With stalkers and secret experiments running rampant, the halls of Nevermore Academy are more dangerous than ever. Luckily, there’s a new sheriff in Jericho who is keeping the peace between the outcasts and normies…well, at least trying to.

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo (Devs 2020) returns to Netflix’s Wednesday Season 2 as Sheriff Rita Santiago, promoted from deputy after the shocking downfall of Donovan Galpin (Jamie McShane, Bloodline 2015), whose own son Tyler (Hunter Doohan, Your Honor 2020) turned out to be a monster. For Lewis-Nyawo, this season marks a major milestone — what began as a recurring role has now grown into a full-time gig, making them one of the newest series regulars on the hit supernatural comedy.

With Part 1 of Wednesday already streaming and Part 2 dropping Sept. 3, PopHorror caught up with Lewis-Nyawo to discuss their amplified presence on the show. A lifelong fan of horror, drag and all-things queer and creative, with deep roots in theater, Lewis-Nyawo is thrilled to embark on this next chapter of their blossoming career, bringing a true sense of relatability to the eerie world of Wednesday.

Returning to Jericho

PopHorror: Wednesday Season 2, Part 1 is officially out! How are you feeling?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: I’m really excited. It’s always sort of like a release. First you announce it, then it goes off to press. This is the first week where you’re like, “Oh, it’s a press night. What’s going to happen?,” trying not to pay attention to any of that. I’m just looking forward to the fan response and seeing if they’re as excited as we were when making it.

PopHorror: In this new season, you’ve been promoted to a series regular. How cool is that?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: Yes, I have! There’s a new sheriff in town and it’s me, so that was really exciting. I really enjoyed working on Santiago this season and I’m really grateful for the trust that [creators] Al [Gough] and Miles [Millar] showed in me to take on the leadership role at the sheriff’s department.

PopHorror: Did you know going into Season 1 that your role would be expanded? Or did you find out later on?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: I found out after. I literally got it just before we started shooting. I found out in February of last year. They told me a couple months before I had to go to set that stuff was changing, so I had no idea. I think in Season 1, I had three or four guaranteed episodes and then they kept putting me in more stuff little by little. I guess they liked me and then I was promoted. I was like, “Oh, cool, that’s great! That’s exciting. That’s awesome.”

PopHorror: We don’t see a ton of Rita in Season 1, but when we do, you manage to make the character super fun and memorable. What was it like stepping into that role and making it your own?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: I guess it’s always like that. I think sometimes, it’s the hardest thing to do when you have less to play with, when you’ve got less time. This is especially true for a character that exists almost a little outside of all of the kooky, exciting special effects, attention-grabbing, really fun stuff, who is more grounded in the reality. I really enjoyed fleshing out that character. I approached it in the same way that I would approach any role, which is just to make sure that they’re absolutely rich and filled to the brim with inner life. In relation to Galpin, I kind of put Rita slightly in a backfit to him, sort of learning, catching up, not quite sure of themselves because they tend to defer — as is her job — to him a lot. So I was like, “Oh, let me play with that. Let me make something with that. Let me make her a little bit more of a rookie getting used to this environment.”

PopHorror: Now that Rita is in charge, will we get to see more sides to the character?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: I think in Season 2, Rita is just far more self-assured. There’s big boots to fill and she’s prepared to fill them. Also, with the full revelation of the scope of Galpin’s mess and secrets and his involvement with the Hyde, there’s a real need for Santiago to rebuild trust within the community in the sheriff’s department in general and just to restore a little semblance of order. Otherwise, it’s just pandemonium.

PopHorror: Obviously, in Wednesday, there’s so much spooky stuff going on at Nevermore and, like you mentioned, Rita wasn’t super involved in all of that in Season 1. Is she more involved in the action this time around?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: As the whirlpool of chaos around Wednesday (Jenna Ortega, Scream 2022) builds, it consumes everything in its path. No one is safe around the danger magnet that Wednesday Addams is. So in an effort to keep everyone safe, including normies, I think that Rita’s view is a little bit more progressive or accepting than Galpin’s hard line was. You’ve got to work with them so that you’re not blindsided by what’s going on up there, I think is Rita’s approach. You’re definitely going to see a sheriff who is reaching out more toward Wednesday, who is trying — “trying” being the operative word — to build some kind of rapport.

