Jenna Ortega and Tim Burton are continuing their creative partnership with yet another installment of “Wednesday.” THR first reported that the hit Netflix series has already been renewed for Season 3 ahead of the Season 2 premiere; “Wednesday” Season 2, Part 1 will debut August 6, with Part 2 streaming September 3.
Ortega stars as the title character teen whose high school experience at the Nevermore Academy has more than a few hauntings. The wildly popular “Addams Family”-inspired series is directed and executive produced by Burton, with Ortega also producing. “Wednesday” is created by showrunners and EPs Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.
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Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria told THR that the success of “Wednesday” “went beyond analytics: People watched it again and again and brought their parents into it, and it became a multigenerational show. There were soldiers in Ukraine doing the Wednesday dance.” She hinted of possible spinoffs, “There’s a lot to explore in the Addams Family.”
Gough added that the “Wednesday” team has been discussing more installments in the cinematic univrse, saying, “It’s something we’re definitely noodling; there are other characters we can look at.”
THR announced that Season 3 is already set. IndieWire has reached out to Netflix for comment.
Ortega and Burton also have collaborated on “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” However, don’t expect a third film despite Mike De Luca previously saying that development on “Beetlejuice 3” was starting “imminently.”
“Nobody told me. Maybe I’ve been replaced,” Burton said. “It took 35 years to make the second one, so by that time I’ll be 105. I know those odds are not good. I really, really enjoyed making this one, and [Warner Bros.] didn’t even really want to do it. We did it the same way I did the first one, with the actors doing improv. It was beautiful to see some of the old cast and have Jenna. But it’s like trying to re-create the Wednesday dance scene. I love the characters, but I don’t necessarily see it.”
He added that he would not condone a third film without his involvement. “I feel very proprietary about everything I do, even if I don’t own the characters,” Burton said. “When they did the [‘Beetlejuice’ Broadway musical], I got pissed.”
And Ortega stands by her director: She “would never” return to the “Beetlejuice” franchise if Burton wasn’t part of it. “I also think anybody would be really wrong to get behind that project. Without him involved, what is it? It is what it is because of Tim,” she said. “There’s no other film you can compare ‘Beetlejuice’ to. So why would you do that? That would be a tad disrespectful.”
