When it comes to love triangles in pop culture, who you root for often reveals more about you than your latest CoStar horoscope. And with Tim Burton’s Addams Family adaptation, Wednesday, back for season two, the coupling we hoped would have all zodiac signs aligned features one of Britain’s brightest young actors, Georgie Farmer.

Portraying gorgon Ajax Petropolus, Farmer brings a brooding intensity to the soft-spoken teen, puncturing it with flashes of raw vulnerability. Episode one opens with heartbreak: Ajax has been ditched by werewolf Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers), who, now that she has ‘wolfed out’, howls for one from her own pack, leaving Ajax’s broken heart as cracked as the murder cases Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) is out to solve. But through this, he comes into his own, juggling emotion with a new role at the centre of Nevermore Academy’s latest mystery. What was once Ajax’s curse, his gorgon stare, now becomes a weapon to protect his friends, elevating him from side character to breakout star.

Shana Chandra: Congratulations on Season Two of Wednesday! I know you’ve just come back from a whirlwind press tour, including doing morning shows in the States. Where’s been the craziest reception so far?
Georgie Farmer: Do you know what? I think the biggest full circle moment was the premiere in London. I’ve never been to anything of that scale before, ever. But everywhere really. We were in Poland a couple of weeks ago, and the excitement there was crazy. Honestly, when we went on this tour and we went to all these spots, we started seeing the excitement, and you get that ‘Oh wow’ moment. You [get to] see how much the show means to so many different people. It’s something we acknowledge when we’re shooting, but when you go out and see the reception, and what [the show] does for [fans], it’s really humbling. It puts it into a whole new perspective.

SC: Has there been something a fan has come up to you and said that’s really stuck with you?
GF: There’s been a couple. After the first season came out, I was on the tube and someone approached me. He was about sixteen or seventeen, and he spoke about how he’d been bullied at school. He said that watching the show made him really want to embrace his differences. We had a long conversation on the train. It’s funny, when you’re doing the show it feels like you’re playing, and that it’s this unreal world. And when you get out there and you see how it affects people in real life, it’s amazing.

SC: You’ve said before that Ajax being a gorgon is like being an outcast among outcasts, how did you tap into that energy while you were filming?
GF: That’s the main thing about the gorgons, they’re taught to keep themselves to themselves, and they’re very scared, because there’s not a big margin of error. When they take their beanie off and stare at someone, it’s a big thing. That was one thing I remember in the first season; Tim would always say to me that Ajax doesn’t want to hold eye contact. In this season, in some of the scenes I tried to balance that, so you see my eyes wavering when his insecurities come out. He’s not used to [looking people in the eyes], he hasn’t done it his whole life.

SC: That makes so much sense, because one of my favourite scenes in season two is when you’re in the woods with Enid and you finally confront her about her avoidant behaviour. It’s so effective because it feels like one of the first times you see Ajax look Enid in the eye, and there’s more prolonged contact which heightens his vulnerability. It really works.
GF: Thanks. I’ve actually had a couple of people come up to me and say, “We’re definitely Team Enid and Ajax.”

“I’ve actually had a couple of people come up to me and say, “We’re definitely Team Enid and Ajax.””

SC: I am too! [laughs] Going into season two, Ajax has really grown up this season – how was it returning to this character?
GF: It’s nice to return to a character that you’ve got to know so well, and as you’ve grown a little bit in between seasons, so have they. There was definitely a big change [for Ajax] in terms of his arc this season, and where he is. For him, it’s about finding that confidence and being there for his friends – which he always was in the first season, but is predominantly more so this season. I remember on the first day of filming, coming back to set and working with everybody, there was this feeling that we’re back in it. We had a cast dinner and Tim said to us, “You guys have found it again, you’re back in this world.”

SC: The Wednesday world is so unique, so distinct, is there anything that you and the cast do to get into that mode?
GF: What’s really interesting about this show is that everybody who works on it really disappears into their character. It’s already helpful when we’ve got the incredible sets – when you show up to work and walk on set, you’re very much in that world. I can’t even begin to explain to you the detail, and also the sheer size of the sets. These buildings are huge. The inside of the castle that we film in completely turns into Nevermore – in the classrooms, the handles of drawers have the Nevermore plaque. It’s insane. For an actor it’s the best thing, because you’re immediately there. So many things that we do on the show are practical, too.

