Netflix's Wednesday just got a greenlight for a Season 2, so what better time to look again at how the show could improve in its sophomore run? But warning! This piece contains spoilers for Wednesday Season 1. If you're not caught up yet, read our spoiler-free review.
Bringing a character as iconic as Wednesday Addams back to the screen was always going to be a challenge, but in the recent Netflix series Tim Burton did just that. It seemed to many a match made in goth heaven (or hell), especially once certified scream queen Jenna Ortega was attached to play the titular character. There's no question that Ortega was the perfect performer to continue Wednesday's legacy and her delightfully twisted turn is at the heart of what makes the show soar. She is without a doubt the Wednesday we need, even if we don't deserve her. Now that we've watched Season 1, many viewers' minds are turning to Season 2, and what could happen when the show returns. So we're here to say that the sophomore season needs to do what the Addams Family does best and lean into the weird.
Establishing the world that Wednesday exists in through a classic TV set-up like a murder mystery makes a lot of sense for the inaugural season of the reboot series. It's a time-honored tradition for genre television with shows like True Blood, Twin Peaks, and Grimm all using the easily recognized and catchy structure as a way to introduce viewers to their unusual and often supernatural worlds. But as the series grows into its second season, it can reach beyond those boundaries and stretch its raven-black wings out into less explored pastures. While introducing Wednesday as a fish out of water at Nevermore was enjoyable, she and her family are and always have been anti-establishment figures who are more far likely to commit a crime than help the police solve one. So getting to see that aspect of Wednesday in Season 2 is key.
While Season 1 teased the chaotic criminal at her core, she was often stopped before her plans came to fruition. Let her be the angry, violent, and hilarious young woman who's inspired many teenage goths, outcasts, and loners to be the very best and rebellious versions of themselves. If Netflix needs a hint of how powerful that unconstrained side of Wednesday is, they need only look to the success of her dance scene choreographed by Jenna Ortega herself, which is one of the show's most unexpected and unique moments that took audiences and the internet by storm.
The show's creators need only look to the success of Jenna Ortega's dance scene, which is one of the show's most unexpected and unique moments.
“
Another clever device the first season used to draw viewers in was a classic story of the week, so alongside the wider mystery each episode brought in a new Nevermore-centric conundrum for Wednesday to face. That's easily translated to something stranger than what's essentially a magic school story. The Addams Family's macabre interests are key to their characters in every iteration, so Wednesday becoming embroiled in the underground world of the dark arts or having to lean into her tendencies for murder, torture, and mayhem would be great. Season 2 could also be a great space to expand on some more mother-daughter moments. Now that we know Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a murderer, there's great scope to explore their shared aptitude for violence. Let's be real, Zeta-Jones and Ortega on a killer road trip sounds like a riot.
Ortega as Wednesday is the kind of casting that only comes around so often, which means the show can take risks and know that it'll always be centered by that performance. With that said, let's get even more Wednesday. The sprawling ensemble of the first season meant that the show was often more concerned with other people than the title character, and we'd love to see her take center stage in a story that showcases her self-assured nature as she dives into a far odder adventure. It was fun to meet her paranormal buddies at Nevermore, but we'd be thrilled to see our goth heroine make her escape from the academy and venture out into the wider world. That's the obvious route for next season as we end with the school closed for the year.
While we doubt the show will go this out there, in the original Addams Family comics Wednesday had a passion for the Bermuda Triangle. We've already seen her obsessive investigative tendencies in Season 1, so it would be intriguing to see her turn those to fantastical mysteries rather than small-town murders. I mean, who wouldn't want to see Jenna Ortega exploring the Bermuda Triangle while listening to The Cramps? Perhaps investigating or instigating other unexplained phenomena? However, from the end of Season 1 it seems more likely that whatever adventures she goes on will be in the rural hamlet of Jericho. So if that's the case then we're hoping that Wednesday will bring the weirdness to the small town, encouraging it to break out of its traditional mores and restraints as she began to do in the first season.
Basically, whichever route Wednesday takes next season, now that we know her world let's hope that the series embraces the weirdness that has made the character such an icon.
For even more on the show, check out how Wednesday beat Dahmer as Netflix's second most-watched show of all-time, dig in on the rumors that Season 2 is headed to Amazon (it's not!), or watch this Tim Burton Wednesday featurette.
Note: This story originally ran on Dec. 13, 2022. It was updated with the Season 2 confirmation news on January 6, 2023.
