You’re a producer on the show this season. What was it like to take on that new role?
Jenna Ortega: It’s been a really amazing experience being a producer on Wednesday. Now that I’m familiar with the team and we all know each other and have worked together for so long, it’s definitely a comfortable, safe environment to ask questions and learn a bit more. I’ve learned so much this season, and it’s been so cool being a part of conversations, talking about the color of blood, or the color of prosthetics and if the brain isn’t big enough –– things like that that are quite silly, but really do make such a big difference on the show. Getting to see everyone’s costumes before they’re approved, stuff like that, is very fun. But then also in the constructive workspace, to be able to learn from someone like Tim firsthand is a very special experience. Also, because I saw them every day on set, it was easier for them to just feed me knowledge in between takes and things like that, which was really informative.
What has it been like seeing the massive success of this show? Why do you think it is resonating with audiences?
Ortega: It’s still quite difficult to comprehend. I see the effects and changes that it’s had on my life and my castmates’ lives, but it’s something that you’re very detached from. If you see a number, it looks kind of crazy, but it’s not like I’ve seen it in a room or anything like that. I just try not to pay too much attention to that stuff because success for me is more about feeling accomplished and being able to put something out into the world and feel proud. It’s wonderful that it’s been received so well, because there’s a lot of pressure.
When we started the show, I was 18 and had never worked with a director as big as Tim. I had led a show before, but not with a character that was so well known and loved prior to me joining. It’s a relief, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that I still don’t feel super anxious or feel like I have something I need to live up to every day on set. Maybe that’s a good thing, but it hasn’t gotten easier.
What excites you about Season 2?
Ortega: Honestly, the most exciting thing is just being able to revisit her. Wednesday Addams is one of the coolest characters of all time, so to have gotten the opportunity to play her once was incredible, and then to be able to slip into the costume and tone again, it’s so much fun. She runs circles around everyone that she has a conversation with. Getting to play someone who’s so much more intelligent than you will ever be is quite funny and strange and enjoyable.
What was it like to collaborate with Tim Burton again? What did you do to top Season 1?
Ortega: Working with Tim again was so much fun. He’s one of the funniest people I know and probably my favorite director I’ve ever worked with, so it’s nice to have gotten into such a routine. We’ve got quite comfortable, especially after Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as well. We got so many opportunities to strengthen our dynamic on set, so it was really great to be able to anticipate what the other wants, or doing a take and knowing, “OK, well maybe he would enjoy it if I did something like this.” As an actor, you want to take the director’s lead and make sure that they’re happy and comfortable, so it was nice getting to know him a bit more. I was maybe a little bit more confident or even rebellious in my takes because I knew that he’d always bring me back or would always get what he needed. He allowed me the room to play, which is really lucky.
Where did we leave off with Wednesday at the end of last season, and where do we pick up in the new season?
Ortega: We ended Season 1 with a stalker that was still after me — Tyler (Hunter Doohan), who has been sent to a psych ward, and half the school is burnt down. This season we start off with Wednesday being kidnapped. I don’t think I’m going to explain too much more than that; it’s such a great opening sequence and so fun and we have some pretty special people that are a part of that. It’s a nice way to come back into the season.
What makes the season bigger and better with even higher stakes?
Ortega: The first season of any show, there’s a little bit of trepidation, or there’s trust, but still it’s scary putting so much time and money and people into something and not really knowing where it’s landed. Making the second season, we definitely put a lot more trust in our creative process and what we liked and what we didn’t like.
This season, there were just so many big sets and so many big sequences that was really exciting to go to set and wonder, “Oh man, I wonder what this stage will look like today, and I wonder what this person’s going to be wearing today,” and “I wonder what this character is going to look like.” We had a lot of new faces joining and they all assimilated into the show so seamlessly and so well that there are plenty of new characters for people to learn to love — or maybe hate. It just feels like the show’s been given new life, but Wednesday still remains very dead.