PopHorror: In addition to being a cast member, are you a fan of the show? What did you think about the major plot twist at the end of Season 1?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: It was great! I had a really good time watching it. It came out a few years ago — apologies to everyone for the long wait — and I remember really, really enjoying it. My friends got together and they held a watch party for me because my friends are the cutest, but they made me sit down and watch myself, which I hate doing. But there was just so much more to see as well. I really enjoyed the show. I’m a fan of the show. I’m a fan of Tim Burton, I have been my whole life. I’ve loved a lot of stuff that Al and Miles have actually been a part of as well. I used to love Into the Badlands and I also grew up watching Smallville, which was the show of my time. I’m showing my age, but it really was. So I was a fan.

I was so drawn into the world and it’s one thing shooting on something, and then another thing seeing all the pieces come together. That was really satisfying. I was so antsy to get my hands on the script for Season 2 because I was like, “What is going to happen next? Where is this going to go?” I remember sitting and reading the first four episodes and I was like, “Wow, okay, we’ve really upped the ante here.” I’m really excited for fans to dig their teeth in and enjoy it. Part 1 is up now, Part 2 is still a month away, but it’s going to be incredible. There’s so much in store.

PopHorror: Do you have any memorable moments from set and being immersed in that eerie world?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: Oh, my goodness, I have pretty bad ADHD, so my brain, everything was just a blur. But one of the things that has stuck with me the most from set is just how incredibly hard the creative team — set design, production design, costume design, special effects, makeup — tirelessly worked to bring this incredible vision to life. You walk onto sound stages and just see these fully realized sets. In a matter of a week, there’d be a whole new world just in front of you, mushrooming all over the lot. So that, to me, was incredible. I think a lot of the time, what you get to see is the front facing talent. You see the directors, some of the writers, the actors, and you seldom get to see the people who create the environments that those people inhabit. That work was top tier. It was exceptional. If I was in my trailer and they weren’t using a particular space, I’d wander around and look in and look at the level of detail that you could find in every single set. It was just immaculate.

That’s someone’s job. Someone sits there and individually crafts every element of that and puts it together. I think sometimes, because they’re not front facing, you can sort of forget about those people. But it was just astonishing. On the first day walking on set into what was already finished, I think it was Wednesday and Enid’s (Emma Myers, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder 2024) room where we took the first cast photo to announce that we were back, even that was insane. It’s a fully realized room. I know that might sound ridiculous, but it really is a whole set that you climb into and you’re transported completely. It’s incredible.

PopHorror: Given that you were a fan of Tim Burton beforehand, did you get to work with him directly?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: Yeah! I got to work with Tim on episodes 1 and 4 and then a couple more in Part 2. He’s great. He has an eye for detail and his energy on a set really gets you to zero in and focus on the minutiae of what you’re doing. He’s a consummate artist. As a director, there’s so much that he’s envisioning and holding on to, and then you’re also responsible to bring part of that to life. He really holds the space beautifully and creates an environment for you to do your best work, especially for me. I am a bit of a rookie on the screen. I come from a stage background. So having somebody there who is not necessarily holding my hand, but has created an environment that is comfortable to work in and comfortable for me to fail forward in was really special. I learned a lot on that set from Tim.

An early passion for acting

PopHorror: I understand that you got your start on the stage in a school play. Tell me about that experience and what about it made you fall in love with acting.

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: I remember auditioning for Mrs. Kingsley, who then jokingly threatened to my parents that she was going to try and fail me so that I wouldn’t graduate, and I’d always stay in the school so she could use me in school productions. But I remember doing the show and just feeling so at home. Oftentimes, these things can kind of be like a big “aha” moment. And I think for me, it was the absence of that “aha.” I took to it like a fish in water. I just went, “Oh, this is a thing. I can do this? Okay, cool. You want me to do a box step? Excellent. You want me to sing in this key? Great. Want me to memorize these lines? Awesome.”

It was just one of those things, much like in that neuro-spicy way, where I sort of picked it up and I was like, “I’m good at this, I can run with it and I love it.” As a kid, it was just like, “Oh, this is just playing make-believe. It’s really fun and it’s not homework. Yay. Excellent.” And then over time, as I grew up, because I went to a creative arts high school, that’s when I really started to understand the minutia and the work that would go into what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to train abroad later in life, which I eventually did. It’s the only thing I’ve ever really been able to do completely.

