Who Plays Ellie in Season 2 of 'You'? — Meet Jenna Ortega

If you love twisted tales of love and murder (mostly murder), then you’ve probably already binge-watched all of Season 2 of You. The shocking Netflix series follows Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) — a handsome, well-read man who can charm the heck out of anyone and then kill them in cold blood.

In the newest season of You, we’re introduced to a new character named Ellie, who is played by Jenna Ortega. Here’s everything you need to know about Jenna Ortega in You Season 2.

The 17-year-old actress played Young Jane throughout the series. Jenna also provides the voice for Princess Isabel in Disney’s Elena of Avalor, and she starred in Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle. But in You, Jenna has been able to explore acting in a much darker project. 

In an interview with Teen Vogue, Jenna spoke about how she approached the role of Ellie in You Season 2. “What I love about Ellie is I feel like she has the balls to say things I wouldn't typically say. So for me, it was just like, all right, this is the time to let it all out,” she said. “I know so many people like Ellie. Most of us teens go through that angsty stage, so I just kind of played with that. It was really just a matter of spending more time with that version of myself.”

(Heads up — minor spoilers for You Season 2 incoming!) Ellie is an ambitious teen who has dreams of becoming a filmmaker. And sure, plenty of teens want to make movies these days, but Ellie actually has the chops to back up her dreams. Throughout Season 2 of You, we see that Ellie is super observant and she isn’t afraid whatsoever of speaking out — even if she is unwittingly speaking out against a serial killer.

Ellie crosses paths with Joe Goldberg (who goes by Will now) when he moves into the apartment complex managed by Delilah, Ellie’s older sister and guardian. Ellie gives “Will” a crash course on social media as a sort of “welcome to LA” gift. If you’re familiar with the show, you know that Ellie is in extreme trouble as soon as Joe enters her life. But it quickly becomes clear that we don’t need to worry too much. The tech-savvy teen quickly proves that she can hold her own, even against Joe.

Jenna recently announced two new projects on Instagram. First, she landed a lead role in Yes Day, a Netflix film Jennifer Garner is set to produce (and star in along with Jenna). The comedy is based on the children’s book of the same name and tells the story of a family who celebrates Yes Day — for one whole day every year, the parents say “Yes” to every one of their children’s requests.

Roughly a week after announcing that role, Jenna also announced that she had joined the cast of The Babysitter 2. We don’t know much about her role in this film yet, but since the first Babysitter movie was about a 12-year-old boy defeating a satanic cult led by his babysitter, we’re going to go ahead and assume Jenna will be channeling more of her You side.

You Season 2 is available to stream on Netflix.