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With the premiere of Wednesday closer than ever, Jenna Ortega opened up about how her strange choice in makeup broke the ice during her audition with Tim Burton for the upcoming Netflix series. A rising star even before she was cast in the iconic role, Ortega began her career as a child actress in shows like Disney Channel's Stuck In The Middle and The CW's Jane the Virgin. The young actress gained wider recognition in the hit series You and received critical acclaim for her performance in last year’s drama The Fallout before becoming a modern-day scream queen with her roles in back-to-back slasher films, X and Scream. Last year, fans learned that the young star would take on the lead role in Wednesday, a horror comedy series based on the beloved and morose character from The Addams Family.

Ortega recently gave fans insight into her Zoom meeting with Wednesday’s director in an interview with Wired. When answering one of the “Web’s Most Searched Questions” about her character Lorraine’s fate in X, she revealed that she was still sporting the makeup and prosthetics from the scene where her character was shot in the head when she first auditioned for Burton. What could have gone sideways with another filmmaker, ended up impressing Burton in some way since Ortega said he considered her appearance charming. Ortega said about their first Zoom meeting:

"It was funny because when I met Tim Burton for my Wednesday audition, I had just done [my death scene in X] so 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 actually laughed. It made me laugh. I thought it was endearing."

The hype surrounding Wednesday keeps getting bigger as its premiere date on Netflix grows nearer and more details are revealed about her character’s dark adventures at the Nevermore Academy. Although the story of The Addams Family started with Charles Addams’ cartoons with the New Yorker, the characters came alive on screen with the 1960s macabre sitcom. Since then, many iterations of the spooky family have found their way into film, television shows, and even a stage musical, and the 1991 film The Addams Family and its 1993 sequel The Addams Family Values made a permanent mark on pop culture. Unlike past adaptations, Wednesday centers on one of the most popular family members – who was played by Christina Ricci in the hit early-’90s films.

Alongside Ortega, Wednesday guest stars Luis Guzmán and Catherine Zeta-Jones as her parents, Gomez and Morticia Addams, respectively. Also joining the cast of the highly-anticipated Netflix show are Riki Lindhome and Jamie McShane as well as Isaac Ordonez who is playing Wednesday’s younger brother, Pugsley, with Fred Armisen playing Uncle Fester.

Wednesday is set to premiere on Netflix on November 23.