Everyone’s favorite scene in Netflix’s Wednesday has a troubling backstory

Netflix’s Wednesday has enjoyed an impressive run on the streaming giant so far, clocking more than 411 million hours of viewing time during its second week as the #1 Netflix show in the world. The 8-episode Addams Family spinoff series starring Jenna Ortega is so big, in fact, that it’s now the #3 English-language Netflix show of all time. And in our fractured streaming age, it’s even produced moments that everyone is talking about — like the iconic Wednesday dance scene.

Even if you haven’t watched the series, you’re probably aware of the scene by now. Ortega twists and gyrates as a goth-like, unsmiling Wednesday Addams to the backing of The Cramps’ “Goo Goo Muck.” It’s more fun to watch than it might sound, and Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings himself tweeted out a video of that scene just a few days ago, adding his comment: “can’t get enough.”

Backstory of the Wednesday dance scene

One thing Hastings didn’t mention in his tweet, and which isn’t readily apparent to viewers like all the TikTokers who’ve been filming their attempts at copying Ortega’s moves, is that she was on a crowded dance floor filming the scene … while she was symptomatic with Covid.

Ortega dropped that tidbit in an interview about shooting the Wednesday dance scene, pointing out how she’d choreographed the performance herself and that it was a challenge, especially shooting on her first day with Covid.

You can practically hear a record scratch during the interview — whoa, come again?

“Yeah, I woke up and — it’s weird, I never get sick and when I do it’s not very bad (but) 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. They were giving me medicine between takes because we were waiting on the positive result.”

‘Really sours it for me’

The actress went on to muse aloud that she probably could have done an even better job than she did if she’d felt well enough to do a second take. Even so, that revelation about her health isn’t sitting with many people — including erstwhile fans of the scene.

“Knowing that the Wednesday dance scene was filmed while the main character had covid really sours it for me,” one Twitter user opined. “She woke up not feeling well and was waiting to get tested while filming instead of being allowed to rest while quarantining.”

Adds another: “Disappointed to learn that Jenna Ortega had COVID symptoms on set but was still allowed to film the Wednesday dance scene while she waited for her positive test result. I wonder how many people got sick? And how many people those people got sick?”