Jenna Ortega Had COVID While Filming Her Iconic Wednesday Dance Scene

If you watched season one of Netflix's Wednesday starring Jenna Ortega when it hit the streaming site on November 23 — and you probably did because the show accumulated a record-breaking 341.2 million hours of viewing time in just one week — then you surely remember the now-iconic dance scene.

During episode four of the series, Wednesday Addams surprises everyone when she attends the Rave'N Dance alongside Tyler Galpin (played by Hunter Doohan).

Clad in a stunning ruffled dress, which IRL was pulled from Alaïa, Wednesday hits the dance floor with some killer moves. The routine, set to The Cramps' 1981 track “Goo Goo Muck,” is inarguably one of the standout moments from the first season and probably the most favored of fan-favorite scenes.

The scene is actually so popular that it has even inspired a viral TikTok dance trend with Lady Gaga's "Bloody Mary" as its replacement soundtrack, often used sped-up. However, new details about the shoot are raising some brows about the clip.

In a new cast interview with NME, Jenna Ortega, who brings the silver-tongued protagonist Wednesday Addams to life for this adaptation, revealed she actually had COVID-19 while filming the now-infamous scene.

While Jenna was unaware that she was COVID-positive at the time of filming, she shared that she had woken up with COVID-like symptoms that day and proceeded to take a test. "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," the actress shared with the publication. “They were giving me medicine between takes because we were waiting on the positive result.”

Once the results came back, she realized she had filmed the entire scene, which she famously choreographed herself, during her first day with COVID.  Jenna told NME that because she was feeling poorly, the scene was "awful to film." She even asked if she could reshoot it after recovering from the virus, but tight production schedules didn't allow for it.

Understandably, the revelation has shocked many viewers, who have voiced their criticisms online. In a follow-up statement provided to NME, MGM, the production company behind the Netflix show, shared that “strict COVID protocols were followed and once the positive test was confirmed, production removed Jenna from set.”