‘Wednesday’ Bosses Explain [Spoiler]’s Death, Casting Christopher Lloyd & More

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Wednesday Season 2, Part 1.]

The first half of Wednesday‘s sophomore round on Netflix is filled with surprising twists, fun new characters (even snappy undead ones!) and murders of crows committing murder.

While there’s still so much to unpack about the four episodes released on August 6, TV Insider did get a chance to pick the brains of co-showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar on a few choice topics that might help quell the thirst until we get more Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) on September 6 in Part 2. Scroll on, and beware of spoilers.

On Christopher Lloyd’s Professor Orloff

Christopher Lloyd, who played Uncle Fester in the Addams Family films in the 1990s, slid into Millar’s Instagram DMs to express his interest in appearing on the show. But the role he wound up inhabiting — Nevermore Academy’s longest-running staff member Professor Orloff — was particularly built for him. “We always want to push and challenge ourselves in terms of visual effects and what we can do, so an idea came up: ‘What if one teacher at the school was just a head in a jar?’,” recalls Millar. “We thought Chris would be perfect, because he’s always been on the forefront of visual effects with his movies.”

In Part 2, we’ll get even more Orloff, teases Millar, and you might even need to grab your tissues. “The idea is, can you feel emotion for someone whose character is just a head in a jar? And I think by the end of the season, you do,” the exec says. “It’s a bit like Thing [Victor Dorobantu]. How do you embody an amputated hand with so much personality? And you really feel for him. So, that’s something that we were excited about, and Chris knocked it out of the park in terms of his performance.”

Helen Sloan/Netflix

On Wednesday & Morticia’s sword fight

During Episode 3 “Call of the Woe,” one of the season’s best scenes takes place when Wednesday fights her mother Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) for ownership of Goody Addams’ spellbook, in an el duelo a-ciegas-style sword duel, while blindfolded. Of course this was far from Zeta-Jones’ first time holding a saber, but what did it look like behind the scenes to achieve this epic mother-daughter onscreen moment?

“It was something that we always wanted to do,” says Millar. “It felt like a natural scene for those two characters and given Catherine’s pedigree with Zorro, it felt like it could be a fun one. The challenge over the book felt like a really perfect opportunity to do that.”

Millar says they trained for three or four days and did the “whole sword fight,” along with the stunt team. The blindfolds had slits in them, so the actors could see, which were later covered up with CGI.

And of course, after all that, Wednesday lost to her mom. “For all her brilliance and fortitude, Wednesday still makes a lot of mistakes,” says Gough. “And there are times when, she would never admit it, but she can let emotion get the best of her, especially when it comes to her mother. Morticia is very cool under pressure, and we’ve established she’s an excellent fencer from her school days. So I think to just watch her best Wednesday, it reminds you like, ‘Oh right, Wednesday’s still her daughter.'”

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On Tyler’s escape & killing of Thornhill

Not only were viewers treated to more of Wednesday’s Season 1 love interest, vengeful Hyde Tyler (Hunter Doohan), as he was locked away at Willow Hill Psychiatric Facility, but his “Master” Marilyn Thornhill, played by Christina Ricci, made a surprise return as well. Thornhill was brought to Willow Hill by Dr. Fairburn (Thandiwe Newton), in hopes that she could help unlock Tyler’s secrets. Instead, the dangerous Tyler gets unlocked himself and escapes the facility. But first, he slays Thornhill. “You’re not my mother, you’re my master. Or should I say, you were…” says Tyler in a tension-filled moment, before giving his former Nevermore teacher a five-second head start to “Run.” Yikes.

And then, Tyler throws Wednesday out of a window at Willow Hill, rendering her unconscious. It’s stated that a Hyde cannot survive without his Master, and with Tyler on the run in the second half of Season 2, we can’t help but wonder where he’ll wind up next — and who might be his next victim. “He’s loose, and he’s got a lot of scores to settle,” teases Gough. “He’s settled two [Thornhill and Wednesday], and now he’s got more.” He later adds, “Wednesday foresaw Enid’s [Emma Myers] death and now Tyler’s out….you can see this is not looking good.” Watch out, Enid!

Wednesday, Season 2, Part 1, Streaming Now, Netflix