Season 2 of the hit Netflix Addams Family series Wednesday is expected to start filming in Ireland (season 1 was shot in Romania) sometime in late April, and during an interview with Vanity Fair the show’s star Jenna Ortega confirmed that she is about to get ready to return to the world of Wednesday Addams, revealing that she has been reading the season scripts recently – and promising that every episode of the new season will have something that will make it stand out and be memorable.
Vanity Fair asked Ortega about a previous quote where she said Wednesday season 2 will be more episodic, with each episode coming off like a standalone movie, and that it would lean further into horror. She responded, “I’ve just been reading scripts. By the time we actually start shooting, it will have been over two years since we wrapped. So internally, mentally, I’m like, ‘Okay, do I start prepping myself now?’ I don’t consider myself Method or anything like that, but I do think it’s very normal for actors to naturally acclimate or take in the surroundings of their characters, especially when you’re doing something like that for so long. It might be time to start getting a little more sarcastic again or watching different movies again to get into the mindset. But even reading scripts has been exciting, seeing all of the new characters that are coming in. We’re definitely expanding on the supernatural world. Our show had all sorts of werewolves and vampires and da-ta-da. And I think we expand on that a little bit.“
When asked to elaborate on the idea of each episode seeming like a standalone movie, she said, “I mean, in the first season we had episodes that really stood out visually, like the dance episode was a really big one for people, and that setting was very particular and it felt like Prom Night, a little bit, or Carrie. Every episode [of season 2] that I’ve read so far is like that. It just stands out on its own as a very memorable scene or bit or setting, which I think is what I’m most excited for, because to pull that off for eight episodes is, I think, really incredible and really lucky.“
The first season of Wednesday consisted of eight episodes. The show comes to us from Millar Gough Ink, Tim Burton Productions, Toluca Pictures, and MGM Television, and is described as a comedic, supernaturally-infused coming-of-age series that follows the teenage girl’s years as a student at Nevermore Academy, where she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the town, and solve a mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new relationships at Nevermore. Snap snap.
Beyond Ortega’s Wednesday, other members of the Addams Family include Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley, Luis Guzmán and Catherine Zeta-Jones as Gomez and Morticia, and Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester. Uncle Fester has only appeared on one episode of Wednesday so far, but we recently heard that the character might be getting his own spin-off series. Also on the show are Riki Lindhome as Wednesday’s therapist Dr. Valerine Kinbot; Joy Sunday as Siren Nevermore student Bianca Barclay; Emma Myers as Wednesday’s sunny roommate Enid Sinclair; Hunter Doohan as townie Tyler Galpin; Moosa Mostafa as quirky Nevermore student Eugene Otinger; Georgie Farmer as awkward and shy Nevermore student Ajax Petropolus; Naomi J. Ogawa as vampire Nevermore student Yoko Tanaka; Percy Hynes White as supernaturally artistic Nevermore student Xavier Thorpe; Jamie McShane as Sheriff Donovan Galpin, Tyler’s father, who has a vendetta against Gomez; Gwendoline Christie as Larissa Weems, “the principal of Nevermore Academy who still has an axe to grind with her former classmate Morticia Addams”; Victor Dorobantu as Thing, the non-verbal disembodied hand; George Burcea as Lurch; Tommie Earl Jenkins as Mayor Walker; Iman Marson as Lucas Walker; William Houston as Joseph Crackstone; Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo as Deputy Santiago; Oliver Watson as Kent; Calum Ross as Rowan; and Johnna Dias Watson as Divina.
Thora Birch had signed on to play a character named Tamara Novak, “Wednesday’s dorm mother and the only ‘normie’ on staff at Nevermore Academy, with a focus on all things botanical.” Sadly, due to a family illness, Birch had to leave the production in Romania and return to the United States before filming was complete. Christina Ricci, who previously played Wednesday herself in the live-action feature films The Addams Family and The Addams Family Values, replaced Birch, taking on the role of Marilyn Thornhill.
Are you looking forward to Wednesday season 2? What did you think of what Ortega had to say about the new episodes? Let us know by leaving a comment below.