Actress Jenna Ortega excited for fans to see ‘fresh blood’ in Wednesday 2

LOS ANGELES – A smash hit when it debuted in 2022, quickly becoming Netflix’s most popular English-language series of all time, the gothic fantasy comedy Wednesday is returning for a second season, to be released in two parts on Aug 6 and Sept 3.

In this continuation of The Addams Family franchise, Jenna Ortega reprises the title role of Wednesday Addams, an antisocial teenager struggling to fit in at Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for werewolves, vampires, psychics and other supernatural outcasts.

The 22-year-old American actress, who became a breakout star, holds her own against veteran performers such as Catherine Zeta-Jones as Wednesday’s mother Morticia; Luis Guzman as her father Gomez; and Fred Armisen as her Uncle Fester.

And this season, two more acclaimed actors join the cast: British actress Joanna Lumley as Wednesday’s beloved grandmother and American actor Steve Buscemi as Nevermore’s zealous new principal.

For Ortega, it is a joy to play Wednesday, who is unapologetic about her wit, wilfulness and fondness for the macabre.

“Really, it’s her strength and her confidence,” the actress says at a recent Zoom press conference.

“Often, when people pick apart a character, it’s about what makes them insecure or a quality they would hate to admit – and Wednesday doesn’t have any of that, she’s so clearly herself.

“So, it’s nice to step into those shoes,” says Ortega, who began her career as a child actress on the comedy drama Jane The Virgin (2014 to 2019).

The fact that the character knows who she is helps when it comes to portraying her.

“It’s very obvious when something isn’t Wednesday or it doesn’t suit her, or I’m falling out of character. So, it’s almost like she comes with a list of rules, which is helpful.”

Ortega has also come to understand the character’s cold and stoic personality, as well as her aversion to emotional attachments.

“I think sometimes something really traumatic and terrible happens to you, like a hug, and you just pretend it never happened. That’s kind of what Wednesday does,” she says.

But Wednesday has decided to make an exception for her Nevermore roommate Enid, a werewolf played by American actress Emma Myers, 23.

“She lets her guard down with Enid at the end of the first season, and in the second season, she’s become family, it’s one of those undeniable things.

“And, yes, Wednesday isn’t very vulnerable in general, but it’s just because she’s usually the smartest in the room.

“But she never denies her love or hate or her passion for her family.”

The star also enthuses about the show’s production design, which drew on the original The Addams Family cartoons that appeared in The New Yorker magazine from the 1930s to 1980s, and became the source material for the 1960s sitcom and four films (1991 to 2021) about the family.

The sets for Season 2 were “absolutely beautiful”, Ortega says.

“We had the privilege of getting to burn down a majority of the school at the end of the first season, so we got to start almost entirely from scratch, and it was great to see these new beautiful castles covered in moss and cobwebs.”

The production also moved to a different country.

“We were shooting in Ireland instead of Romania, which had such beautiful gothic architecture, but Ireland did as well. And there were a lot of great locations we got to use that carried very intense histories,” she says.

Season 1 revolved around a series of killings at Nevermore that Wednesday helps solve, and when asked what she is most excited for fans to see this season, Ortega says cryptically: “Fresh blood.”

“And Joanna (Lumley),” she adds. “Every time she’s on-screen, you fall more and more in love with her.”

Wednesday had a viral dance floor moment in Season 1, but in this chapter, audiences get to see Morticia dance as well as sing and sword-fight.

“It’s just all great elements to add to one great character,” says Zeta-Jones. The 55-year-old Welsh actress, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for musical movie Chicago (2002), was at the press conference alongside her co-stars.

“I do get to sing a little song, I do get to dance with my beautiful boy (Guzman) here, and I do get to sword-fight with Jenna, but it’s organic to the character and the piece.

“And for me, it was just a dream. We had so much fun.”