So I can’t pinpoint an exact “aha” moment. But I think my parents being super proud of me, that felt good. Doing something and then knowing that you’ve made somebody you care about really proud and happy, that felt good. I guess it’s always been about the audience and making people feel good. For me, that’s what brings me joy from it. And also, I love it! I struggle to speak to people in day-to-day life, I’m a little anxious and a little shy. But on stage, I don’t have to be any of that. I can just be all the colors and shades of the human condition. On screen, I can do the same as well, and in voice, whatever it is, whatever story it is, I can let go into that.

PopHorror: Did you do theater for a while before transitioning to the screen? Or has it always been a bit of both?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: I did theater for a while, but there was a little bit of both. When I graduated from drama school, I got a professional gig straight out and then another professional gig, and those were both theater productions. In between that, I picked up a little bit of TV, like day player roles and that kind of thing. I always knew I wanted to do it. When I worked with Alex Garland on Devs, I sort of got my sea legs, as it were. I learned a lot from him on that set. That’s when I caught the bug and started to unpack my stage training and begin to apply it to screen. I was just practicing in my living room, taping, finding scenes I love from films I love, looking up the script, picking up the scene and doing a self tape of it at home, watching myself and then trying to understand how to really focus it.

On stage, it’s about hitting the nosebleeds. Everybody’s got to get everything — the nuance, the color. So it’s much bigger. But I had to really take everything that I learned and bring it through the eyes and through thought and the mind. I’ve been fortunate to have my feet in both worlds and I’ve enjoyed it a lot.

PopHorror: What do you think your younger self would say if they could see you now as a series regular on one of Netflix’s top shows?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: They’re like, “Holy smokes, you actually did it. Okay! Well done, you! Fair play.” I think they’d be elated. It’s been a dream of mine for my whole life to do this, to work, to tell stories, to do this for a living. I’m very glad that I can live doing it. So I think little me would be really, really pleased. I think they’re jumping for joy, happy and first pumping, doing cartwheels and beaming like, “Yeah, you did it.”

Representing the outcasts

PopHorror: I understand that some of your other passions include cabaret, drag, horror, anime and being very involved in the queer community. How has all of that shaped your work as an actor and just life in general?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: It’s always allowed me to navigate my career with my own integrity and my values held closely to myself, and picking the kind of stories that I want to tell. I think Wednesday as a story, as a world, is so relevant to the struggles of the queer community and marginalized groups because it’s about those people who are othered and being able to bring stories like that to life. I remember when I was a metal head teenager and was an outcast in my own school, what it felt like to have characters that I resonated with.

For me, it was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow (Alyson Hannigan, American Pie 1999) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon, Coherence 2013). To have people that I could see who were also outcasts and nerds, and then see them have futures and be people, fall in love, have adventures and make their mark on the world at a young age, that was so important to me because without that, I would have felt so isolated and hopeless, like, will it always be like this?

So as an actor and somebody who’s queer, I think it’s so important to be able to see other people who are doing the things that you would like to do in the world. It’s probably the most over said thing, but it’s because it’s true — representation does matter. Especially now, with queer voices being under threat everywhere, it’s just important to keep being loud. So if any level of visibility I may have allows somebody to feel like they, too, can be visible at whatever intersection they relate to me or the stories I’ve been in, or stories I’ve told with other amazing creatives, then that is a win. That, for me, is a win. That’s the best part of the gig.

It’s not the parties and the carpets. Yes, we’re not firefighters. We’re not saving lives. But there are so many lifelines that were given to me through stories, through people that told stories that I could relate to and that reflected my lived experience. But also seeing people who looked like me, it expanded what was possible in my mind. That’s a good thing. That’s a net positive in my book.

PopHorror: And now you’re playing someone who is essentially trying to unite the outcasts and normies!

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: I’m trying! [laughs] But whether they succeed or not is another matter entirely. The intentions are there.

One, two, Freddy’s coming for you…

PopHorror: Since we’re PopHorror, I have to ask, are you a horror fan? If so, what are some of your favorite films?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: Yes, I am a horror fan and one of my partners is a massive horror fan, so he subjects me to horror constantly. Of late, I’ve watched a lot of Indonesian horror. My favorite horror film is called Stir of Echoes [our review] with Kevin Bacon in it. It’s a 1999 film and it’s by the same guy who wrote The Presence, because he’s clearly working through something. Something happened in his community because it’s almost the same premise. It’s about this neighborhood in Boston and a group of men on the street. I don’t want to spoil it, but it’s about what secrets does suburbia hold? What are people hiding? What are good, middle class, suburban, homemaker people potentially hiding in their own communities? It’s a great film, I love that movie. I’ve always loved that movie.

