Jenna Ortega, the star of Netflix’s Wednesday, wants her character Wednesday Addams to lean into darkness instead of heroism in season 2.

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Wednesday season 1

Wednesday star Jenna Ortega wants her character to embrace her darkness in season 2. The character of Wednesday Addams, the only daughter of the gothic Addams family created by Charles Addams, has been around since 1938, initially being introduced in Addams’ single-panel comics before going on to appear in many other forms of media. Wednesday has been portrayed by several actors over the years, including Lisa Loring in the 1960s and Christina Ricci in the 1990s. Most recently, Ortega stepped into the role as a teenage version of the character for Netflix’s Wednesday, which is the first Addams Family adaptation to center on the family’s daughter.

Wednesday is nearly always depicted as a morbid young girl with an affinity for the macabre, and new series Wednesday certainly leans into that description, with the character’s many dark one-liners and use of piranhas to get back at school bullies. Despite her outwardly dark appearance, Wednesday season 1 saw Ortega’s character display plenty of heart and heroism as she grew closer to other characters such as Enid (Emma Meyers), showed her emotions, and worked hard to save others from the monster. During a sit-down with Entertainment Tonight, Ortega discusses her hopes for the next season, revealing her desire for Wednesday to lean into her darkness further and eschew the heroics in favor of “an antihero stream.” See what she has to say below:

“I guess I kind of want her to be darker. I want her to get more in the nitty-gritty of things and not play things so safe. Because there’s a lot of lines in this one about her saving the school and doing whatever, but for me, her main drive with the monster was kind of a competitiveness, like ‘man, how’s this guy doing this and why can’t I?’ So I think I wanted to continue down an antihero stream rather than typical hero.”

How Wednesday Can Become Darker In Season 2

Ortega’s opinion that Wednesday wasn’t dark enough in season 1 may be a surprise to some considering her many sinister lines of dialogue and morbid interests. However, the actor has an excellent point about the character playing things safe, which could also be the result of Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar helming this series after having previously made a successful coming-of-age show about a bona fide hero, Superman (Tom Welling) himself. The involvement of gothic filmmaker Tim Burton and Ortega’s own desire to explore the darker sides of Wednesday should continue to provide an excellent balance to the show going into Wednesday season 2.

Ortega’s interpretation of Wednesday’s desire to solve the murders being driven by a competitive instinct rather than an innate desire to help others could be the key to unlocking more of her darkness in season 2. While Ortega doesn’t necessarily want Wednesday to become villainous, season 2 could confirm her thought that Wednesday isn’t necessarily looking to help others with her actions, though she doesn’t mind doing so if helping them means she can embrace her darkness. Wednesday’s expulsion from her first school already proved the character can show a deep care for others while still engaging in shocking and ghastly actions, which Wednesday season 2 should lean further into in order to make her into an anti-hero instead of an outright hero.

If the series plays out the way Ortega is hoping, Wednesday season 2 will have to navigate Wednesday’s growing darkness and somehow keep her from being expelled from Nevermore, since expulsion has been shown to be a consequence of her actions time and again. Luckily, the school for outcasts is more than equipped to handle her, and depending on who the new administrator is after Principal Weems’ (Gwendoline Christie) death, perhaps the next head of the school will even encourage Wednesday’s tenebrous nature. In season 2, Wednesday will likely launch into investigating who her mysterious stalker is, a mission that could take on an overtly ominous turn with the character being driven by curiosity and a desire for vindication rather than caution.

Source: ET

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