To celebrate the release of the second season of hit Netflix show Wednesday, director Tim Burton and his cast, including star Jenna Ortega, hit Australia for a whirlwind trip.
During their time in Sydney, Rolling Stone AU/NZ caught up with Ortega and Burton to talk about the new season, the chemistry between the pair (they also worked together on last year’s Beetlejuice sequel), and the music featured in the show. But there were still no spoilers about Lady Gaga’s role in Season 2.
Check out the conversation below.
Rolling Stone AU/NZ: Congratulations on the release! Wednesday has been a hit around the world, and I think a lot of that has to do with the undeniable chemistry between you two. If we can rewind to the beginning, what were the first interactions like?
Tim Burton: Even before that, I mean this was during COVID, so I only met Jenna when we were casting by Zoom. In fact, I didn’t actually see her until we started shooting. But it was amazing [and] interesting, even by Zoom, she was obviously the right person and was completely Wednesday. So, even before I met her in person, I felt really amazed and comfortable that she was Wednesday.
Jenna Ortega: When we started the show, I was in a complete panic. I felt like I hadn’t really found her yet or I was a bit confused or things that I thought that I wanted to go with, I didn’t want to go with more on the day. It was just experimenting and falling on my face for the first time for a couple of weeks and [points to Tim] you wouldn’t give me a lot of feedback. It was scary to me because I couldn’t tell if I was anywhere close to something that was right or felt right to all of us. But he was giving me space to express myself and express the character the way that I wanted to and for that I’m really grateful. I was very honest with you about my feelings or, kind of, confusion, but you always made sure… I never felt pressure from you and it felt very comfortable and understood and that was a great relief.
RS: Has that changed now?
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T: No, not to me!
J: Well, I’m confused, but about other things.
T: [Laughs]
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 14: Tim Burton, Gwendoline Christie, Jenna Ortega, Emma Myers, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar attend the “Wednesday” S2, Part 2 ‘Outcast Assembly’ on Cockatoo Island on August 14, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Hanna Lassen/Getty Images for Netflix)
RS: Tim, I was watching an interview you did recently where you shared a story of seeing The Sixth Sense in the cinemas and someone ruined the ending for you and you were furious. We live in a time now where leaks and spoilers are so common in film and TV, or sometimes people latch onto Easter eggs that may not even exist. In part one of this season, we find out that Principal Weems is back. Do you have conversations in the production room about how you can get around major spoilers or how you can still find ways to shock the audience?
T: You can’t really control that stuff, you know? I don’t go on the internet much. I don’t delve too deeply into that world, but I know it exists. I’m a private person, so I always like to keep things as much inside as you can But I’m always amazed when some things come out and some things don’t come out. My thing would always be to hold it back, but I don’t know.
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RS: Jenna, you’re pulling double duty in this season as the lead star and executive producing Wednesday for the first time. Obviously first seasons of any show are unknown – you don’t know if it will be a hit or not. But Season One does what it does and here we are with Season Two, was it difficult to navigate delivering on screen and learning this new craft off screen?
J: I think it was a pretty natural progression from what we were doing during the first season. I naturally just started to become more involved as the months went on [filming the first season] in Romania and, you know, there was a lot of creative collaboration happening. So, the second time, it just was kind of further elaborating on that. If anything, I just kind of got to be in on the less creative stuff and a lot more of the technical stuff which is still really exciting to me and new for me. It was like a new door had opened up that I didn’t know was there so it was great being able to learn a lot of other things, but it wasn’t I didn’t feel strained.
T: She was doing it before it happened, anyway!
RS: Given that you’ve leant into it and have said you love the producing side, working with a legend like Tim, is there an aspiration whether in the short or long term that you would want to get behind the camera yourself?
J: Yes. Yes, I would.
RS: Let’s talk the music in Season Two. We’ve got so many big names even after Season One like REM, Springsteen, The Cranberries. Take me into the production meetings about the music. What were the picks, what were the hits, what still might come in later seasons?
J: They just write them into the script, don’t they?
T: Well, no, but sometimes like in the first season, I mean The Cramps…
J: That was you.
T: There’s a vibe of Wednesday. Whether it’s me or the producers or the music supervisors, [we] all kind of chime in with things that we kind of think are Wednesday.
J: I don’t think it was originally “Zombie” by The Cranberries [used in Season 2]. I think it was something else in there and I didn’t want that so…
T: It’s kind of like a playlist. We all kind of weigh in a little bit. Some people like this one, some people like that one, but there’s always a general vibe that we’re kind of going for. So it’s kind of fun, you know? You just kind of pick a strange little playlist and sometimes we’ll take a song and it’ll be just a different adaptation of it. So, it’ll be a song that maybe isn’t so Wednesday, but then it becomes in the arrangement a bit more Wednesday-like and more filmic and much more like a a score.
RS: Were there any particular songs that did make the cut that originally you weren’t sure about when it was pitched?
T: It never is like, ‘Oh we’re gonna use this or that’. It kind of is a bit more organic, I would say, you know? It is for me anyway.
J: Yeah, also scripts and ideas were coming while we’re shooting this season, so everything was very…
T: Kept moving.
RS: I know we already spoke about twists and turns and spoilers, so I’m asking this out of obligation, so I apologise in advance. Can you tell us anything, if anything, about Gaga in the next part of this season?
J: Well, what do you wanna know?
RS: Is there anything to tell?
J: … No.
T: [Laughs]
RS: Perfect, thank you.
J: Thank you!
Wednesday Season 2, Part 2 will premiere on Netflix on September 3rd.
