Netflix turns Cockatoo Island into ‘Wednesday Island' for fan event led by Jenna Ortega and Tim Burton
The former convict shipyard was renamed Wednesday Island to celebrate the release of the smash-hit series' second season, with its stars Jenna Ortega, Emma Myers, Gwendoline Christie and Hunter Doohan delighting diehard fans who dressed up as their favourite 'outcast' for the occasion.
With a five-metre high pyre set ablaze and various interactive fan spaces to experience, Ortega – who plays titular character Wednesday Addams – walked the purple carpet to a chorus of screams.
'People tell you about the numbers of people that are watching the show and doing whatever, but it's not until you see it first-hand that it really kind of sinks in,' Ortega told news.com.au at the event.
Since Wednesday 's Season 2: Part 1 release on August 6, Netflix has already recorded a staggering 50 million views – and viewership is only set to soar with the release of Season 2: Part 2 on September 3.
'This is such a lovely turnout,' Hunter Doohan, who portrays Tyler Galpin, Wednesday's love interest – who turns out to be a monstrous creature, told news.com.au from the purple carpet.
'I haven't been back in Australia for almost 10 years. My dad's entire family is from Australia, and so it's kind of surreal to come back and (have) this be the way I'm doing it.'
A major plot twist to Season 2 was revealed at a prior Sydney press conference during which it was announced Gwendoline Christie is back from the dead as Nevermore Headmistress Larissa Weems.
Like Ortega and Doohan, the British actor said she was also in awe of the fandom the show has created not just in Australia, but across the globe – and she credits director Tim Burton for this impact.
'I think it's just extraordinary. I mean, the global impact of this show is continuing to echo and reverberate around the world,' she told news.com.au.
'I just adore Tim. I wanted to work with Tim my entire life. There is absolutely no one else on earth like him.
'I adore his filmmaking sensibility. He's a masterful filmmaker and it's always extremely elegant and entirely original.
'But I love the tender vulnerability and humour that runs throughout all of his work. There's never been anyone ever like him.'
The evening marked the conclusion of the Global Doom Tour, with Sydney its last stop after the cast and creatives visited England, Poland, Italy, France, Romania, the US, Canada and South Korea.
And no one is more surprised than Burton at how embraced the series is around the world.
'You make something and you hope that anybody likes it,' the Oscar-nominated director told news.com.au.
'Honestly, that's the main thing. I just know that that's the most beautiful thing, is that when you make something and it connects to somebody.'
Myers, who plays Wednesday's bubbly best friend on the show, said she enjoys making the series as much as people enjoy watching it.
'I just find it fun. I think you don't have to think too much to watch it. It's just enjoyable,' she said at the event.
'We have a lot of fun making it, and I'm glad that a lot of people have fun watching it.'
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