And then things like Audition, Incantation — oh, my God, that film is so much, but it’s really good. I’ve recently been wanting to watch Bring Her Back, but my partner was like, “It’s exactly the thing that you don’t like seeing happen in stories to children.” So I was like, “Okay, cool, fine, I’m gonna wait until it comes out on streaming so I can watch it at home, pause and leave if I want to.”

But yeah, I love horror. I’ve been really getting back into it a hell of a lot more. There was a period there where I couldn’t watch it at all. When I was a kid, my parents used to leave me to my own devices far too much, bless them. But I remember watching Nightmare on Elm Street when I was, like, 9. I could not have been allowed to watch that film at that age. To this day, I still can’t sleep with my toes out over the edge of my bed because of it. So I do like a classic as well. Freddy Krueger is definitely one of those characters that will stick in my mind for a very, very long time. It’s been burnt into my head.

When they’re not dealing with Nevermore shenanigans…

PopHorror: I understand that you’re working on your own short film and also a theater piece. Is there anything that you can share about those projects?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: Currently, they’re both still in development, so nothing sort of firm yet. We’ve got a reading coming up soon on the theater production end. That’s going to be happening early or late September, then we’ll see from there and we’ll start to go into workshop phase. That’s its own thing and it takes its own time. That’s a beast in its own way. My pilot had some interest. But I was working with people who didn’t necessarily see it the way that I did. I was like, “It’s not a slasher. It’s a colonial ghost horror!” So I then had to sort of walk away from that prospect, which is fine. If someone’s bitten before, they’ll bite again, and that’s okay. I’m gonna stick to my guns on it, to my own detriment or to my great success. Who knows?

PopHorror: Is this the first thing you’ve written?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: This is the first thing that I’ve written. I’m going to be doing the short as a proof of concept just to explore the visual style of what I’m talking about essentially and see the response it gets. Because what I’m talking about is a little complicated, and I just want to make sure that the next time I go into a meeting about it, that I have a proof of concept so people actually know what they’re buying into.

I’m a little bit like Wednesday. I’m probably an editor’s nightmare, actually. I’m very much a good collaborator. It’s just, I’m also quite demanding about the very specific things that I want out of something. It’s going to take time, but I’m nothing if not tenacious. I’ve gotten myself where I wanted to get myself before. I can do it again.

PopHorror: You’ve also said that off screen, you love cooking! Do you have a certain dish that’s your go-to after a long day on set?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: Right now, my go-to dish after a long day on set is just, in a bowl, getting some really good peanut butter with some fish sauce, soy sauce, a nice chili crisp, a mirin or ponzu for acid, a little bit of honey, some sesame seeds, ginger, garlic, spring onions. Then a little bit of hot peanut oil so that the ginger and garlic can lose some of their astringency. Then some fresh noodles, whatever they are, rice cut noodles, knife cut noodles or udon. And then just drop them in there nice and hot, and mix them all around in the sauce. It takes like 15 minutes and you’re eating and it’s delicious. Put a fresh coriander on the top, lime wedge and you’re out of there. Because by the time I get back from set, I just want to eat and go to bed. I don’t desire to stand in the kitchen for ages, that and my ADHD brain. But this takes me 20 minutes flat and it’s delicious.

PopHorror: And you even have a cat named garlic bread?!

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: I do! I love garlic bread and so I love my cat. I want to get another cat and name him Bibimbap. What is life without a little bit of whimsy?

PopHorror: We need the whimsy! Do you have any final words for the Wednesday fans?

Luyanda Lewis-Nyawo: I hope you enjoy it! We all worked so hard on it. I hope it fills you with that same sense of belonging that the first season did.

Thanks for speaking with us, Luyanda! Wednesday Season 2, Part 1 is available on Netflix now. Part 2 drops Sept. 3.

‘Wednesday’ photos by Helen Sloan/Netflix (first and third) and Vlad Cioplea/Netflix (second). Professional shots by June Thomas.