What has Wednesday been up to over the summer?
Ortega: Over the summer, Wednesday moved back to the Addams mansion. We get to see her bedroom this season. She probably purchased a lot more weapons, tortured Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) some more. She did scalp someone, and that’s all I know.
How have her visions changed this year — and why is that a little bit concerning?
Ortega: Wednesday’s not having visions this year, or if she is, she kind of malfunctions and she has black tears. It’s a problem for her because she’s really improved her psychic ability over the summer. That’s what she’s done during the summer. She’s gotten really good at using her psychic ability and then she abuses it and uses it too much and ruins it for herself. While she used the psychic ability to help her in investigations, she doesn’t have that anymore. She has plenty of brains to work with, but it’s a lot more difficult for her this time around and that’s frustrating to her.
Without spoilers, what will Wednesday have to face and overcome this season? What about that journey is exciting to you?
Ortega: There’s no real emotional growth being made here, which is the joke with her, because she doesn’t really grow emotionally. She has moments of weakness here and there, and there’s always something with her mom, there’s always something with Enid (Emma Myers). Maybe because it’s a new environment for her, or Nevermore was a new environment for her in the first season, in the second season she’s gotten a little bit more comfortable. She relishes and enjoys her surroundings more, even though they’re obnoxious, even though they’re terrible. She’s learned to take things maybe slightly less seriously — or be a bit more playful.
What is the atmosphere at Nevermore at the beginning of the school year? How is Wednesday now perceived among her peers?
Ortega: The atmosphere at Nevermore in the beginning of the school year is a living hell. It’s this terrible situation for Wednesday and she’s very upset.
How does Wednesday feel about this new atmosphere in contrast to her friends? Ortega: Hell. Hell, fire, demons, dark. Dark, not the good kind. Everyone loves it. She’s in hell.
She doesn’t like being popular?
Ortega: That’s the strange thing about the dynamic of the show, and maybe that’s why it works so well. Wednesday rejects mainstream ideas and concepts and attention and everybody on the show doesn’t. Then this weird, insane reception happened with the show, and she’s still fighting that and it’s an uncomfortable place to be in. But also, it’s very easy to group people into these big bandwagons, but everyone internally always feels a bit odd, or they feel a bit left out, or they feel like they’re not really able to connect. It seems so contradictory to what Wednesday is, but at the same time, that’s kind of the point, if that makes sense. She’s such an admirable, honest, truthful character who is a loner. The only people we deal with every day are the people in our head. It’s just us in there. She’s a very easy character to latch onto.
Wednesday would absolutely detest the popularity of her own show.
Ortega: Yeah, poor girl.
What new position is Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) taking at Nevermore, and how does Wednesday feel about this?
Ortega: She works at the school now. She’s working on this big gala for the school and trying to raise money for her high school and her children’s high school. Pugsley’s around because he goes to Nevermore now, and she’s dealing with empty nest syndrome. She is being a little clingy and agrees to help out, and she lives in a gardener’s cottage in Marilyn Thornhill’s (Christina Ricci) old cottage at Nevermore, and is pretty much just spying on her kids.
Morticia and Wednesday’s relationship in Season 1 was so interesting to watch. How would you describe that relationship and dynamic in Season 2, and the challenges they are facing?
Ortega: What I will say is: Season 2 was important to me. It’s a little bit hard because obviously teenagers are always going to butt heads with their parents. I tried my best to leave in moments where we actually see them alike in certain ways, or at least have a bit more respect for each other. In Season 1, she is a very typical teen, rolling her eyes, “Get away from me.” I have a couple of moments like that in this season as well, but I wanted it to be different than what we’ve already seen.
I tried to have nice moments with Catherine, and she’s so easy to work with. You throw something out and she’ll pick it right back up and run with it. So I feel really lucky to have experienced this mother-daughter dynamic with someone as incredible as Catherine, because she’s truly a legend, and so kind and normal and funny. Morticia and Wednesday are always bickering about their psychic ability, and like any older woman talking to a younger girl is just trying to give advice and protect her from the same mistakes that she made when she was young.
