Netflix Wednesday Series has a character of the same name who is creepy and wacky… and apparently doesn’t blink? Viewers of the new show loved the character’s odd quirks so much that Jenna Ortega, who plays the famous Addams family member, was nominated for a Golden Globes Award. However, many are curious about a specific trait: Why isn’t Wednesday Adams blinking in the series?
The note appears to have come from director Tim Burton himself.
Netflix describes the show as “a detective, supernaturally imbued mystery chronicling Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy”.
The synopsis reads: “Wednesday’s attempts to master her nascent psychic abilities, foil a monstrous rampage that has been terrorizing the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that implicated her parents 25 years ago – all while she navigating their new and very tangled relationships at Nevermore.”
The show premiered on the streamer on November 23 with eight episodes of 42 to 59 minutes each and was a huge hit. Netflix reported on it last month Wednesday broke the streamer’s record for most hours watched for an English language show in a single week, with over 50 million households watching for 341.23 million hours.
Basically, people can’t stop talking about it. But let’s get back to the original question: is Wednesday Addams blinking on the show? Here’s everything you need to know about the character’s blinking habits, according to Jenna Ortega, Tim Burton, and Netflix.
Flashes Jenna Ortega in Wednesday?
When appearing on The Today Show On November 21, Jenna Ortega explained that her character doesn’t blink. Speaking about the feedback she got from the show’s director, she said“He [Tim Burton] like it when I tilt my chin down and look through my eyebrows, like a Kubrick look, and then relax all the muscles in my face.”
Ortega went on to say that she “got a little annoying on set” and said that if she started blinking, she “would have to restart a take.”
But how did she fight back? The actor explained, “It was Romanian winter, there was all this wind in my face. I’ve learned to blink at other people’s lines.”
She repeated the same statements Teen Vogue in a Nov. 16 interview. She said, “Sometime during the first few weeks of filming, I did one take where I didn’t blink at all and Tim said, ‘I don’t want you to blink anymore.’ ”
Ortega mentioned that this was a crucial part of Wednesday’s game, calling it one of her many “odd mannerisms.” She said: “We try to incorporate things like that. The thing about blinking is I didn’t realize I was doing it. It just happened because every time we started recording I would reset my face and let all the muscles in my face drop and really try the Kubrick look.
What does Netflix have to say?
Netflix also got involved.
Last month, the streamer tweeted a clip from the show with the caption, “After Tim Burton attempted a take where she didn’t blink, Tim Burton was so enamored with the result that he told Jenna Ortega to stop Wednesday blink. So she didn’t.”
There you have it folks, Wednesday Addams doesn’t blink in Wednesday.
Wednesday is currently streaming on Netflix.