Netflix creators rule out ‘Wednesday' romance plot
While there are plenty of fans who tune into Netflix's Wednesday in hopes that Jenna Ortega's titular character and her mismatched Nevermore Academy roommate, Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers), will one day see the light and realise they love each other, series creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar say that is not in the cards, per Decider.
'It's a show about female friendship and people can read into it whatever they want, which is great. I mean, that's the beauty of television, is people can take ownership, but they're very much friends,' Gough said when asked if they might ever explore a romance between the fan-favourite characters. 'It's really a show exploring that female friendship.'
On TikTok, one can throw a stone and find an edit or fan art devoted to 'Wenclair,' the ship name of the two characters, with some videos racking up millions of likes from hopeful viewers.
It's become so ubiquitous online, in fact, that Ortega and Myers have personally fielded questions about their characters' sexuality and relationship to the LGBTQ+ community.
Adding onto what Gough said, Millar said they've always set out to centre Wednesday and Enid around 'the idea of sisterhood and what that means,' and that while it may not be romantic in nature, it is something special that these diametrically opposed teens would find a deep connection in each other's presence.
'It's amazing that they've been embraced in that way. I think it's something that's very special, unique about that,' Millar said. 'You have a show that is about, at its core, these two teenage girls who need each other and have found that connection. And they're very, very different.'
As for what comes next for Wednesday after the Season 2 Part 1 cliffhanger and the importance of keeping Wednesday and Enid's friendship at the heart of the show, keep reading for Decider's full interview with Gough and Millar.
DECIDER: I want to start by asking about the timeline from Season 1 to Season 2. There's been a lot of backlash over the three-year wait. What is your response to those critics?
ALFRED GOUGH: Well, the Season 2 timeline, unfortunately, was out of our control. There was a writers' strike, we moved the show from Romania to Ireland, so there were other factors. Because, believe me, we didn't want the show off the air that long either. And Season 3 will definitely be coming faster than Season 2.
Do you have a pie-in-the-sky timeline for Season 3?
GOUGH: At this point, I don't think we know what day it is, so I couldn't tell you.
MILES MILLAR: Obviously, we want it sooner than three years. The show is very difficult to make. I know it sounds like we only have eight episodes, but each episode is like a movie in terms of — we have over 3000 visual effects shots, it takes us nine months to shoot the show. So it is a big show. It's like a BMF in terms of getting the show made. And we have incredibly high standards in terms of visual effects and all those sorts of elements that go into making a great show. But yeah, we share everyone's frustrations in terms of the time it's taken to get back on the air. But the aim is for Season 2 to come much faster. That's definitely our goal. The fans are going to be so happy to hear that. I do want to talk about the pacing a little bit, because we only got the first four episodes, and that really leaves off on a cliffhanger. Where do we go from here for Season 2 Part 2?
GOUGH: There was talk about dividing the season early on. And for us, it was the ability to kind of change up the mystery storytelling. You know, we told the cards down whodunit in Season 1. And we didn't want to repeat ourselves that way. We wanted to have a mystery, but then we wanted to have this mystery kind of resolve itself, but then open the door to a ton more questions, which will then propel us into Part 2.
DECIDER: When you sat down to start to break out the season, how difficult was it for you guys to find the balance between the Wednesday and Enid stuff, the mystery, the high school drama?
MILLAR: That is the balance of the show. It's like the cake mix you want because the show has lots of things. It's definitely a murder mystery, it's a family drama with the Addams, it's really about female friendship with Enid and Wednesday and then throwing Agnes into that as well. We have the teen romance with Enid and Bruno and Ajax and Bianca. We have Bianca's story with her mum. So there are all these elements and tone as well. The show can be super serious and sort of earnest with the love story with the kids or it can be pretty dark and gory with Slurp and his antics as a brain-eating zombie. And then we have the drama with Morticia and Wednesday, but what we love about it is it is that tonal mix, that it is this sort of like grand soup of tone and audiences seem to embrace it.
MILLAR: And also, at its heart, we always say it's a comedy, so you should hopefully be laughing, as you go, to Wednesday's zingers and sort of physical comedy of Ajax stoning the kids during prank day and things like that. So it's really this great mix of tone and juggling act.
DECIDER: When we talk about physicality, we cannot overlook Jenna's performance as Wednesday. She's been nominated for all these awards but can we just give her flowers for coming right back for Season 2?
MILLAR: Completely. She came in, Season 1, owned it. And she slipped right back into this character like she was possessed this season. She is so incredible in this role. It was the role she was born to play; she is Wednesday, you know? We always talked to Tim about finding Wednesday, [it] was going to be the make-or-break of the show. We literally found the perfect Wednesday. Jenna just brings so much to every single frame, every single shot, every single expression. It's really magic on screen. And I think she can do so much for so little. We are so lucky to have her and so thrilled. I think people are going to love her this season.
DECIDER: You mentioned Tim, I think fans are going to lose their minds at the very-Burton animation in Episode 1. How did that come into the mix this season?
GOUGH: We had the story of the Skull Tree in the script and we sort of initially wrote it, you know, just as a regular flashback. And then we realised it was an opportunity, like, if we're ever going to take a swing now with stop motion, which takes a long time and is not cheap, this would be the time to do it. So we just wrote it in the draft, we didn't tell anybody, we just wrote it in. And then, everybody read it and loved it. Tim fell in love with it and we worked with Mackinnon and Saunders, who did Corpse Bride and have worked with Tim in the past, and Tim designed all of the characters. So it was amazing.
DECIDER: I want to ask about the Wednesday and Enid connection. This show has so many queer fans and they see themselves represented in their relationship, is there a world in which you guys would explore that type of dynamic?
GOUGH: It's a show about female friendship and people can read into it whatever they want, which is great. I mean, that's the beauty of television, is people can take ownership, but they're very much friends. And it's really a show exploring that female friendship.
MILLAR: And the idea of sisterhood and what that means. It's amazing that they've been embraced in that way. I think it's something that's very special, unique about that. You have a show that is about, at its core, these two teenage girls who need each other and have found that connection. And they're very, very different.
That was something in the initial story. We wanted to kind of close off the Thornhill-Tyler relationship and we wanted the death to be impactful, but it really drives Tyler's character going forward because we've set up that a hyde can't survive without their master. So the fact that he does that is a huge deal. And also, when you have a character like that, you want to show in this world that people can die and there are real stakes. So I think that's something that was important.
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