When Emma Myers first learned that “Wednesday” had been renewed for Season 2, she was in a van going back to base camp after wrapping for the day on the set of an upcoming Netflix film. “They emailed me, and I was like, ‘Oh, cool,’” she says. “I wasn’t allowed to tell anybody yet, so I couldn’t have said anything to anybody who was in the van with me. But I mean, I felt it coming. I feel like all of us felt it coming.”
Myers, 20, stars in the hit Netflix show as Enid Sinclair, the wide-eyed, sunshiny werewolf counterpart to Jenna Ortega’s dour, darkly humorous Wednesday. Their characters’ dynamic charmed audiences when all eight episodes premiered on Nov. 23, and “Wednesday” quickly became one of Netflix’s top watched shows ever, racking up nearly 6 billion minutes viewed in the first five days after its release. It spent six weeks at No. 1 and spawned — in addition to an abundance of fancams, fan art and fan fiction — a viral TikTok dance to Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary.”
Though Enid is a bubbly, social extrovert whose eagerness plays off Wednesday’s deadpan, antisocial inclinations, Myers herself identifies as an introvert who’s “quite awkward.” Originally from Orlando, Fla., she began acting in theater and commercials, then took a break when she was 11 to play sports. Her family moved to Atlanta five years later, where she began acting in earnest again. Speaking from Los Angeles, where she’s shooting “Family Leave,” a movie starring Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms, Myers chatted with Variety about her reaction to “Wednesday’s” success, her theories for Season 2 and the potential evolution of Wednesday and Enid’s friendship.
Popular on Variety
How early on did you sense that there was going to be a second season?
I thought before we even finished filming, just by the stuff we were filming. I knew it was gonna be big, but I didn’t know it was gonna be that big. I felt for sure that there had to be more, because we all loved every bit of it, and we really felt that people were going to love it too.
Can you recall the moment that you realized “Wednesday” had become a hit?
What’s funny is I wasn’t keeping up with it. I knew it was doing well. But I didn’t really realize how well it did until a while later, because not even a week after “Wednesday” released, I was on a plane coming out to L.A. to film this, and I was just swamped with stuff. So I wasn’t really keeping up with how well it was doing. By Christmas break, when I got to go home and see my family and everything, it hit me that, “Oh, wow. In only a month it’s become top whatever on Netflix.” It was crazy.
You’ve said before that even though you and Enid are both optimists, you don’t share a lot of common traits otherwise. Was there anybody in your life or another character that you were channeling when you were playing her?
No, I don’t think so. I don’t really think that I compared her to anybody. I was just trying to make her peppy and happy and annoying to Wednesday, but not too annoying to where the audience didn’t like her.
Did you yourself ever find her annoying?
No, I quite like Enid. The TikTok and Snapchat lines made me cringe, but I feel like that’s normal because I’m not on all that social media, but I really like Enid. Even though I’m not like her, I can appreciate her and her character and her spirit.
In what ways does Enid and Wednesday’s friendship parallel your own friendship with Jenna Ortega?
Jenna is very much like Wednesday. But because I’m not much like Enid, we don’t have the same dynamic in real life — me poking at her constantly, her brushing me off. We get along so well, I love Jenna. She’s one of my closest friends. I think we have a different dynamic off-screen, but I still don’t think it’s any less important or deep or beautiful than Enid and Wednesday’s.
What can you tell us about Season 2?
I know absolute squat. I am so out of the loop. Nobody likes to update me on anything. We don’t know anything. So I wish I can say something. But all I know is that there is a Season 2 and that’s it.
Do you personally have any theories about what’s going to happen?
Oh, I would really like to see Wednesday go somewhere international and interact with the international outcasts from different countries. I feel like that would be really fun. As far as theory-wise — I never had any theories about the show, and I wish I did. But I’ve read so many theories. And I would like to see who the stalker is.
What sort of theories have you read?
I’ve read some [about how] Weems isn’t dead. She’s still alive, or Lurch is actually evil. Stuff like that, but I never really thought too hard about them. But I would like to see who the stalker is.
Have you seen posts about Wenclair, Wednesday and Enid’s ship name, on Twitter and the internet at all?
I’m not on Twitter, and I’m not really on social media very much, but my sisters find it amusing to send me stuff. Fan art, tweets talking about it. My Instagram comments are flooded with it, and so are my DMs. So yeah, I have seen it.
Do you think a Wednesday and Enid romance is a possible direction that the writers could take?
Anything is possible in the show. We haven’t really spoken about direction at all, so I don’t really know what the game plan is for anything. As far as love interests go for Wednesday, I feel like at least for a second season, she needs to take her season of singleness. She just had a whole fiasco with her men, she’s got to lay it off for a little bit. I would be deterred from dating anybody if I had gone through that.
Have you see the TikTok in which the user points out that Enid’s nails are painted all the way, even when she extends her claws?
No, I haven’t, but I actually thought that myself. I didn’t understand if she had painted her whole claw or if that’s just how they are? I don’t know, I feel like putting nail polish that far into your fingers would not be healthy for you. But she’s a werewolf, so who knows?
What was your first reaction to seeing Enid’s wolfed out hair?
In the beginning of early development, they read a bunch of ideas to me. One of them was a purple undercut or different funky colors. I didn’t know I was gonna be blonde until the day of me being blonde. They dyed my hair blonde, and then they didn’t like the color, so they went with a wig instead. So I was like, “Wow, great. I have blonde hair now.” But I really liked the blonde and the colors, the contrast between it. I think it’s fun. I like that it looks like she did it herself.
I saw that you went to Disneyland recently. How was that experience? Did you get mobbed?
I had some teenage girls, some kids come up to me. Nobody seems to really recognize me whenever I go out, and I think that’s a blessing. Any time I’m with Jenna, it’s swarms of people, but when I’m by myself, I’m wearing a hat, I don’t have the Enid makeup on, people don’t seem to clock it unless people are really into “Wednesday” and really care about all the actors. I had a lot of people recognize me, but not want to come say anything.
Do you notice when people recognize you but then don’t come up to you?
It’s kind of obvious. Because I’m quite awkward myself and I’m introverted, I don’t know whether to go up and say something, or just to let them say something themselves, or we both just ignore it. So I also struggle with not saying anything. I feel bad. I still don’t really know how to how to go about this situation.
Tell me about the project you’re working on now.
I’m working on a film called “Family Leave” with Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms. It’s a body switch movie, so it’s kind of crazy. It’s funny. It’s got some serious moments in it. But it’s a really good time.
What sort of projects do you want to do moving forward?
One thing that would be really fun to do would be anything that’s mo-cap — voicing a video game or playing some CGI character in a movie, so you’re on the motion capture stage with all the little ping pong balls on you and the suit. That would be such a different experience. It’s almost like black box theater. But yeah, I think that would be something really fun to do.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
