‘Wednesday’ Star Hunter Doohan on Tyler’s Big Reveal & Hopes for Season 2
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Wednesday Season 1, Episodes 1-8.]
Wednesday may have centered around the titular Addams Family daughter played by Jenna Ortega, but much of the series followed her efforts to uncover the story behind a string of mysterious deaths in the local town where her new school Nevermore Academy resides.
Almost as soon as Wednesday arrived, she began investigating while also falling into an unexpected romance with a coffee shop worker and believed normie, Tyler Galpin (Hunter Doohan), the son of Jericho’s small-town Sheriff. But over time, the pieces begin falling into place as the crimes start overlapping with Tyler’s presence, and Wednesday has a vision involving the young man.
Ultimately, she learns that Laurel Gates, a.k.a. Ms. Thornhill, played by Christina Ricci, is responsible for motivating Tyler’s attacks as a Hyde, using his powers to help gather the necessary ingredients to resurrect her ancestor Joseph Crackstone, a pilgrim determined to rid the world of outcasts. One of the reasons behind Laurel’s mission is to seek revenge for the death of her brother Garrett Gates who was accidentally killed after an encounter with Gomez and Morticia decades earlier.
(Credit: Courtesy Of Netflix)
In the end, Laurel’s plan may have failed as Wednesday defeats Joseph Crackstone (William Houston), but Tyler still remains a Hyde (a being that transforms from a human shape into a large and violent monster), who, despite getting caught, may be on the lam by season’s end. Below, Doohan breaks down Tyler’s monster reveal, his hopes for a possible Season 2, and much more.
Did you know the truth about Tyler before signing on, or did you receive scripts and learn over time?
Hunter Doohan: Yeah, I knew from the beginning. Right after I got cast, Al and Miles fully explained the sequence of events leading up to me turning into the Hyde and what was gonna happen towards the end. I didn’t know exactly how it was going to play out, but I knew what it was building up to. And I think that was important so that we could kind of disguise it and not try to give it away.
Considering that, was it fun leaning into the more innocent side of Tyler for the first half of the season and then pulling the rug out from under Wednesday (and viewers) when he asks her, “what does it feel like to lose”?
Yeah. When I read that, I loved that that was how he revealed it. He’s just toying with her at that point. But it was really fun because knowing that was all coming up; it let me just kind of have fun. Tyler’s just trying to pull one over on Wednesday the whole season, and he puts on this act. You know, I kind of looked at it as, like, what’s the most stereotypical love interest YA teen role? That’s all that he’s doing because, you know, everything he does in the first seven episodes is all a lie.
(Credit: Vlad Cioplea/Netflix
Do you think any part of Tyler cared for Wednesday, or was his involvement with her entirely brought on by Ms. Thornhill’s control?
Uh, no, I think it’s all Ms. Thornhill’s doing. I don’t know if he cared for her. I think there’s an attraction, and I think he thinks of her as a kind of worthy adversary. But no, I’m interested to see what their dynamic would be without Thornhill or Laurel Gates pulling the strings on Tyler behind the scenes.
In a sense, you played most of your scenes between two Wednesdays (Ortega’s current interpretation and Ricci, who previously played the iconic character in the ’90s). What was that like?
I mean, it was like a dream come true. I remember the first time I worked with Christina was in Episode 4 when he comes to the dance, and I had the pleasure of being in a scene with both of them, and I was just looking between them. It was surreal because Christina was such a huge part of why I was an Addams Family fan because I loved her version of Wednesday in the nineties movies.
How does it feel to be a part of that pop culture fabric with this role now?
Really intimidating. I still feel a kind of pressure. It’s kind of scary to wait and see how everyone’s gonna respond to it all.
What was it like when you got to see the Hyde version of your character for the first time?
That was crazy. You know, Tim designed it, and it was just so cool to realize I was getting to be a Tim Burton monster. One of the most cherished confluences I got on the TV show was Tim telling me I was in good company in a long line of sensitive monsters. But there was a funny story about that because the first time I saw the drawing or the mockup of it, they told me Tim had waited until I was cast to draw it. I was like… wait, is there supposed to be a resemblance here?
(Credit: Vlad Cioplea/Netflix)
As the season carries on, there’s more action going on. What was it like preparing for those moments?
Yeah, James Marshall did such an amazing job with that [finale] episode. I remember I was blown away when I was doing ADR. There was like an issue, and they kind of just let episode eight-play, and they hadn’t even put in the special effects. It was the two stunt guys doing the monster fight. And it was so exciting. And then it was switched to Crackstone and the quad with the fire, and I was just blown away by how it had turned out. But you know, I got off easy on that front. There’s not a lot for me to prepare because that’s all special effects. But there was a lot of me being a weirdo alone in my apartment in Romania, practicing how to transition into a monster
How much went into the transition or transformation scenes?
We did a test day to kind of like block it all out, and they shot that as a rehearsal, and then there were a lot of different setups but not too many takes of that. I remember one of the close-ups, though, when I’m like rolling my head back and turning into the monster. I begged for another take because I was like, “I think I let out a really weird noise; let’s go back.” [Laughs].
In the final moments of the episode, Tyler is seen being carted away in a van, all tied up, but he begins to transform. Did he escape?
Oh yeah. Yeah. He escapes it.
Is he terrorizing Jericho, or is he going somewhere else, do you think?
I think he definitely escapes, and he’s probably going somewhere to lick his wounds and figure out his next plan because he’s even more pissed off than ever. But now he doesn’t have Laurel Gates pulling the strings on him anymore. So I think Tyler’s got a lot to figure out about what to do next.
Wednesday has a stalker, and Tyler was in the photos snapped by this mystery individual. Do you think he’s also in this stalker’s crosshairs?
I don’t know. There’s just not a lot I can say about that.
Have there been any discussions about where the show would go if there was a Season 2?
There’s definitely been discussions and plans. They’ve told me a few things, but honestly, even Al and Miles are keeping it close to their chest, even away from the cast. So I’m just as curious as everyone else. I’m hoping it comes out and everyone loves it, and they get a Season 2 script.
Wednesday, Season 1, Streaming now, Netflix
