“`html
Jenna Ortega has characterized the rapid ascent to fame following her starring role in Netflix’s acclaimed series “Wednesday” as “very overwhelming.”
The inaugural season of the show, centered on the sardonic daughter of the Addams family, swiftly became Netflix’s most-watched English-language series after its debut in 2022.
Ortega, 22, shared with BBC culture correspondent Lizo Mzimba her “gratitude and pleasure that it was able to resonate with audiences in the way that it did.”
However, when questioned about her preparedness for the heightened attention the series brought, the US actress responded: “Is anyone? No, I wasn’t. I wouldn’t want to know someone who is. I don’t think that should ever be like a normal sort of [experience].”
She elaborated: “I’m still very appreciative and grateful. We didn’t anticipate the widespread viewership. You undertake these projects without knowing what the future holds, so it was genuinely overwhelming.”
The second season of Tim Burton’s creation, slated for release next week, follows Wednesday Addams’ return to Nevermore Academy, now under the guidance of a new principal.
It will also feature a more prominent role for Wednesday’s parents, who are set to have an increased presence on the school’s campus, which Netflix has hinted will result in “a rare new form of torture for a fiercely independent amateur sleuth.”
The enhanced presence of Gomez and Morticia Addams allows the show to delve into the family’s dynamics more comprehensively than in the initial season.
“I think one of the reasons people resonate with the Addams family so much is their strangeness,” Ortega reflects.
“They’re a very cohesive unit, but they’re also very different from one another and stand out. They shouldn’t fit [together] but they do. And that’s very relatable.”
She emphasizes the intricate dynamic between Wednesday and Morticia, portrayed by Catherine Zeta-Jones, expressing her anticipation for viewers “getting to see more” of the Welsh actress, whom she describes as a “delicious, divine presence.”
“It’s very typical for mother and daughter to butt heads,” Ortega notes, “and the daughter wanting to be her own person and feel that maybe she’s not being given the space she deserves or needs to come into her own.
“But also the mother’s desire to look after her children and be protective, and not wanting them to have to deal with the same hardships that they may have faced in the past. Reading the scripts, it’s very applicable to my experience as a teenager, and now.”
California native Ortega has also featured in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, “Death of a Unicorn”, and two installments of the “Scream” franchise, in addition to television series “You” and “Jane the Virgin.”
However, she is most recognized for her portrayal of Wednesday Addams, a character celebrated for her sharp wit, deadpan delivery, and fascination with the macabre.
Wednesday was initially portrayed by Lisa Loring in “The Addams Family” TV series in the mid-1960s. Christina Ricci later embodied the role in two films in the early 1990s.
Ortega is expanding her role for the forthcoming second season, also serving as an executive producer, a position she describes as “a great education for me… I tried to soak in as much as I possibly could.”
She acknowledges the three-year interval between the first and second season, but adds that it “allowed the dust and debris to settle a little”.
Viewers have been “very patient with us”, Ortega smiles. “We made them wait for a long time. We do want to please them, but we want to do it in new and more exciting ways.”
Zeta-Jones says the second season gives her a bigger role after “just dropping in and setting up the matriarch of this central character” in the first.
Working on the opening season, the actress recalls, felt “like you were at the grassroots of something”.
So when producers told her they wanted to use the second season to “really incorporate the family surrounding Wednesday, and really look at that dynamic between the mother and daughter, it was just a joy”.
“They created a lovely arc that didn’t supersede the through story of Wednesday and her journey, it just padded it out beautifully and they fleshed our characters out great. At this point in my career, I feel so blessed to be part of this world.”
Other stars appearing in season two include Joanna Lumley as Wednesday’s grandmother Hester Frump, Steve Buscemi as Nevermore principal Barry Dort, and Billie Piper as head of music Isadora Capri.
Ortega suggests one of the reasons the show has resonated so widely is because it explores themes of “where we find our sense of community now”.
“I wasn’t around in the 70s, but I hear stories of people knocking on their neighbours’ doors, and the bikes going all throughout the city, and just expecting to meet someone at a certain time on a certain location.”
That contrasts hugely with the reliance on smartphones today, she notes. “People don’t talk to each other in person. They’re interacting and finding their community online, which can be very isolating.
“Also, there are so many voices and so many opinions that you’re exposed to, much more than you would typically be, or that humans are kind of meant to be exposed to.
“So I think it’s harder to find a sense of self. Young people are struggling to find, ‘What makes my voice stand out? What is it about me in this world and this society today that gives me a sense of purpose or control or authority?'”
According to Zeta-Jones, the Addams family are relatable precisely because “we embrace our idiosyncrasies”, adding: “It’s OK to be different, we don’t try to box it, hide it, as a family we encourage it… it’s the ultimate modern family.”
Ortega agrees: “There’s great comfort in seeing people who are so obviously themselves, freely, and place priority where it matters, and that’s your family, that’s who’s in front of you, your special interests, that’s your strength and your courage and your confidence in your voice.
“It’s very easy now to get swept up in some sort of sheep mentality, and I think it’s so important for young people to see this family now more than ever.”
The first four episodes of Wednesday’s second season are released on 6 August, with the remaining four released on 3 September.
BBC News used AI to help write the summary at the top of this article. It was edited by BBC journalists. Find out more.
Swan Youth project in Berkhamsted’s workshops tackling dealing with rejection and toxic masculinity
The streaming firm says AI allowed The Eternaut to complete a sequence faster and cheaper.
Dunham’s latest project is a Netflix rom-com loosely based on her life over the last few years.
Songs from the film KPop Demon Hunter have surpassed the success of real-life K-pop bands BTS and Blackpink.
The show’s themes of unemployment and inequality are all too relatable for Korean viewers.
“`