Lesbian Wednesday star reflects on ‘crazy’ season two twist

Heather Matarazzo, one of the stars of Wednesday, has discussed the shocking twist at the end of season two, part one.

(Warning: Spoilers for Wednesday season two follow).

On Wednesday (6 August) Netflix dropped the first four episodes of the second season of Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega as the eldest Addams family child. Wednesday returns to Nevermore where very quickly a new mystery presents itself that challenges the young heroine in new and thrilling ways.

Early on, a mysterious Avian – someone who can control birds – starts using a large murder of crows to carry out vicious murders. Wednesday takes notice and sets out to unmask this person and put an end to their villainous plot.

It all comes to a head at the end of episode where after breaking into the Longterm Outcast Integration Study (LOIS) section of the Willow Hill Psychiatric Facility, Wednesday and Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) come face to face with the hooded Avian.

With all the clues hinting that the real identity of the masked individual is Dr Fairburn (Thandiwe Newton), who runs Willow Hill, it comes as a shock twist that it’s actually her ditzy and unassuming seeming assistant, Judi (played by lesbian actress Heather Matarazzo).

Judi, it’s then revealed is the daughter of Augustus Stonehearst, a ‘normie’ who once taught Nevermore. Wanting the telekinetic powers of a Da Vinci for his own he set up LOIS where he experimented on Outcasts to get himself his prize. But it didn’t work and he ended up a patient in his own facility. “Confined to his own asylum, that’s a plot twist worthy of Poe,” as Wednesday remarks in the series.

However, Judi was able to become an Avian. She then hired Dr. Fairburn to serve as the face of Willow Hill while Judi continued her father’s work.

Speaking to Netflix’s Tudum about Judi and her backstory Matarazzo said she knew the reveal was coming well in advance. “It tracked and it made sense,” Matarazzo said of the first scene she filmed for the series. “I had to understand her motivations very quickly. [Showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar] were very generous in answering my questions within the space of what motivates a character to do something. What is it that she had within herself? What was the drive of that ambition?”

Matarazzo then added: “I had the backstory of who she really is, which was helpful. Which then informs the questions of, ‘Well, how saccharine is she? How sweet is she? How much of a show does she put on? And how exhausting is that?’”

She definitely puts on a convincing display, likely fooling most into thinking she could have no part in the gruesome goings on around Nevermore.

Speaking of Judi and Wednesday’s relationship as nemeses Matarazzo also told Tudum: “Wednesday is a very clear nemesis for Judi. And I think Judi’s ultimate downfall is that she didn’t think that she could get usurped by a teenage girl.

“There is an arrogance in her demise. So even though she is projecting this role of a secretary for Dr. Fairburn, she’s the one who’s really in charge of it all. And she feels that there’s no way, from her vantage point, that anybody is going to suspect anything. But Wednesday starts to unravel those threads, as Wednesday tends to do, and the whole thing comes tumbling down.”

In the final moments of part one of season two Uncle Fester also releases the inmates of Willow Hill. This includes the LOIS experiments who then attack Judi. She seems to escape but Matarazzo has some ideas about the character’s future.

“There’s always that crazy twist. And again, as we can see in season two, even if you were considered dead, it doesn’t mean that you necessarily are gone,” she said.

Wednesday season two part one is streaming now. Part two airs on Wednesday 3 September.