by With binge-able killer thriller You returning to Netflix this week, Wednesday star Jenna Ortega has revealed she was “devastated” to miss the drama’s most recent outing.
Based on the series of novels by author Caroline Kepnes, You follows Joe (Penn Badgley), a seemingly gentle man who forges a series of intense, stalker-like relationships with the women who cross his path.
Over three series, his habit of cultivating toxic traits sees him using technology and social media to freak out his various female obsessions, with him living in London under a new identity in the show’s fourth season and ready to take on more of doing the same.
Read more: You S4 Part 2 review: Joe goes into depth
Part one of the fourth edition of the show made its Netflix debut on February 9, with the second half airing starting March 9.
However, fans are wondering why Ortega, who joined the show in series two as the mysterious Ellie, a teenager with an unusual friendship with Joe, is nowhere to be seen.
Why isn’t Jenna Ortega in You Season 4?
“I was devastated. Easily one of my favorite sets I’ve ever been on,” Ortega told Entertainment Tonight, citing scheduling conflicts with her hit show Wednesday as the reason for her absence.
“I was devastated,” she continued. “I miss Ellie and I’ve wanted to go back to Ellie for a long time, but I was in Romania shooting on Wednesday.
“I couldn’t go back and forth with the pandemic and things like that, and when you’re committed to a show, there’s just no way it worked out.
Read more: Jenna Ortega in talks to star in Beetlejuice 2
“But that one, that bothered me,” she said, adding, “I tried.”
Meanwhile, showrunner Sera Gamble hasn’t decided to welcome Ortega back for future seasons, suggesting anyone who isn’t dead is “fair game” for Joe’s future obsessions.
“It was so nice to see Jenna this year. We have ideas for Ellie if her schedule allows her to visit us again,” Gamble told Indie Wire.
“Any character who isn’t dead and knows anything about Joe, it’s fair game to try and enact justice,” she told the outlet, adding cryptically that “any character who’s dead, [Joe] has a very active imagination”
Ortega has had a big year so far. In late 2022, she starred in Tim Burton’s macabre teen story Wednesday, a series based on the favorite Addams Family character with a dance sequence that set social media on fire.
That said, the 20-year-old star recently opened up about the intense demands of perfecting the role.
“It was a show to get up two hours early, do 12 to 2 that day, then go home and then get on a Zoom and get the lesson I had,” she told Variety .
“Or come to my apartment, [and] my cello teacher was already waiting for me. It just went on constantly, and if you could on a weekend, if we weren’t shooting on the sixth day that week, it was, ‘Okay, we’ll get your lessons on that day.’
“I have not slept.”
While Netflix recently confirmed that Wednesday will be returning for a second series, Ortega will next face Ghostface for a second time in Scream VI, releasing on March 10.
You Season 4 Part 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
