Jenna Ortega as Wednesday in Episode 2 of Wednesday Season 2. Credit – Jonathan Hession—Netflix
At long last, woe is no longer us now that Wednesday Season 2 is finally here.
Following a nearly three-year hiatus, Netflix’s uber-popular Addams Family spinoff is back for a highly-anticipated second season that will see Jenna Ortega’s titular goth girl antiheroine return to Nevermore Academy for another year of outcast adventures, family drama, and supernatural mysteries.
When Wednesday debuted in November 2022, Season 1 broke the record for the most hours watched in a week for any English-language TV series on Netflix by earning a whopping 341.23M hours viewed in its first seven days on the streamer. And co-creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) are hoping for nothing less from Season 2 of their macabre coming-of-age dramedy—premiering with Part 1 (Episodes 1–4) on Aug. 6 and followed by Part 2 (Episodes 5–8) on Sept. 3.
“It’s always the biggest priority for us to not suffer a sophomore slump and no one’s expectations for Season 2 are higher than ours,” Millar told the Hollywood Reporter. “There are so many shows I watched and loved the first season, and then I watch the first 20 minutes of the second season and I’m out. So making sure the show delivered in terms of the comedy, the mystery, all the elements was our top priority, that we didn’t want to let the audience down.”
Here’s everything you need to know before tuning into Wednesday Season 2.
How did Wednesday Season 1 end?
After getting expelled from public high school over an incident involving flesh-eating piranhas at the start of Season 1, Wednesday found herself enrolled at Nevermore, the same magical boarding school outside the town of Jericho, Vt., that her parents, Gomez (Luis Guzmán) and Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), once attended. There, Wednesday was introduced to an eclectic mix of fellow so-called outcasts—like siren Bianca (Joy Sunday), gorgon Ajax (Georgie Farmer), and her bubbly werewolf roommate Enid (Emma Myers)—and began honing her psychic abilities.
Following the brutal murder of a telekinetic student named Rowan (Calum Ross) by a monster who was later revealed to be a Hyde, Wednesday and her right-hand hand Thing (Victor Dorobantu) launched an investigation to uncover the identities of the Hyde and its master, and connect the dots of how Jericho’s dark past was connected to the crimes of the present. In the end, Wednesday was able to put the pieces of the puzzle together to figure out the Hyde was her pseudo-boyfriend Tyler (Hunter Doohan), the supposedly normie son of Jericho sheriff Donovan Galpin (Jamie McShane), and that his strings were being pulled by her Nevermore dorm mom and botany teacher Marilyn Thornhill (Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday in the beloved 1991 film The Addams Family and its 1993 sequel Addams Family Values).
As it turned out, Marilyn Thornhill was an alias of the supposedly deceased Laurel Gates, a descendant of Jericho’s colonial-era pilgrim founder Joseph Crackstone (William Houston) who had faked her own death with the goal of resurrecting her crazed ancestor from the grave so he could fulfill his mission of eradicating all outcasts. With the help of Enid, Bianca, psychic insect manipulator Eugene (Moosa Mostafa), and the ghost of her own ancestor, Goody Addams (also played by Ortega), Wednesday was able to take down Tyler and Laurel, and defeat Crackstone once and for all. However, considering both Tyler and Laurel were simply detained rather than killed, there’s a chance they could still play a role in the events of Season 2.
“Not all the loose ends have been tied up as neatly as Wednesday thinks they have,” Millar told Netflix’s Tudum of what’s to come. “And she loves the idea of a new mystery.”
What to expect at the start of Season 2
As Season 2 gets underway, we know that Wednesday will be grappling with the same stalker that was introduced in the closing scene of the Season 1 finale. She will also begin delving deeper into her well of psychic power despite the fact that Goody is no longer around to serve as her spirit guide—a predicament that seems like it may lead to some trouble for our favorite deadpan protagonist.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Addams Family will all have expanded roles this season, with Wednesday’s younger brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) starting at Nevermore while Morticia and Gomez have reason to establish a stronger presence at the school. Wednesday and Pugsley’s Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) and Morticia’s estranged mother, Grandmama Hester Frump (Joanna Lumley), will also be around to join in on the morbid fun.
“We felt like we just touched the surface with those characters and the actors are so amazing in those roles,” Millar told TV Line in 2022 of the series’ plan for the other Addams. “Catherine [Zeta-Jones] is, I think, an iconic Morticia. The relationship between Wednesday and Morticia is also essential to the show, and the idea that Wednesday is trying to forge her own path outside the family is important.”
Notable additions to the cast include Steve Buscemi, who is playing Nevermore’s new headmaster, Principal Barry Dort; Thandiwe Newton as Dr. Rachael Fairburn, the chief psychiatrist at Tyler’s new home of Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital; and the one and only Mother Monster Lady Gaga, whose character description reads as follows: “Mysterious and enigmatic, Rosaline Rotwood is a legendary Nevermore teacher who crosses paths with Wednesday.”
As for Season 2’s central mystery, in a Netflix sneak peak released in May, Gough and Millar suggested they were able to “top” the plot of Season 1. “The ambition of the show is limitless,” Millar said. “We let our imaginations fly.”
Write to Megan McCluskey at Wednesday Before Season 2&body=https%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2F7307222%2Fwednesday-season-2-what-to-remember%2F” data-ylk=”slk:megan.mccluskey@time.com;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link rapid-noclick-resp”>megan.mccluskey@time.com.
