Tim Burton's Netflix smash 'Wednesday' creeps back
'Wednesday' is back for a second season, with Jenna Ortega reprising her role as the sharp-tongued, deadpan Wednesday Addams.
Once again roaming the creepy corridors of Nevermore Academy, she and her friends — including Emma Myers' Enid Sinclair — unravel more mysteries lurking within the school's darkest corners.
Season 1 was a global phenomenon, anchored by the vision of Tim Burton, the show's executive producer and director of four of its eight episodes. Both Burton — the filmmaker behind classics such as 'Edward Scissorhands' and 'Corpse Bride' — and the core cast return for Season 2.
Burton said the new season digs deeper into the Addams family dynamic, giving Morticia, Gomez and Pugsley more screen time.
'Everybody's got a weird family and this one is no different,' said Burton during a press conference in Seoul on Monday. 'In this season, we explore mother-daughter relationships, Morticia and Wednesday, and the family dynamic is a bit richer in the season.'
Burton approached Season 1 as if he were making a feature, and said that ethos continues in the new episodes.
''Wednesday' was my first real foray into TV, but we treated the show like we were making a movie. So each episode for us is like we're making a film — it's got the same dynamic, the same sort of creativity that you put into a film,' he said, referring to the filmmaker's symbolic stop-motion animation touch in the second season's opening episode.
While 'Wednesday' topped Netflix charts in most countries, Korea was an exception. Asked about its comparatively muted reception here, Ortega said the cast focuses less on numbers and more on connection.
'I think looking at art or any sort of television making or filmmaking as a competition does everyone a major disservice. We're just so grateful and excited to be able to have a show that plays here. … Numbers and things like that don't matter if we're able to connect with one person — that's incredible, and you know we've been fortunate to connect with the world,' she said.
Ortega also teased a nod to Korean culture later in the season.
'The part of the second half is very Enid-centric, and she's a huge lover of Korean culture. We have some songs in there that you guys might appreciate or be familiar with, so I think that's probably something to look forward to,' she said.
For Burton, 'Wednesday' is a natural fit — a show about outcasts from a filmmaker who's made a career out of celebrating them.
'I think the word 'normal' is a very strange word,' he said. 'I don't even know what that means. People say the Addams family is a weird family — well I mean that's the thing. I've never met one family that isn't weird."
'Normal people would scare me more than what you consider outcasts. That's because (I feel like an outcast), and I think a lot of people feel that way. I'm sure everybody has that slight feeling that they don't belong, they don't fit in. They struggle with school, family, society, whatever. So for me, that's normal. That's how I feel," he said.
'So I always saw things in a different way ... for me that's something I most identify with,' he added.
Netflix officially greenlit Season 3 for "Wednesday" on July 23, two weeks ahead of the second season's debut. The first half of Season 2 dropped Wednesday, with the second half scheduled to release Sept. 3.
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