Jenna Ortega returns for a new season of Tim Burton’s Addams Family-inspired hit
Since The Addams Family first debuted as a comic strip in 1938, the eccentric gothic family has found success in all kinds of iterations — including the now-iconic 1964-’66 TV sitcom and an ever-expanding film franchise. The latest, a supernatural mystery comedy from Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and legendary director Tim Burton focuses on the family’s deadpan daughter Wednesday, and instantly became apop culture phenomenon.
After an inaugural season that garnered the show Emmy nominations for Best Comedy and Jenna Ortega as Outstanding Lead Actress, it is understandable that the creators were somewhat anxious about following their winning formula with, well, more of the same. “It’s something we talked about a lot,” says Gough. “I think we didn’t want to rest on our laurels.” Adds Millar: “The sophomore slump is pretty famous, so we were very focused on making sure that this was even better than season one in terms of scale, but also the character dynamics. Increasing the ensemble helped as well. Characters that people wanted to see more of in season one, they see a lot more of in season two.”
From the get-go, that means the increased presence of Morticia and Gomez Addams, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán. “It was wonderful that they created such a beautiful arc for us to play,” says Zeta-Jones, who plays the black-clad family matriarch. “The Addams Family is such a modern family when you think of it. We’re a family that embraces idiosyncrasies and outcast traits, and we encourage them. It was wonderful, in season two, to be able to explore that, for us to be within Wednesday’s world, even though she didn’t want us to be there.”
The Addams Family expands even further this season, with Grandmama Hester (Absolutely Fabulous alum Joanna Lumley) paying a visit to her alma mater, Nevermore Academy. “She’s ghastly,” delights Lumley. “The only person she really likes is Wednesday, because she can see in her a kind of spirit of danger, daring — everything that she doesn’t see in Morticia. She’s grand, she’s vain, she’s greedy, and she sees in Wednesday a shining light.”
The qualities her grandmother values in Wednesday are also what Ortega enjoys the most about her character. “Most often when you have character discussions it’s about what makes them insecure and what’s their painful quality that they would hate to admit. Wednesday doesn’t have any of that,” says Ortega. “She’s so clearly and obviously herself. It’s nice to step into those shoes.” When inhabiting the character, Ortega finds that it is Wednesday who dictates what works and what doesn’t. “When I was figuring out, how does she stand or how does she carry herself, it’s very obvious when something isn’t Wednesday or doesn’t suit her,” she says. “It’s almost like she comes with a list of rules. And anytime I feel lost or confused in a scene, I just go back to those qualities . . . or just leave the room. If I didn’t have a reaction I would just walk out of the shot.”
That doesn’t mean Wednesday doesn’t care deeply. As we come to discover in the second season, when her roommate Enid (Emma Myers) appears to be in trouble, there is nothing she won’t do for her best friend. Still, there is no need for displays of affection. “She really lets her guard down with Enid at the end of the first season, and the second season, she doesn’t want to be questioned on her relationship with Enid, it’s just that she’s become family,” says Ortega. “Wednesday isn’t very vulnerable in general, but she never denies her love, hate or passion for her family and Enid just naturally becomes that.”
As the show’s production moves from Romania to Ireland, what remains deliciously consistent — if not better — are the visuals that exemplify this graphic world. “The truth is that actors have to invent stuff, we can act against white paper or green screen. However, once you step into one of these sets, it gives you something completely different,” says Lumley. “You’re not making it up. You’re walking down a great creaking corridor, you’re going into the principal’s study, which is immense with a blazing log fire. Tim always does this — he always makes stuff that is perfect.”
Burton, who was drawn to this world from the get-go, says, “When I read season one, I felt strangely like it was written for me. Even though I’m not a teenage girl, I feel like one sometimes and it’s something that really spoke to me.”
Making the show work with his signature tone, a mix of light and dark with some absurdist humour, is something the director (who helmed the season two opener) didn’t worry much about. “Life is a mixture of all those things together,” he says. “It was so fun to see all this stuff come to life, because they’re larger than life characters, but it’s very symbolic of what you feel about most normal families. I don’t know one family that’s not weird. You know what I mean?”
Wednesday, streaming on Netflix