When Moosa Mostafa first walked on to the set of Wednesday season one, he was one of the youngest members of the cast – a teenager thrown into a Tim Burton universe with little professional training, wide-eyed and overwhelmed.
Returning for season two, however, was a completely different experience. Now 17, the British actor of Egyptian and Pakistani heritage is not only growing up alongside his character Eugene Ottinger, but also becoming a rare representative of both communities on one of Netflix’s biggest shows yet.
“I definitely stepped on to the set of season two with a lot more confidence,” he tells The National. “I knew more about what it was like to be on a film set. Coming back felt like going home. After not that long I was back in the groove, and in a place where I could really explore the character.”
Finding his footing at Nevermore
Eugene, the bug-loving outcast who befriended Wednesday in season one, returns with more purpose this time. His powers of control are expanding across the insect world, while his new role as Pugsley Addams’s roommate puts him at the centre of both comic and emotional moments.
“That’s been really nice to explore this season, and I’d love to see it grow more,” Mostafa says. “But I also want to revisit Eugene’s relationship with Wednesday – the detective side of him, the accidental detective stuff. That was really fun to do.”
Some of his best moments came from the bigger set pieces alongside Isaac Ordonez, who plays Pugsley Addams, and Owen Painter, one of the new additions in season two. “Some of the most memorable parts for me filming were the zombie stuff early on,” he says. “We had this crazy technical stuff to shoot, a lot of intense stuff. It was really fun, really cool to explore how we were going to set that all up. Me and Isaac and Owen – it was really fun to explore.”
It was also one of the very first sequences he shot when he came back – a reintroduction that threw him straight back into the deep end.
And while the scale of the show has grown, the warmth of the cast has stayed the same. “We have such a strong relationship, all of us,” he says. “It was really sweet with the new cast members like Owen and Noah Taylor, they integrated so perfectly. And then even people like Steve Buscemi – honestly, the nicest people in the world. They’re always there to just say hello and have a nice conversation. Everyone makes time for each other.”
Learning on the job
Mostafa’s journey to Netflix stardom has been unusual – no drama school, no years of auditions, just immediate immersion in a Burton production.
“Tim especially – it’s really interesting seeing him in his element,” he says. “Seeing him work is really telling and educating in its own right. He knows exactly what he wants. The notes he gives you are so specific, and that really teaches you as an actor how to change the way you play a scene.
“I don’t have formal acting training. A lot of it has been picked up as I go. Through Tim and the other directors, I’ve managed to pick up a lot of underlying skills that I didn’t necessarily know. When I came back for season two, I realised I’d picked stuff up, and I could feel more natural on set.”
He says he owes “a lot of credit” to Burton and the other directors for shaping him, since they have effectively become his acting teachers in place of formal training.
He credits Jenna Ortega with helping him feel at home from the start. “She started this industry at a similar age to when I started filming Wednesday,” he says. “There was a lot of shared wisdom, almost an older sister dynamic. She kept it light-hearted, which made me feel welcome. She’s insanely talented – when you’re working with her, she really locks in. Watching her is educating in its own right.”
Between school and stardom
Season one of Wednesday came out in 2022, giving Mostafa the chance to spend the interim growing up off set and living a teenager’s life with his family in the UK.
“I was very committed to my kind of normal life, finished my exams – got them out of the way,” he says. “My parents are both dentists, so they have nothing to do with the industry. I literally just go to school, live in a small area, and every now and then I end up on this massive film set.
“When I came up for season two, honestly, I re-transformed back to the world, and it made me remember how much I loved it again. Now, I’m really excited and hopeful that I can explore the opportunities the industry holds and explore myself as an actor. I want to learn more. Everything I’ve done so far has been a massive learning experience, and I’m just really eager to continue to learn, and to see how far it can take me.”
But Mostafa is also mindful that he wasn’t hired to play Eugene because of years of acting experience – he was cast because he embodies the character naturally. Since it was him that they wanted, it’s to his own self that he wants to stay true as he moves on to other opportunities.
“There are so many incredible actors in the world,” he says. “I kind of want to see where I can take it in my own way. There’s something really scary but really exciting about throwing yourself in and seeing where it takes you.”
Representation that matters
For audiences in the Mena region and on the subcontinent, Mostafa’s presence in Wednesday carries meaning beyond the storyline. Born in the UK to a Pakistani mother and Egyptian father, he is one of the few young actors of Arab and South Asian heritage to appear in such a high-profile series.
“It’s really nice to be able to put out there that I’m both Egyptian and Pakistani, because there’s definitely a need for representation of our people in the industry,” he says.
Still, he admits it feels strange at times to be viewed that way. “In my mind, I never consider myself someone like that,” he says. “But it’s really nice to know I can be a representation for these people.”
His cultural roots have shaped him deeply. “I’ve been so blessed to go to Egypt many times and sit with family there,” he says. “I’ve never had the opportunity to go to Pakistan, but I have so much family here in the UK, and the culture has always been a big part of my life – and the food for sure. Growing up in a half-Egyptian, half-Pakistani household, I had a really nice balance of both cultures. I think it’s nice they managed to come together and almost form within me.”
The response from fans has not gone unnoticed. “I’ve had comments and DMs being like, ‘Oh, it’s so nice to see someone from this culture, from that culture.’ Every time I read one of those comments, I do feel proud to be able to represent that. It really means so much to me.”
Off-camera bonds
Life on set has also meant growing up among friends, especially as he spent months filming far from home in places such as Romania and Ireland.
“The group chat is really great,” he says. “It wasn't ultra-active, but every now and then someone would be like, you guys want to do something? And everyone would be like, yeah, let’s do it. In Romania during Covid, we found random things to do like bowling. In Ireland it was easier, because by then we’d solidified that we all got along. We’d always find something every week or two to just get together and hang out. Not even thinking about work – just having fun together.”
Sometimes even the little details become cherished memories and inside jokes – even if he can’t quite recall the context any more. “The cast had a group chat called Dog Mode,” he recalls. “I wish I could remember the context, but it just stuck for the whole shoot.” He laughs that someone in the cast changed the name randomly one day, and it stuck until filming wrapped.
What to expect from Wednesday season three
As he looks towards Wednesday season three, Mostafa is keen to see Eugene’s abilities stretched further.
“I think there’s a lot of untapped potential within the use of controlling bugs,” he says. “I’d love to see how far we can push that, and how Eugene can grow into that kind of power. I want to see how he can use it in more interesting and random, fun ways. I’d also love to see his relationship with Pugsley grow, but equally revisit his relationship with Wednesday. The accidental detective stuff was really fun to do.”
The industry around him, he says, is full of “different imaginations and different creatives”, which makes it both daunting and thrilling. “There’s something really scary but really exciting about throwing yourself in and seeing where it takes you.”
At 17, Mostafa is still a student – still learning, still absorbing – but Wednesday has already given him a stage most actors could only dream of. What he does next will be watched not just by the show’s millions of fans, but also by those who see themselves in him, on a screen that rarely reflected them before.
Season by season, Eugene Ottinger is becoming more than a sidekick – and Mostafa is finding his own place in the story, too.
