Showrunner Sera Gamble Hints at Jenna Ortega’s Return to ‘You’ in Future Seasons
Jenna Ortega, who played the role of Ellie Alves in the thriller series “You” has been absent from the show. Her character moved to Florida after blaming “Joe,” portrayed by Penn Badgley, for ruining her life.
But that is not to say viewers may never see her appear on the show again. The season ended in a way that suggests Ellie may return for revenge someday.
After all, she’s in a unique position to do so since she knows the most about Joe’s murders, where Penn Badgley plays the character.
#You showrunner reveals that season 4 had planned for Jenna Ortega to return as Ellie, but her commitment to #Wednesday disrupted it.
"We have ideas for Ellie if her schedule allows her to visit us again.” https://t.co/HVLjibHeho pic.twitter.com/qQtydCz8T9
— Screen Rant (@screenrant) February 9, 2023
Sera Gamble, 39, a television writer and producer, said in an interview with Indiewire, “For any character who isn’t dead and knows anything about Joe, it is fair game to try to exert any justice. And for any dead character, [Joe] has an active imagination.”
Gamble had planned to bring Ellie back, but she had heard the actress wouldn’t be available to film because she was working on another show at the time, which turned out to be fellow Netflix series, “Wednesday.”
However, the news satisfied Gamble. She expressed how proud she was of Ortega’s success. “It has been such a pleasure to see Jenna this year. We have some ideas for Ellie if her schedule lets her visit us again. These are some busy, in-demand actors.”
Ortega, nonetheless, had earlier disclosed that she was open to returning to the show, albeit with a few conditions.
She told Teen People, “I don’t want her to return and be extremely vulnerable and sad.”
Jenna Ortega continued, “We must remember that although people still find Joe rather charming, he’s evil, does terrible things, and gets away with them because of his gender, race, and social position.”
Jenna Ortega Was Supposed to Return for ‘You’ Season 4 Before ‘Wednesday’ Got in the Way https://t.co/p5MWIDcd3x pic.twitter.com/aiyVdVR6PR
— IndieWire (@IndieWire) February 9, 2023
Jenna Ortega as Ellie in You
Furthermore, she also added that she wanted to see Ellie as an “even bigger badass” and be in charge of her life. “She has so much potential and talent that she shouldn’t waste because of him.”
Ortega is currently preoccupied with her role in the Wednesday series. The show earned her a nomination in the 2023 Golden Globe for Best Television Actress in a Musical/Comedy series.
She spoke to Netflix’s Tudum in November 2022, saying, “Someone like Wednesday seems very single-toned. But there are several routes that you could take with someone like her. Including those layers of insecurity or those lived-in qualities that make a teenager is really interesting.”
“Especially with a character we haven’t gotten the opportunity to know well enough because she has always been the one-liner, off to the side with a funny punchline. To have real frustration and uncertainty was interesting to play and discover,” she added.
“You” is in its fourth season, and viewers are looking forward to a fifth. Netflix hasn’t officially confirmed a season five yet, but it has not been disqualified either.
Before the announcement of season 4, Gamble had told The Hollywood Reporter, “I am not scared at all of saying that we definitely could follow Joe for several more seasons.”
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