We also meet a new member of the Addams family this year: Grandmama (Joanna Lumley). How does her relationship with Wednesday begin to play out?
Ortega: Wednesday and Grandmama — who’s played by the beautiful, wonderful Joanna Lumley — are best friends. They love each other. They both look at Morticia and roll their eyes a bit. They’re very alike, very hard, not very sensitive or open to things, love all things gothic and dark. They just really understand each other. They’ve got the same sense of humor and don’t really look at anything like it matters.
What was it like to work with Joanna Lumley?
Ortega: She is just the sweetest. Every time I saw her on set, and she called me “honey” or “darling” or “baby,” I just melted. She’s got the sweetest voice and she’s hilarious. She might be the most professional person on set, just in the way that she carries herself and the way that she speaks and always knows her lines and always has good questions. She is just such an accommodating actor to work with. I learned so much from her.
Pugsley is now at Nevermore. How does Wednesday like having her brother around at school?
Ortega: I wouldn’t say Wednesday likes having a brother around, but I do think it’s nice for her to attempt murder a couple of times, and I think it’s much easier now that she has somebody that she knows like the back of her hand. It is a cat and mouse game with them.
Wednesday’s fashion is another huge point of conversation for fans. How would you describe your costumes in Season 2?
Ortega: Honestly, I’m wearing a lot of the uniform. When we do see Wednesday’s personal style, it’s a little bit different. I wore a lot of jeans in the first season and bomber jackets, but this season I’m wearing a lot of skirts or really structured coats, so the lines are very sharp and precise and dense. I’ve got a really cool ’60s detective coat on for a majority of the season that cuts off; it has that flap all around, from the arms up. It looks pretty cool. Colleen Atwood and Mark Sutherland were very excited when we saw this coat. I’d say it’s maybe a touch more feminine, but we don’t really see a lot of it. I have some cool sheer, tulle things, layering, everything. It’s very gothic.
What did you like about filming in Ireland?
Ortega: I’d never been to Ireland, and it was wonderful. The crew was so hardworking, so sweet. Everybody here really felt like a family and it’s wonderful that they’ve all shot together so much. My favorite thing was just how kind the people are, but also the countryside was really nice. I did my best to see as much of the island as I could while I was there. I went north, south, east, west, I went all over. I’m pretty proud of myself.
What can fans expect from Season 2?
Ortega: This season has some of our best visuals. There’s just so much that’s going on in so many incredible setups. Everyone was really committed to make the season as best as they possibly can, knowing that maybe there’s a lot more eyes than we anticipated watching and we just really wanted to deliver. Hopefully the viewers found themselves a bit more engaged or even more thrilled with the outcome of this season. We put a lot of love and care into it.
Episode 4, which is the midseason finale, leaves viewers on a hefty cliff-hanger. Tell us about that.
Ortega: Oh, yeah. When we were shooting it, we thought that it was really funny and interesting. Tim and I were crying laughing. We had so much fun shooting that. Speaking of what actually happens at the end of Episode 4 at Willow Hill, it was so fun, it was great to see Wednesday in that environment. Makes total sense that she would release a bunch of patients from a psych ward, although it was by accident. And maybe I wish it wasn’t.
It was chaos. The sets were wonderful, it was so great having Christina Ricci back, and I absolutely love that we didn’t see Tyler actually physically throw Wednesday out the window. That was Tim’s last-minute idea where you just see the tension between the two before it happens, and then what breaks the silence is the shattering of the glass. I thought that was a cool way to end that episode. Because we’ve taken so long to deliver the season — we’re so sorry — if you’re going to have a break in a season like that, it’s nice to leave on probably the darkest note that we’ve ever left on in an episode. I was excited to do that midway through the season.
Courtesy: Netflix
