It’s a sunny weekend afternoon in Los Angeles’ hilly Highland Park neighborhood, and Owen Painter is far from the creaking floors of Nevermore Academy’s drafty Iago Tower. Instead, he’s leaning against a tree, smiling into a camera. It’s difficult to imagine Painter’s Wednesday alter ego, the Da Vinci–powered telekinetic mad scientist Isaac Night, enjoying such a serene day mere feet from an infinity pool. 

But the more time you spend with Painter, the more you see the contrasts between the actor and his newcomer Wednesday character. Painter is drawn to stories about love, connection, and legacy — the holiday staple It’s a Wonderful Life is among his favorite films. When asked what he’s most excited about at the moment, Painter responds, “My mom just got two kittens that I need to meet.” Isaac, on the other hand, will stop at nothing — and sacrifice nearly anyone — to achieve his goals. And he’ll sport an impeccable outfit while doing it. 

“To have Isaac care that much about his clothes is really lovely,” Painter says with a laugh a few days later, over a cup of coffee at a trendy LA café. “I just love that he’s that self-centered.” 

Opening photo: Vintage blazer, tee; above: Carter Young sweater, Mr. Porter belt

But before Owen Painter heard anything about secret laboratories, Skull Trees, or even the name Isaac Night, he knew one word: Slurp. That was the name Painter found atop an official document as he headed to Dublin in summer 2024 to begin filming Wednesday Season 2. 

“I was like, ‘What are we doing?’ ” the actor says with a laugh. “I had no clue at all.” At the time, the identity of Painter’s character was still top secret — even to him. As Painter boarded his flight, he pondered the possibility of the mysterious “Slurp” being a monster. After all, the code name for his audition was “Karloff,” which conjures the image of British actor Boris Karloff sauntering through the eerie passageways of 1931’s Frankenstein. But Painter couldn’t be sure just yet.

“My mind kept going to a Slurpee. I was worried I was going to be a CGI puddle or something,” he admits. “I think we landed on something great though.” 

As viewers who have devoured Wednesday Season 2, Part 2 (now streaming) already know, the team certainly did. Painter was never meant to play a melted pile of neon-colored high-fructose corn syrup. Instead, Slurp is the zombie who is brought back to life thanks to Pugsley Addams’s (Isaac Ordonez) newfound electrical abilities in the season premiere, directed by executive producer Tim Burton. Slurp is part pet, part unstoppable killing machine, and, as we learn in Part 2, so much more than meets the eye. In the second half of Season 2, Slurp regenerates into its true form: Isaac, the long-lost roommate of Addams family patriarch Gomez (Luis Guzmán), uncle to Tyler Galpin (Hunter Doohan), and … the original owner of the right hand known as Thing (for which “Night” is an anagram).

Painter finally learned the truth about Slurp’s origins — and his unexpected deep connection to Wednesday’s mythology as Francoise Galpin’s (Frances O'Connor) brother — once he landed in Dublin. There, Painter met with Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the series’ co-creators, showrunners, and executive producers, who revealed what a big part he would play in Season 2. “He loved learning about the journey — both physical and emotional — because he really comes into his own in the last four episodes of the season,” Gough recalls. “It was an amazing transformation.”

Painter “felt a sense of responsibility first and foremost” after his conversation with Gough and Millar. “It was a lot of stuff that I’d never really done before. The role provided a real sense of opportunity, and it felt like a gift,” he says. “So much of this job can be ‘Just stand there and say your line.’ ” 

Bringing Slurp turned Isaac to life required much more than simply hitting one’s mark. Painter prepared for months to pull off the shocking culmination of Isaac’s Season 2 storyline. In the finale, Isaac reveals that Thing was originally his right hand. He reattaches the appendage, restoring himself to his full Da Vinci powers. Now at the height of his telekinetic abilities, Isaac repairs his laboratory with a flick of his fingers. “I just got to feel so free,” Painter says. “I was finally done with all the physical baggage. It felt like I had full access to everything.” 

Kingsman Sweater, R13 pants, Mr. Porter belt

But Isaac’s plans sour once Wednesday and the rest of the Addams family arrive at the tower. The altercation crescendos into a fight between Isaac and Thing, who is still very much connected to the villain’s body — meaning Painter had to portray both sides of the brawl. The actor practiced his Thing movements for months, walking his hands around his apartment (“My neighbors heard a lot of fun things,” he says), on dining tables, and even just around Dublin. He then relied on valuable advice from the actor who usually plays Thing, Victor Dorobantu.

