Why Jenna Ortega Is the Final Girl Gen Z Didn’t Know It Needed

Why Jenna Ortega Is the Final Girl Gen Z Didn’t Know It Needed—Until Now

Entertainment / Date: 06-26-2025

While most actors avoid being typecast in one genre, Ortega has done the opposite. She leaned into the screams, the blood, the creepy camera angles. And guess what? It’s working. She’s not just surviving in horror—she’s rewriting what it means to be a scream queen in the TikTok era.

This post dives deep into why Jenna Ortega has become the new face of modern horror films—and why her rise says more about the state of the genre (and us) than you think.

Horror Isn’t What It Used to Be—And Neither Are Its Stars

For decades, horror films had a formula. Blonde girl. Basement. Jump scare. Repeat.

Then came the shift. Audiences wanted more than just predictable death scenes—they wanted depth, wit, and characters that didn’t make dumb choices every five minutes. Enter Jenna Ortega.

She’s sharp. Funny. Not afraid to go full psycho on screen. And let’s be honest—her eyes alone could carry a thriller without a single line of dialogue.

But it’s not just her looks or delivery. It’s how she feels real, even when the world around her is fake blood and fog machines.

From Disney Darling to Deadpan Queen

She Didn’t Take the Easy Road

Most young actors who start on Disney Channel (Jenna was on Stuck in the Middle) usually pivot to music, rom-coms, or vanish entirely. Not Jenna.

She pulled a hard left. Horror. Indie films. Dark comedies.

It’s like she skipped the "safe career" handbook and said, “Nah, let’s make ‘em uncomfortable.” “Wednesday” Was the Game Changer—But Not the Start

While Wednesday made her a household name, Jenna had already built her horror résumé before stepping into the iconic black dress.

Her roles in The Babysitter: Killer Queen, X, and Scream (2022) showed she wasn’t afraid to get messy—literally. She’s cried, screamed, stabbed, and been stabbed. And she made it all feel painfully authentic.

She Makes Fear Look Like Power

The Final Girl Trope Got an Upgrade

Old horror movies treated “final girls” like emotional wrecks who just barely made it out alive.

Jenna flips that.

Her characters don’t just survive—they fight back early. They question everything. And they rarely fall for the “let’s split up” nonsense.

In Scream, her performance as Tara Carpenter brought vulnerability and rage. She wasn’t just running—she was calculating. She fought smart. And she wasn’t afraid to get bloody doing it.

That’s the new scream queen: less victim, more avenger.

Gen Z Relates to Her—and That’s No Accident

Modern horror isn’t just about ghosts. It’s about real fears—anxiety, isolation, toxic families, grief. And Jenna plays those themes like she’s lived them.

In interviews, she’s openly talked about her own struggles with anxiety, identity, and pressure. She brings that rawness into every role. You feel it.

That authenticity hits Gen Z differently. They don’t want perfection. They want pain that looks like theirs—quiet, internal, unresolved. Jenna gives them that.

She Doesn’t Pretend to Be a Role Model—and That’s Refreshing

Let’s be real—most celebs try to look polished 24/7. Not Jenna.

She’s awkward in interviews. Sometimes blunt. Sometimes weird. She’s admitted she doesn’t always like how her characters turn out—and she’s not afraid to disagree with directors. That kind of honesty? Rare.

It’s why she’s believable in horror. You trust her instincts. And when the killer shows up, you know she’s not going down easy.

Horror Directors Are Building Around Her Now

A24, Blumhouse, and Even Tim Burton Are All In

The film world is catching on—Jenna Ortega isn’t a sidekick anymore. She’s the lead. And major directors are building entire stories with her at the center.

Take X, the A24 slasher where she plays a wide-eyed church girl stuck in a porn shoot gone wrong. Sounds wild, right? She nailed it. You couldn’t look away.

Then came Tim Burton with Wednesday. And rumor has it, she’ll be executive producing Season 2. At 21.

That’s not just talent. That’s power.

She’s Building a Horror Empire—Not Just a Résumé

Merch. Memes. Makeup Lines?

Fans aren’t just watching her—they’re following her. On TikTok, edits of her Wednesday dance or death scenes get millions of views. The internet has made her a cultural main character.

Would it be surprising if she launched a horror-themed beauty brand? Or a clothing line that looks like it was styled by a ghost from 1850? Nope.

She’s got the range—and the following—to turn her creepy charisma into an empire.

Here’s the Twist: She’s Still Just Getting Started

Despite her already stacked portfolio, Jenna Ortega hasn’t even peaked yet. Think about that.

She’s already headlined horror franchises, worked with iconic directors, and helped revive a dead character (Wednesday) into a Gen Z icon.

Now imagine what she’ll do in the next five years.

Psychological thrillers? Check.
Original horror scripts written just for her? You bet.
A directing credit on some disturbing short film? Wouldn’t be shocked.

Here’s the Kicker…

Jenna Ortega isn’t just “good at scary roles.” She’s redefining what fear looks like in modern film.

She doesn’t scream for help—she stares the monster in the face and dares it to try something. She’s not cute in a crisis—she’s calculated. She’s not just surviving—she’s owning the genre.

And the question isn’t if she’ll become the next horror legend.

It’s whether she’ll outgrow the title entirely.