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. Here’s everything we know so far.
Will the cast of Wednesday return for season 2?
Yes, the cast members who survived Season 1—Hunter Doohan (Tyler Galpin), Percy Hynes White (Xavier Thorpe), 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—should all be returning.
Meanwhile, the fates of those who perished the last time around 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 installment.
And as for Gates herself? Her return seems to be the most 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 hospitalized and then imprisoned for murder. When asked by Entertainment Tonight about her future on Wednesday last spring, 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 some new blood, too: both Thandiwe Newton and Steve Buscemi have joined the cast for the second installment, per Variety. While character details are scarce, sources have reported the publication that the latter will take the part of Nevermore’s new principal. At Netflix’s Tudum: A Global Fan Event in 2023, the cast also confirmed that Wednesday Season 2 will feature a new member of the Addams family—though who it will be is anyone’s guess. Ortega said that she had her fingers crossed for Cousin Itt, while Doohan and Sunday mentioned they’d love to meet Wednesday’s grandmother.
What will be the plot of Wednesday Season 2?
The plot of Season 2 is under wraps, though Ortega has revealed that the next season will be “more episodic,” with each installment operating 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 expanded 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 specific 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.”
Beyond the bigger picture, the actor has also expressed her 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 begins sending her cryptic, threatening messages in the final moments of Season 1.
When will Wednesday season 2 be released?
Considering that production for Season 2 was delayed as a result of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and is due to kick off in late April 2024, it’s unlikely that Wednesday will return to the streamer before 2025.
Is there a Wednesday spin-off in the works?
Yes, a Wednesday spin-off is already in early development at Netflix, and it’ll center on Fred Armisen’s Uncle Fester. Expect more news in the coming months.
How should I entertain myself until Wednesday Season 2 premieres?
Rewatch the first season, and then start counting down to the release of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on September 6, Tim Burton’s long-awaited sequel to the 1988 cult classic Beetlejuice, which also stars Ortega opposite returning favorites Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, and Michael Keaton.
