"Wednesday" and I: What it was like on the Irish set of the hit Netflix show

Being a massive fan of the show, I couldn't think of a better way to spend a day than seeing what the Irish crew and "Wednesday" team had come up with, and call it work.

The call finally came as the production reached its final few weeks of filming, and as a result, I've had to keep my mouth mostly shut up until Part Two premiered on the streaming giant, and now that it has arrived, I can finally detail what the experience of being on the set of one of my favorite shows.

Having worked in film and TV production for many years, I am used to being on a set, especially one with a big budget behind it, but nothing could have prepared me for what Wednesday had in store.

The production has taken over the entirety of Ashford Studios, utilizing its sound stages as well as the grounds themselves to build (and hijack) sets.

With the Quad being destroyed in the climax of season one, the team were able to make a new area for the Nevermore students to congregate, and it didn't need to look the exact same of what came before.

Olivia Fahy on the set of "Wednesday".

Stepping onto the Nevermore Academy set felt like you were being transported to the school itself, and even with no actors around to give it the bustling energy, it oozed the "Wednesday" vibe instantly.

The size of it was also astounding, with large statues, grand staircases and vast amounts of space to easily shoot scenes with actors, extras and crew all in the one area.

The team didn’t have to build all their own sets, however, as the village from "Vikings" Valhalla was still at Ashford Studios, and it was hijacked by the team for one sequence in particular.

Part two sees Pilgrim World (which we were introduced to in season one) be turned into a night of Dia de los Muertos celebrations and it was still decorated when we dropped by.

To look at it, you wouldn’t think it was the same set as in "Vikings", but it’s a fun Easter egg for fans of both shows to look out for.

As for the interior sets, one challenge that the team had was getting some items shipped from Romania to Dublin, making sure that they made it in one piece.

Then, when they got the items here, they had to rebuild certain sets to look as close to how it looked before as possible, as there are people who would notice if even a floorboard was out of place.

Production designer Mark Scrunton took us on a tour of some of the new and "old" sets, explaining the effort that was made to make sure there was continuity throughout.

One of the most recognizable sets from the series is Wednesday and Edith’s dorm room, which Mark explained had to be completely rebuilt, aside from one key feature: The window.

"So this dorm had to be recreated pretty much from scratch when we moved here from Romania," Mark explained. "The only thing that remained was the window which was in Romania. So we had to have that brought back from Romania, and then everything else had to be [remade].

"It was trickier than we thought, actually, because it was all made from recycled timber in Romania. So we had to find timber here, but then make it look like the recycled timber we found we had in Romania, because it all had very specific sort of splits and lines that had to be copied, because people spot that sort of thing.

"There was one bit of timber right above on the corner where a cello sits, and it was split in certain ways. All that had to be hand carved in it to look like the original stuff, which was a bit more of a pain than I thought it was going to be."

Some of the other items had to be reproduced out of necessity, as they didn’t survive storage like the rugs in Edith’s side of the dorm.

He added: "Because of when we left Romania, we really didn't know what the season was going to be. We'd done it, and it was we thought very proud of it, but you never know how these things will be received, and you know everything that was going on [with the war in Ukraine].

"So, when we regrouped, it was kind of picking through the rubble and trying to find what still existed, what didn't the bugs and things get to first."

Another piece they managed to salvage was from the principal’s office, which is now Dort’s office, and while they didn’t need to keep it as much the same as in season one with the change of headmaster, there was one feature they were glad to keep.

"The fireplace," Mark continued, "That still existed. It had been cut into bits and put in a container, but it still existed. So luckily, that is the original one.

"But we had to get the people I know in Romania to go and survey that location so we could recreate it here. And luckily, the fireplace [had survived]."

 The team were able to flex their creative muscles with other sets on the second season, in particular with the cottage Morticia and Gomez live in while she works with the school fundraising committee.

Mark explained: "The cottage is where the Christina Ricci character [Thornhill] was living [in season one]. So when they first go in, it's hideous and pink and like a Barbie Playhouse. So we had great fun doing that.

"And then, it's flipped to the Adams family, which gave us a huge amount of fun going from pink Barbie to Morticia.

"So when we first did it, it's pink wallpaper and sort of fine woodwork and chintzy furniture and everything else. And then it has the sort of Addams Family makeover, and the details, like the wallpaper, was it's essentially the same wallpaper, we just changed all the colors.

"So before it was all vivid pinks and everything else, then we ticked it back into the blacks and the reds, just so it has that weird transition-y sort of feel."

Fiona Cooney in the Graphics department and her team were tasked with making this special wallpaper, and she explained: "So we do that with a printer in Wicklow. So the principal's office was a bespoke wallpaper, all the cottage wallpaper too.

"That was a fun one, because we actually had to do two variations on it. There was one set up with Thornhill, which was all pink and kind of girly and very Thornhill. And then this season, it flipped to Morticia, so we had to change it up.

"That was a kind of a totally bespoke paper that we got to make for it. But the set stuff that you go in and you see the scale of something that we're involved in could be anything.

"All the stained glass windows are graphics, the printed floors, the wallpapers... and then it can be all the small details, like labels on little bottles. So that's just the dressing stuff.

"And then the scripted graphics that might be in the set would be, for example, Ophelia's Diary. So that kind of belongs in Morticia's world. So it's really varied work."

From the crew to the craftspeople, the series is infused with Irishness, and it's a treat for viewers to see places we know be transformed for the series.

From Glendalough and Powerscourt Waterfall, to Charleville Castle and Deansgrange Cemetary, the team made good use of the Irish landscape, even if Jenna Ortega says it was "too green" for certain scenes.

She shared during the press conference for the show's second season: "Everything about Ireland was so beautiful, and we had such a hard-working crew, and people who really just gave it their all, and were so skilled.

"But the only real challenge we had was fighting the green. It was so green there, and it was so bright for the show. Suddenly the Addams looked alive."

 With season three already greenlit over at Netflix, we can only hope the team will be returning to the Emerald Isle with the production.

It was truly a treat to be there and experience the sets for myself, and then see how they all fit into the series itself while watching it.

It's a great showcase of what Ireland has to offer, and I for one am very proud with what they achieved.

Bring on season three!

* This article was originally published on GeekIreland.com.