“[Victor] explained every single way the mechanics of the hand work,” Painter says. “There are all these things that you don’t even notice. I was focusing on fingers, and he goes, ‘No, actually, if you think about the center of gravity, you have to compensate with your wrist up here.’ ” 

Once Painter was ready to do his Thing, a GoPro camera was attached to his head to capture both perspectives of the skirmish. “I can’t believe I didn’t break the camera. That was a blast,” he says. Burton chose to direct the episode specifically because of how much he loved this scene — production even expanded it on the day of filming to explore Isaac and Thing’s dynamic further. “That was one of my favorite things,” Burton tells Tudum. “Owen was good. It was physical acting, which is fun.” The Wednesday stunt team helped Painter choreograph a fight inspired by Old Hollywood greats like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, and Painter wrote a lengthy list of all the comical and embarrassing moves Thing could potentially pull on Isaac.

“I wanted to humiliate him at the end. I thought that would be the funniest thing, tonally. You have all of this build-up, and then there’s something so pathetic about beating yourself up,” Painter says. “I really wanted to lean into that — this man who thinks he’s so powerful just being a baby.”

Buck Mason shirt, Reigning Champ tee

While Painter made preparations to execute his Season 2 finale plans, he had to maintain the secret of Isaac from his co-stars for months. This was especially challenging since Painter grew close to his fellow cast members throughout filming and even went on vacation with them to the Mediterranean. Still, Painter kept his mouth shut. 

“We were kind of playing chicken with each other,” he recalls. “They figured it out too, but they didn’t know I was allowed to know. There was this secrecy around it.” 

It was particularly difficult for Painter to hide Isaac’s ultimate persona from Doohan. The actors became good friends offscreen, and share electric chemistry in Part 2 as an uncle-nephew pair who feel more like bickering brothers. Doohan relished having Painter as a new scene partner. “It was so funny — there’s a lot going on in that dynamic,” the Hyde actor tells Tudum. “Francoise is throwing her arms around Isaac, and being so lovey with him. There’s a feeling that Isaac is getting the love from Tyler’s mom that Tyler wants from her for himself. To me, there was real jealousy between them.” 

Painter was excited to dive into the wacky ways of Wednesday, after previous appearances on the Emmy-winning The Handmaid's Tale and the drama series Tiny Beautiful Things. The West Hartford, Connecticut, native started acting as a teen, taking on roles in high school productions of musicals like Hairspray, as well as plays by Anton Chekhov and William Shakespeare. Painter cites ’70s touchstones like Robert Altman’s Nashville and John Cassavetes’s oeuvre among his inspirations — but Burton’s films have always held a special place in his heart. 

“Seeing Edward Scissorhands when I was younger was a pretty special feeling,” he says. “What Tim did with the perception of being an outsider, it made a big difference for the American consciousness. And it did the same thing for me. It made me feel a little less like a freak.”

Buck Mason shirt, Mack Weldon tank, R13 pants, talent's own Moscot sunglasses; wardrobe styling by Edward Bowleg

Now Painter can give Wednesday fans the same feeling with his portrayal of Slurp and Isaac (Slurpsaac?). Painter was particularly excited to team up with “gracious” Burton to create the gore-munching monster in whose guise he enters the series. “Luckily Owen is good and talented. I felt confident that even under that makeup, he knew where he was going with the role,” Burton tells Tudum. “Like other great horror movie actors, you can’t really put your finger on it, but there’s a power to him — there’s something off-kilter and offbeat about him.” 

Isaac received the same level of care when it came time for the Wednesday team to assemble the supernatural scientist’s look. “I was worried that I would just be a regular guy after playing a zombie,” Painter admits. “But I delighted in his sense of style. Isaac is flamboyant enough to still be really fun.” To construct the series’ perfect Byronic villain, the actor worked closely with Wednesday costume designers Colleen Atwood and Mark Sutherland on every detail, down to Isaac’s painstakingly draped coat. By Episode 7, the boy who was once comfortable swimming through sludge to nosh on brains is runway-ready in a bespoke scarlet suit fit for the Florentine opera. 

That vanity proves to be Isaac’s undoing in the Season 2 finale. Thing gets the upper hand in his fight with Isaac, and pulls out his former host’s clockwork heart, killing him. The shock on Isaac’s face is palpable. “I wanted to genuinely embarrass myself on camera,” Painter says. When he first read the scene, Painter thought about Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and one of its “very serious” main characters, Malvolio. “He’s been made a fool the whole play. At the end, he screams at everybody that he is going to curse their entire lives for what they did to him,” Painter says. “Then he leaves, and everyone goes back to partying as if Malvolio never existed.”

Although Wednesday, a freshly freed Thing, and the rest of the Addams family have no ball to attend to celebrate Isaac’s demise, they do leave his body in his beloved Iago Tower and return to their lives. Thing chucks Isaac’s ring into a corner, Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) rides into her next case, and Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) lets go of one big secret. Oh, and Owen Painter the actor? He has those sweet new kittens to meet. 

Relive Isaac’s entire journey now by (re)watching Wednesday Season 2 — now streaming on Netflix. And keep coming back to Tudum for all of your Nevermore Academy news. 

Meet Slurp: Owen Painter Discusses His Audition for Wednesday Season 2