[This story contains spoilers from Wednesday season two, Part 1.]

Why have a normal job when you can be running across a green screen, investigating a mystery or “chained up to somebody while there’s a bunch of knives threatening to kill us?” That’s basically Emma Myers’ mentality.

At just 23 years old, Myers has already made a name for herself, starring opposite Jenna Ortega in Netflix’s Wednesday (which just dropped season two, Part 1), leading the TV adaptation of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (which just wrapped filming its second season) and starring in the blockbuster, A Minecraft Movie, just to name a few.

While most of these projects don’t have much in common, there’s one thing they all share that intrigued Myers: they all deliver a challenge. “I love acting because you get to do stuff that you could never ever do in your normal life,” the actress tells The Hollywood Reporter.

And that’s exactly how she felt taking on the bubbly werewolf Enid in Wednesday as she’s “playing somebody so polar opposite” to herself. Following what Myers describes as an “insane” first half to the show’s second season, she teases that Part 2 is “even crazier,” since “You think it’s gonna go one way and then it goes another way.”

Below, Myers breaks down her intense Wednesday scenes so far, shares her favorite part about playing Enid and teases what fans can expect when Part 2 drops Sept. 3. She also chats about her favorite memories from starring in A Minecraft Movie and teases A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder season two.

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What made you first want to pursue a career as an actor?

I’m a huge Lord of the Rings fan, and [director] Peter Jackson used to release these three-hour behind-the-scenes films alongside [the movies]. I used to sit and watch what the set was like and the actors doing their thing, [and] I remember being like, “That’s what I wanna do. I wanna make stuff like that. I wanna be a part of stuff like this.” Gosh, I was so little when I started. I’ve just been in love with it for ages, but it’s actually all thanks to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. 

With season two of Wednesday now released, what are you most excited for fans to see in Part 1?

So much! There’s so much that goes on, it’s insane. I love the scripts this season. They’re so interesting. Each episode has its own climax and buildup; everything’s so crazy and insane. I thought episode three was really fun. I loved the camp stuff. We always say that filming the series feels like a summer camp, so the fact that we actually got to go to a summer camp while filming was pretty crazy. We all had the best time doing the races and all that. And then Willow Hill in [episode] four, it’s a really fun sequence. I’m so excited for people to get towards the end of Part 1 because Part 2 is, I think, even crazier, and I’m so excited for that anticipation to build. 

It seems like your character is finding herself more this season after finally transforming into a werewolf at the end of season one. What do you love the most about playing Enid?

I love that she’s so different from me. I really do not have that much energy, nor do I care too much about topics to be that excitable about anything. Enid is so excitable. She’s crazy and entertained and so over the top, and it’s such a release to play her because you can be stupid and crazy and it’s a good exercise. It’s a good release of emotions and so fun playing somebody so polar opposite from you, because when else would you have that experience?

Your character has some intense scenes in Part 1, including being tied up under a bunch of knives and then being attacked by birds. Do you enjoy filming the dramatic or calmer scenes more?

I prefer to have a little bit of action. I love getting to film those sequences; the knives was crazy. We took three days straight to film that, but then three more days of pickup, so all in all, it took almost a whole week to shoot that sequence, which was absolutely insane. I love filming sequences like that because again, when in your normal life would you ever be in that situation? I can have a conversation with anybody any day, but when am I gonna get chained up to somebody while there’s a bunch of knives threatening to kill us? By the end of each day, because me and Noah [B. Taylor] were tied up together the whole day, I’d go to bed that night and I could still like feel his back on mine. It’s like when you’re in the ocean and you go to sleep that night and you still feel like you’re in the waves, but with somebody and not the waves, it was crazy and very strange. 

Even though Nevermore Academy is a chaotic place, especially with Wednesday (Ortega) there, Enid is also still navigating the normal high school clichés, like crushes and friendship drama. Why do you think it’s important that all those typical teen dilemmas and feelings are highlighted in a show like this?

Because it needs to be relatable to everyday people. We can have sci-fi and fantasy stuff all day long, but it becomes so much more personal when you can bring in aspects that everybody experiences. Enid having all these boy problems and friendship drama and wanting to be dance captain and wanting to do all these normal things and taking her driver’s test, I think it helps engage with the audience more because we want to be relatable. We want people to see themselves in these characters, and I find that Enid at least has a good foot in the door with that because she experiences lots of just normal teenage girl things. 

What is it like also working with Jenna Ortega, as well as the legendary Tim Burton, on the show?

Everybody’s so cool. I feel so at ease on set. Because we’ve done it all before, coming back to it, I was so giddy and excited because I’m comfortable with this. I know everybody, like it’s gonna be easy peasy getting back into it and it really was. I also have such respect for everybody who works on this. Tim is so, so cool. He’s like your fun, crazy uncle. So chill. Jenna and I have such a great relationship. I love working with her. She gives it her all and there’s nothing behind, and I appreciate her putting so much effort into scenes. You can genuinely tell how much effort she’s putting in even when her face is blank, it’s actually crazy how talented she is. I love working with every single person on this job. It’s been such a blast. 

