'I'm Not Afraid Any More.' Joy Sunday On Wednesday & Growth Between Seasons

Refinery29

4 days ago

Joy Sunday glides into the lobby of The Whitby Hotel in New York City's midtown donning a caramel corset and flouncy Emilio Pucci mini skirt. Sunday's presence and her features are strikingly captivating, but she doesn't need the striped blazer or greenish-blue contacts she wears to suit up for her role as Bianca Barclay on Netflix's Wednesday to turn heads in real life. It's clear that Sunday's confidence gives life to Bianca, the siren with the power to mesmerize and persuade even the most strong-willed.
Bianca is Sunday's first role as a main character in a TV series. And with the show being Netflix's most watched English language original series ever, she hit the ground running. Now going into a new season — the first four episodes premiere today, Wednesday, August 6 — Sunday assures you, me, and everyone else watching that she isn't stopping. At all.
'I'm being very strategic about how I'm moving forward, because I'm not losing this platform,' the 28-year-old New York native said matter of factly. 'I'm taking it to the end, and I want to take others with me. It's not a threat, but it's a promise.'
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I'm taking it to the end, and I want to take others with me. It's not a threat, but it's a promise.
joy sunday on acting beyond 'wednesday'
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In Season 1, we're introduced to Bianca as a popular student at Nevermore Academy who has control over her powers, despite the mistrust she faces from others, including her ex. When Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) shows up, they share a brief rivalry before Bianca joins her investigation into the mayor's death. Season 2 goes deeper into Bianca's vulnerability, Sunday explained. Bianca's past comes back to haunt her and she begins reckoning with her relationship with her mother, a siren who uses her powers to scam and wants her daughter to follow suit.
'In Season 2, she's trying to hide herself and conceal what's going on in the background, and so she's really having to come to terms with what she really didn't want to do in Season 1,' Sunday said. 'Now she's being forced to [be a] more compassionate individual. Because that's something that she judged her mom, Gabrielle (Gracy Goldman), for so heavily in Season 1, and that now she finds herself in the same position.'
Addressing motherhood wounds plays a huge part in Season 2 overall. Viewers will see most of the main characters' relationships with their moms, for better or worse. As Bianca navigates her own challenges at school, she's now faced with the task of protecting Gabrielle, a theme the teen experienced in their relationship growing up. Sunday said she appreciates the duo's redemptive arc and the opportunity to find healing for them.
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Young Black women are forced to mature faster than anyone else is to understand their relationship to the world... I think that's why it's so special to get to see Bianca need help and to eventually learn to ask for it.
joy sunday
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Despite this being a fantastical world, Sunday believes that forgiveness is important to see. Especially for Black girls who often have to mature faster than others.
'Young Black women are forced to mature faster than anyone else is to understand their relationship to the world and to the family, how the world sees them and how they see themselves,' Sunday passionately stated. 'I think that's why it's so special to get to see Bianca need help and to eventually learn to ask for it. And it's also nice to see people come to her aid without her asking for it, and to see people advocate for her as well.'
Though Bianca's confidence may have wavered a bit since the first season, Sunday's has only grown. Three years ago when Wednesday first premiered, Sunday was still new to doing press runs and red carpets.
'I almost felt like I needed to play a role or to fit in terms of how I was presenting myself,' she admitted. That feeling has faded as she's gotten her reps in for projects like Rise (2023) and Under The Influencer (2024). But with the writers and actors strike in 2023 and a shaky Hollywood economy, Sunday admits that work hasn't been as steady. Thankfully, becoming a global ambassador for Lancome has helped sustain her and her family.
'It's been a journey of working my way back to this feeling of confidence and this feeling of, I've got some shit to do,' she explained. 'I've been through trials and tribulations, but I think it's really an important part of the actor's journey to share that it's not always going to be the 'hurry up.' Sometimes it's going to be the 'wait.''
This isn't looking like a 'wait' season for Sunday, however. In February, Deadline announced that the actor would be joining the HBO limited series DTF St. Louis. And ahead of its Season 2 premiere, Netflix renewed Wednesday for a third season.
Going forward, Sunday is prepared to show the industry more of what she's made of. She's eyeing more fantasy and supernatural roles and some action. (She's specifically manifesting Interview With the Vampire and Ghost Dog 2.) In this era, Sunday knows she's more than good.
'I feel empowered to say I am that much more extensive of an artist, and I'm not afraid to show that,' she said. 'In Season 1, I was kind of afraid of having to fit in the boxes. I wanted to make sure that everything would go well, but I'm not afraid any more. I'm excited.'