"Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" UK Premiere – Arrivals - Source: GettyJenna Ortega at the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice UK Premiere (Image via Lia Toby/Getty Images)

Amid the shooting for Wednesday season 2, a new rumor surrounding Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs floated on social media. On October 10, 2024, an Instagram page with the username @vibes_with_moonlight alleged that Ortega bagged the titular role on Wednesday by having an affair with Diddy.

The post, which have about 16.1k plays at the time of writing, claimed there was a video of the actress admitting to this, adding she also allegedly received $45 million for it.

“Problem no dey finish: SHOCK NEWS: Leaked Video Jenna Ortega “ADMITS” To Sleeping With Diddy To Get The Lead Role In The Movie Wednesday And The Amount Of 45 Million Usd. VIDEO ADMITS FOR Jenna Ortega,” the post’s caption read.

However, this post holds no truth to it. It made reference to a “leaked video,” but neither the video itself nor any other version of it exists online.

The rumor most likely emerged due to the separate buzz surrounding both Ortega and Diddy, respectively. Netflix recently released a behind-the-scenes video for the upcoming season of Wednesday. Meanwhile, Diddy was arrested on s*x trafficking and prostitution charges in September 2024 and is currently awaiting trial at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

How was Jenna Ortega cast as Wednesday?

Wednesday, which focuses on the stoic daughter of The Addams Family, emerged as one of Netflix’s hit shows in 2022.

During a ScreenRant interview in May 2023, Wednesday creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar said Jenna Ortega was chosen as Wednesday Addams from the long list of potential actresses due to the precision of her performance.

“The lead of any show becomes your collaborator in the show, they just do. It’s just inevitable. And this character, there’s a precision to it. There’s a precision to Jenna’s performance, there’s a precision to how the character’s written, there’s a precision to what Tim does, and we all had many conversations about it because you’re just trying to make sure you’re landing the plane on a very small aircraft carrier in a very big ocean,” Gough said.

In a recent September interview with Far Out Magazine, Jenna Ortega said she was initially hesitant about playing the titular character because she was keen on working in films as opposed to television. But Tim Burton, the show’s producer, approached her personally to consider the role and she finally agreed after initially turning down the offer.

Ortega also previously spoke about her auditions for the show. In a Wired interview in 2022, she shared that she had to audition for Burton immediately after finishing a blood-filled scene from her horror movie X.

“I had stage blood and glycerin sweat in my hair and a massive cut on my face and had been up for over 24 hours. I got on the Zoom, and he [Burton] actually laughed. It made me laugh. I thought it was endearing,” she said.

The shooting for the new season is currently underway in Ireland. Emma Myers, Luis Guzmán and Catherine Zeta-Jones will reportedly reprise their roles as Enid, Gomez Addams and Morticia Addams. New additions to the cast include Thandie Newton and Billie Piper, among others.

Actress Christina Ricci, who portrayed the previous iterations of the Addams daughter in the 1990s movies, appeared in the first season. It is unclear whether her character, Marilyn Thornhill, will make an appearance in the upcoming season.

Wednesday‘s second season is expected to be released on Netflix in 2025.