SC: Explain that practical aspect to me.
GF: For example, when you’re acting to Professor Orloff, who’s in that glass jar, the glass jar is there, and someone’s reading his lines. It’s not that you’re staring at a blue dot. They do a really good job of bringing all of the mystical elements into real life during filming.

SC: Who in the cast is most like the actor they play?
GF: Ooh, I get asked this a lot, but it changes every time. I’m quite similar to Ajax. Jenna’s got a lot of similarities to Wednesday; I think she’ll admit that too. We all have strong similarities, but then of course so many differences, so it’s 50/50. The person who’s least like their character is Emma [Myers]. In real life, Emma is the complete opposite of Enid, which is a mark of the great actor that she is.

SC: To me, all of the outcast powers feel like metaphors for traits that we all have. Whether it’s neurosis, depression, manipulation… And I was wondering what it is about being a gorgon that suits Ajax’s personality, or is it him being a gorgon that contributes to his personality?
GF: I think for the kids at the school, a lot of their personality is dependent on who they are. That influences how they behave. You see it a lot in the first season with Enid waiting to ‘wolf out’ – that’s a big thing. It’s their power that influences their character and personalities. I think what’s important about the show is that each character has a real grounding of humanity in them. Even though they have crazy powers, they feel like real people. That’s why so many people have connected with them, you can see they’re going through real-life stuff.

“The vampires are the cool kids, the sirens are the elite, and the gorgons are a little slow. [laughs]”

SC: Working with Tim Burton must be such a great experience, is there something that he’s said or done that you’ll keep in your back pocket?
GF: So many things. I think the main thing working with Tim is the trust that he gives you as an actor – it’s incredible. He’ll give you notes to guide you to where he wants you to be, but he trusts you to find the scene and these moments. Also, the best thing about working on the show and being on set is seeing the set dynamics. We have this great camera op named Fabrizio [Sciarra], and he’s a legend on set among the cast, because his dynamic with Tim is incredible. He was camera op on the first season too, and when Tim explains something, Fabrizio, goes, “I know exactly what you mean.” I think that’s one of the most magic moments on set.

SC: I know that while researching for Ajax you researched gorgon mythology, is there anything you found that directly informed your character?
GF: Looking at the history of gorgons was more about implementing that into the world of Nevermore. You have the history of the characters and where their characters are from, and then you have to think about how those dynamic fits into the social milieu of Nevermore. The vampires are the cool kids, the sirens are the elite, and the gorgons are a little slow. [laughs]

SC: Some of the cast members jam a little bit am I right? Can we expect a gig soon?
GF: It all stems from Noah [Taylor] actually. He has a band with his brother called One Night Friend. They actually just released an album yesterday. When we were in Dublin, Noah and Owen [Painter] would be jamming together and I caught wind of it. I play drums, so I just sort of inserted myself in there. [laughs] Then it became this thing; we’d come back to my apartment and play all night. We wrote a couple of songs, but I don’t know if they’re great. You know what it’s like, when you’re making a song you think it’s the greatest ever, and then you listen back in the morning and you’re like, “Huh, what were we thinking?” But it was so fun doing it with those two.

SC: I heard that for season one you made a playlist for Ajax, which included Joy Division, Fleetwood Mac, and The Rolling Stones. What did you have on the mixtape for season two?
GF: I was listening to Let Down by Radiohead, which is ironic, because it’s now become this TikTok song, but I was listening to it while I was [in Dublin]. Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls. A lot of heartbreak songs. Peter Gabriel, Washing of the Water, especially when he sings, “Take this pain away.” They were on repeat, for sure.

Wednesday Season Two Part 2 streams on 3rd September on Netflix.

Grooming Emma Small at Stella Creative Artists using Haus Labs
Fashion assistant Maddison Sleeuwenhoek
Special thanks to Angelique Somers