Wednesday since the show premiered in November 2022.

Ortega, who revealed she doesn't watch her movies or read reviews, was an instant hit in the series that became a global phenomenon.

Her mesmerizing, deadpan performance as the goth-obsessed and socially awkward teenager has been thought to be the driving force behind the Emmy-winning, Tim Burton-directed series.

It also stars Luis Guzman as Gomez Addams, Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams and Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams.

As Ortega indicated on the podcast, she seems ready to fly the coop.

'I was bouncing from show to show as a kid, this to this, and I want to leave time for new things,' Ortega explained.

Earlier this year, she admitted that as a child actor she was such a perfectionist she'd often 'go all day' without eating or drinking on set.

'I feel like I make mistakes now all the time, but as a child, I was so grateful and so excited to be there that my game face was on,' Ortega told Esquire.

'I wasn't asking for a sip of water. I would go all day without eating, drinking, whatever, because I wanted so badly to not be in the way of anybody.

'Maybe that was my mistake, was not actually looking after myself,' she admitted.

The California native's previous movies have included Iron Man 3 (2013), The Fallout (2021), X (2022), Scream (2022), Scream VI (2023), and Death of a Unicorn (2025).

Ortega has increasingly shifted back toward film work, starring in 2024's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the new sci-fi drama Klara and the Sun, which released on Friday, and the upcoming JJ Abrams sci-fi fantasy flick The Great Beyond.

Wednesday season three began production in February with Beetlejuice star Winona Ryder and Bond girl Eva Green joining the cast.

The production wrapped in September and it's set to air sometime in 2027.

Netflix has not officially renewed Wednesday for a season four.

Three years ago, Ortega shared that she's had some 'weird' experiences because of Wednesday, especially when traveling.

During one flight, she met a flight attendant who had changed her hair to match that of her famous macabre-leaning character.

'I’ve had a couple of weird plane stories, where I've woken up to notes or things like that,' Ortega said during The Hollywood Reporter's Comedy Actress Roundtable in 2023. 

'I got off one yesterday, and at the end, the flight attendant took her hair down out of the bun and it was in two braids and she took her bangs down and she said, "You made me do this."'

Ortega also shared that she always knew she wanted to play Wednesday.

'When I was younger, I did this show where I referred to myself as "the Wednesday of the family" because there were seven kids and I was in the middle,' she recalled.

She added: 'I remember telling my mom at the time, "Oh my God, I'd love to play Wednesday Addams. But when would that opportunity ever come?" And then it came.'