Wednesday was a smash hit for Netflix, exponentially raising the profile of star Jenna Ortega—particularly in the horror realm, as she went on to survive two Scream movies and be cast in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. And while that latter Tim Burton project will hit eyeballs first (the Ghost With the Most arrives in theaters September 6), there are still plenty of goth-loving fans who’re dying for hints about Wednesday‘s eagerly awaited return.
In a new Vanity Fair profile about her rise to fame, Ortega shares some regrets about the way she expressed her dissatisfaction with the writing in Wednesday season one (“I probably could have used my words better in describing all of that … I think it was hard because I felt like had I represented the situation better, it probably would’ve been received better,” she told the magazine). But being assertive actually paid off; Ortega was elevated to producer for Wednesday season two.
While she didn’t divulge specific plot details, she told Vanity Fair there will be “new villains, new supernatural abilities, and an even darker tone.” The tone takes inspiration from the 1964 Roger Corman-directed, Vincent Price-starring film version of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death, while still keeping its wide fanbase in mind. “I think the feel that we’re going for is a little bit more horror-inspired … Not to say that suddenly we’re the goriest show of all time. I mean, there’s six-year-olds watching.”
She hinted that “We’re doing this thing now where Wednesday just kind of appears. She is a little bit of a jump scare herself.”
The story also notes that Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Gomez (Luis Guzmán), parents of teenager Wednesday, will get more screentime in season two—and reveals that Ortega is supremely jazzed that Steve Buscemi is now part of the cast.
Head to Vanity Fair to read the full profile, which includes some Beetlejuice Beetlejuice tidbits as well as a rundown of her upcoming projects, including Taika Waititi’s sci-fi Kazuo Ishiguro adaptation Klara and the Sun.
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