The Tim Burton-produced, deliciously droll Netflix mystery starring Jenna Ortega as the titular snarky, pigtailed, cello-playing budding sociopath will be heading back to the streamer with a second season this summer. Here’s everything to know.
Is there a trailer for Wednesday Season 2?
Yes! Watch them here, as well as a tantalising behind-the-scenes featurette, the first six minutes of the new season, and a new Nevermore recruitment video.
Will the cast of Wednesday return for Season 2?
Yes, the cast members who survived Season 1—Hunter Doohan (Tyler Galpin), Emma Myers (Enid Sinclair), Joy Sunday (Bianca Barclay), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Morticia Addams), Luis Guzmán (Gomez Addams), and Fred Armisen (Uncle Fester), alongside Ortega’s Wednesday Addams—will all be returning. Percy Hynes White’s Xavier Thorpe, however, will not—last year, the actor faced allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denied. (In response to the news that he would not be back, he posted an image of the Season 2 cast on Instagram, writing: “I had so much fun working on this show. I can’t wait to watch season two. Much love.”) In a recent interview, Myers explained of the absent characters: “I feel like the script goes in a very specific direction that it’s not a big worry. This season especially is so character driven, and there’s so much happening. It just makes so much sense to have the characters we have and to have the story we have. I think fans will appreciate it.”
Meanwhile, the ultimate fate of some other characters is less certain. These include—spoiler alert—Riki Lindhome’s Dr. Valerie Kinbott, Wednesday’s court-ordered therapist, who was mauled by the Hyde. It’s unlikely that she’ll return for Season 2, though, of course, nothing is impossible at Nevermore.
Then there’s Gwendoline Christie’s school principal Larissa Weems, who was killed by Christina Ricci’s Laurel Gates. Speaking to Digital Spy back in 2022, Christie said of her character: “We haven’t seen her put in the ground, have we? I feel like Larissa Weems would not really be prepared to entertain or be dominated by anything as commonplace as death.” However, it’s also possible that she won’t be back for the next instalment.
As for Laurel Gates herself? Her return seems likely. Yes, she was defeated by a swarm of bees and then received a kicking from Wednesday at the end of the last season, but her death was never confirmed. As a result, it’s possible that she was hospitalised and then imprisoned for murder. When asked by Entertainment Tonight about her future on Wednesday in the spring of 2023, Ricci replied: “I don’t think I’m allowed to say. On my end, the door is open. She was so fun to play! It’s always so fun to play a villain.” Watch this space.
Who’s joining the cast of Wednesday for Season 2?
Thrillingly, there will be plenty of new blood, too: in April 2024, it was announced that both Thandiwe Newton and Steve Buscemi had joined the cast for the second instalment. While details are scarce, it is seemingly confirmed that the latter will take the part of Nevermore’s new principle, Barry Dort. “She’s just, she’s so sharp and funny and down to earth,” Buscemi recently said of his co-star, Ortega. “And just a wonderful actress, a wonderful scene partner. The best.” As for the plot? “All very hush-hush, as they say, but I think it’s going to be a great season, and I loved working on it.”
Also joining them? Billie Piper, Evie Templeton, Owen Painter, and Noah Taylor, all as new series regulars, while the likes of Joanna Lumley, Christopher Lloyd, Frances O’Connor, Haley Joel Osment, Heather Matarazzo, and Joonas Suotamo will appear as guest stars. In a teaser showing Thing delivering Season 2’s scripts to cast members, it was also revealed that Lumley would be playing the Addams family’s matriarch, “Grandmama.”
Then, on November 13, it emerged that none other than Lady Gaga would be joining them in an undisclosed role (a cameo, per Variety). It’s a moment Ortega seems to have spoken into existence, previously telling the outlet that she would love to see the prolific multihyphenate in the show’s second instalment. “I’m sure Netflix would love that,” she told a red-carpet reporter at the 2023 Golden Globes, of the potential inclusion of Mother Monster. “I think Mrs. Thornhill and Wednesday had this weird mentor relationship or kind of understood each other in a certain way, so, if Lady Gaga were to be a part of this, I think it would have to be two monsters that understand each other.” Bring it on.
What will be the plot of Wednesday Season 2?
Beyond the new trailer, the plot remains under wraps—though Ortega has revealed that the next series will be “more episodic,” with each instalment functioning almost like a standalone film, as well as leaning into horror a little bit more. “We’re definitely expanding on the supernatural world,” she told Vanity Fair in February 2024. “Our show had all sorts of werewolves and vampires… and I think we expand on that a little bit. In the first season, we had episodes that really stood out visually—like the dance episode, was a really big one for people, and that setting was very particular and it felt like prom night, a little bit, or Carrie. Every episode [of season 2] that I’ve read so far is like that. It just stands out on its own as a very memorable scene or bit or setting, which I think is what I’m most excited for, because to pull that off for eight episodes is, I think, really incredible and really lucky.”
The actor has also expressed approval of where Wednesday’s individual storyline will be going in Season 2. “We’re ditching any romantic love interest for Wednesday, which is really great,” she said on her episode of Variety’s Actors on Actors in 2023. (On the Armchair Expert podcast, the actor had previously said of her character: “Her being in a love triangle? It made no sense.”) Less time zipping between love interests will hopefully mean more time to solve the mystery of the creepy texter who began sending her cryptic, threatening messages in the final moments of Season 1.
The official log line reads: “Wednesday Addams returns to prowl the Gothic halls of Nevermore Academy, where fresh foes and woes await. This season, Wednesday must navigate family, friends and old adversaries, propelling her into another year of delightfully dark and kooky mayhem. Armed with her signature razor-sharp wit and deadpan charm, Wednesday is also plunged into a new bone-chilling supernatural mystery.”
When will Wednesday Season 2 be released?
Season two will launch on Netflix in two parts: the first instalment on August 6 and the second September 3.
Is there a Wednesday spin-off in the works?
Yes, a Wednesday spin-off is already in early development at Netflix, and it’ll centre on Fred Armisen’s Uncle Fester. Expect more news in the coming months.
This article first appeared in Vogue.com.
