Netflix’s Wednesday has been met with rave reviews all across the globe, however there is one fact about filming that has seriously raised some eyebrows among fans.
The show smashed Netflix’s records already, having broken the record for the most watched English language show in the space of a week. It racked up an impressive 341.2 million hours of streams in the first 7 days of its release. This surpassed the site’s previous record of 335 million hours for Stranger Things in the first week of season 4’s release.
It’s no surprise Wednesday saw this level of success, as a quick glance at the cast list tells you all you need to know. Twenty-year-old Jenna Ortega, who has starred in shows such as You and Jane the Virgin, plays the titular character. Her on-screen mooter Morticia is played by Chicago star Catherine Zeta-Jones, and father Gomez is played by Narcos actor Luis Guzmán.
The writing team is made up by Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. King of all things spooky Tim Burton is also involved, with both producing and directing credits.
Despite all of the show’s record-breaking success, it has still found itself in some controversy. This is specifically regarding one of Ortega’s most iconic scenes in the whole of the 8-part series.
The dance scene in episode 4 won fans’ hearts, and has even emerged as a trend TikTok with people using Ortega’s stylized dance to inspire their own moves.
However, the show’s star recently spoke to NME about her experience filming this standout scene, and what she had to say has taken some fans by surprise.
Turns out, Ortega actually had COVID-19 while filming the dance, which she choreographed herself.
“It’s crazy because it was my first day with Covid so it was awful to film,” she told the outlet.
“[I] woke up and — it’s weird, I never get sick and when I do it’s not very bad — I had the body aches. I felt like I’d been hit by a car and that a little goblin had been let loose in my throat and was scratching the walls of my esophagus.”
She even said that the production team were “giving me medicine between takes because we were waiting on the positive result.”
“I asked to redo it but we didn’t have time. I think I probably could have done it a bit better,” she added.
Social media users have responded to this news with outrage.
One person wrote: “Jenna Ortega having COVID on set and working unmasked around other unmasked performers is not a flex. She should not be praised for ‘working while sick.’”
Another said: “Knowing that the Wednesday dance scene was filmed while the main character had COVID really sours it for me. She woke up not feeling well and was waiting to get tested while filming instead of being allowed to rest while quarantining.”
The production company behind the show, MGM, confirmed to NME that “strict COVID protocols were followed and once the positive test was confirmed production removed Jenna from set.”
