Jenna Ortega Goes Rogue In ‘X-Men’ Parody Sketch On Saturday Night Live

Jenna Ortega is slowly becoming the poster girl for dark, twisty, and gothic entertainment. Between X, Scream IV, Wednesday, and the second season of Netflix’s You, the starlet has carved out a career path in the genre, and expressed her thoughts on being typecast in horror roles. It only makes sense that she would continue to play the role of angsty teens trying their best on Saturday Night Live (SNL) on 11 March, slipping into the portrayal of Rogue from the X-Men.

Well, not exactly. While the mutant isn’t in the sketch per se, Ortega’s persona is clearly modelled after her, taking the form of Zena Nutrino, a psychic and student at “Professor Zander’s Academy for Extraordinary Children”. Joining her is Mikey Day as the parody of Professor X, the school’s leader who demands that she learns to control her power, much like the character in the X-Men films.

Instead of battling evil, however, the pair is stuck on a “School vs. School” quiz show, where Zena and another student Knockout, played by Molly Kearney, square off against normal West Grove High students. As expected, chaos unfolds, and things quickly go south — not only does Zena thinks the Shakespearean quote “to be or not to be” is from the character “Toby”, Professor Zander ends up unleashing his own psychic abilities after screaming at his students. The result? A brain dead teacher on the other side of the set. Talk about having no chill!

It’s all pretty amusing, and fans will be able to spot a couple of obvious nods to the merry mutants throughout the Saturday Night Live skit. For those who want to revisit Ortega’s viral dance in Wednesday, comedy group Please Don’t Destroy got it down on tape yet again, but do note that the footage won’t be available in some countries, in which case, a VPN is your best friend.

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.