After all the chaos of Part 1 and that wild cliffhanger, what can you tease about what fans can expect next?

A crazy time! Episode six has some of the most difficult stuff I’ve ever had to do on screen, and it will be very apparent when people watch it why it was so difficult, but it was genuinely one of the most stressful experiences because I wanted it to be so good. And episode seven as well. … You think it’s gonna go one way and then it goes another way, and it all just comes to a close in the most perfect way possible. I’m so excited for people to get to experience it. It was such a joy and such a crazy time getting to read those scripts one by one and figuring out what happens as we were acting in Part 1. 

You were also part of one of the biggest blockbusters of the year, A Minecraft Movie. Looking back, what’s your favorite memory from that experience?

First of all, getting to work with childhood hero Jack Black, insane. Coolest thing I’ve probably ever done in my entire life, and I still pinch myself when I remember that I worked with him on a whole film. But also, I got to shoot in New Zealand, which has been my bucket list top thing I’ve ever wanted to do in my life. It was the best time! It’s one of my favorite places on earth; the people are amazing. I mean they shot Lord of the Rings down there, which is probably why I’m obsessed with the country, but also I’ve always enjoyed acting against a green screen. It’s hard to explain, but it kind of reminds me of black box theater where you have to interact with things that aren’t there. I’ve always wanted to do motion capture CGI characters where you go into a studio and you just crawl around on the floor, like they do in Avatar, and it was kind of like that because we’re trying to imagine these big creatures and these big sceneries and stuff in front of us, but all we have to look at is this green screen, and so it really challenges you.

You’re also leading Netflix’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. How much did you enjoy bringing that beloved book to life on the screen?

There’s so much pressure that goes around it, but I enjoy a challenge. We actually just wrapped season two [on July 16], crazy, and so it’s been such a great time getting to adapt these books and working with all these people. It’s a challenge, but it’s definitely one that I take on willingly, and I think everybody else in this series loves it as much as I do. It’s a crazy show to lead, insane, but I enjoy it so much. 

Since there are so many twists and turns in that show, what’s it like getting each episode’s script and learning how the story develops as the one playing Pip, who’s trying to solve these cases?

It’s so fun getting to play the investigation part. I love acting like I’m smart, like I can figure things out, because if I was in this situation, I would be dumb and it wouldn’t go over very well, so I love getting to play a smart detective. But getting to read the scripts as they come out, I remember poking at Holly [Jackson, writer and author] so many times being like, “Can I have episode four now, please, please, ‘cause I really wanna know what happens,” even though I’ve read the book. It’s so much fun. The scripts feel like a book to me, [which is] why I enjoy it so much. 

With A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder season two coming soon, what are you most excited for fans to see?

Our writer, who actually is the author of the books, Holly Jackson, is now writing scripts for season two. I’m so excited for people to see it because her writing is so, so, so good and it elevates the books in such a unique and amazing organic way. But I also love the storyline. I feel more intrigued by it and more into this season, and there’s bigger stakes in this season than there were in season one, so it’s sort of a more stressful time. But I genuinely have had, like the second season we just finished, some of the most challenging, some of the most fun days on set ever. I’m so excited. It’s a crazy season and I’m super, super proud of it! 

Do you have a dream genre or role that you hope to take on in the future?    

I wanna do a sci-fi horror, like an alien. Maybe something in space, I don’t know. I love acting because you get to do stuff that you could never ever do in your normal life, and I feel like a sci-fi sort of thing would be top of my list, along with probably a Mocap: A game, a film, anything. I would love to do something like that. 

What’s one of the biggest challenges you’ve been able to overcome to help get you to where you are today?

Just keeping up with the chaos of it all. When Wednesday season one came out and my life sort of catapulted into this strange nonstop thing, I had so much trouble coping with it because I was homeschooled, so I never really was away from home and my family that much. Suddenly having to go to L.A. and back to London and then back to Atlanta and then New York, you’re never at home for more than two weeks at a time. I had a hard time dealing with it and then as I’ve gone on, it’s now very normal to me. It’s very strange when I’m home for longer than a week or so. I enjoy this sort of nonstop aspect of it all. I think learning how to be comfortable with all that was definitely a big challenge for me, but I think I’ve done it successfully. 

If you had to describe what makes Emma Myers, Emma Myers, what would you say? 

I think I have a strong sense of personality, and I think I know myself very well. I’m not wavered or pressured to change, which is nice, because being in this industry, you can switch so fast. I’ve met so many cool people who are still themselves, and I want to be like that. I think I’ve got a good sense of self. 

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Season two, Part 1 of Wednesday is currently streaming on Netflix, with part two releasing Sept. 3. Read THR‘s season two coverage and cover story with Jenna Ortega and Tim Burton.