Writer, director and producer Tim Burton praised actress and musician Lady Gaga at the premiere of Wednesday Season 2 in London on Wednesday night, saying that working with the multi-hyphenate on the Netflix series was “inspirational.”
Gaga wasn’t in attendance at the premiere due to her ongoing Mayhem Ball tour, but will guest on the series as Rosaline Rotwood, a “legendary Nevermore teacher who crosses paths with Wednesday.”
She joins several new faces in the second season, including Steve Buscemi as new Nevermore principal Barry Dort and Joanna Lumley as Wednesday’s grandmother.
Burton told Variety of working with Gaga, “She’s such an artist and so for me, working with an artist is inspirational. But I felt that way about Joanna and Steve, who I’ve worked with before. These people come on this set, you see the whole crew kind of light up. It’s a beautiful thing to witness.”
Burton also recently teased that he may collaborate with Gaga again in the future, saying at the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy that he’s “done something else with her.” Asked by Variety if he could reveal more details or confirm that they’re working together again, Burton replied: “No, I can’t. But I hope so.”
When asked what makes Wednesday Season 2 stand out from the first, Burton said that it focuses more on the Addams family dynamics.
“You have Wednesday and her mother and then Morticia and her mother,” he said. “So I feel that delves a bit deeper into this weird family. Everybody says they have a family that’s weird but I’m like, name me one normal family. There’s not one I’ve ever met in my whole life.”
And though Wednesday was recently handed an early Season 3 renewal, Burton said that his main focus is still Season 2, which comes out in two parts on August 6th and September 3rd, respectively.
“I’m sort of waiting to see what happens,” he said. “We’re working on [Season 3] and stuff, but I’m still finishing one episode [of Season 2]. Shh.”
Catherine Zeta-Jones also walked the purple carpet and discussed the evolution of Morticia, who she said has a much bigger role in the upcoming season. “I was so honored and blessed to have that storyline because I’m so close to [Wednesday] at Nevermore,” Zeta-Jones said.
“You see the contention and the struggle and the kind of duel, and then I get the great Joanna Lumley to come play my mother and I’m equally as contentious and combative with her. And you get a sense of who this family [is].”
She said that diving deeper into Morticia as a character “was just lush,” adding: “Every day I was able to play with nuances — and I love turning up to work and acting with Jenna Ortega.”
I look forward to seeing what season 2 of Wednesday brings. It’s a fun show, and it sounds like this season, and its guest stars, will be at least as good as the first.
