The filmmaker and TV producer, 58, tweeted an apology of sorts directed at the 20-year-old Wednesday star, reports the New York Post.
“I can’t stress this enough: She’s an amazing talent,” said DeKnight, who has produced and scripted shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Daredevil throughout a long career.
“Also I’ll admit that writers are on edge because of the impending strike, myself included. A perfect storm.”
DeKnight added, “She’s fantastic, which I keep saying over and over. It was an unfortunate gaffe to say that publicly. We’ve all had them. Learning experience for everyone. Me included.”
It comes after Ortega told Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast that she had occasionally behaved “unprofessionally” on the set of the show and changed lines.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down more on a set in a way that I had to on Wednesday,” she said earlier this week.
DeKnight’s initial tweets in response read, “She’s young, so maybe she doesn’t know any better (but she should). She should also ask herself how she would feel if the showrunners gave an interview and talked about how difficult she was and refused to perform the material.”
Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams and Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin in 'Wednesday'. Photo / Netflix
The producer added that sometimes actors “don’t have the full pictures [in TV] of where the story is going and why some lines are needed for the whole to make sense”.
Both DeKnight and Ortega have been contacted by the New York Post for comment.
Wednesday is the second most-watched English language show on the platform, with 1.02 billion hours of viewing time since its November 16 debut.
Speaking to Shepard last week, Ortega said she had acted “unprofessionally” on behalf of her character, over whom she felt “very protective”.
“Everything that Wednesday does, everything I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all,” she said.
The Netflix star has also previously revealed that the hectic filming schedule made her cry “hysterically”.
“It was show up to set two hours early, do that 12 to 14-hour day, then go home and then get on a Zoom and have whatever lesson that I had,” Ortega said.
“Or show up to my apartment, [and] my cello teacher was already waiting for me. It was just constantly going, and if you could on a weekend, if we weren’t shooting the sixth day that week, it was, ‘All right, well then, we’ll get your lessons in on that day.’”
Ortega will star in the series’ upcoming second season and will be one of the show’s executive producers.
