Back in 2022, Wednesday took Jenna Ortega from scream queen to breakout stardom. The Addams Family spin-off series centered on the adventures of Wednesday Addams was a big hit three years ago, but that was then, this is now.
Wednesday is one of the culprits in the streaming phenomenon of long-ass waits between seasons, with nearly three entire years lapsing between seasons one and two. In 2025, will people still care about Wednesday? Based on the teaser that dropped yesterday, I think so. Check it out:
It certainly doesn’t hurt that Wednesday is a hybrid anthology, with the same cast of characters and the same setting—Wednesday is returning to boarding school at Nevermore Academy—but it’s a whole new mystery this time. How much stuff are we going to have to remember from season one? Some, judging by the sheer number of returning characters, but maybe not a lot, since season two will have a new mystery plot.
Besides Ortega returning as Wednesday, Catherine Zeta-Jones is back as Morticia, Luis Guzman returns as Gomez, and Emma Myers also returns as Wednesday’s chipper roommate, Enid, the unexploded werewolf. Season two will also welcome back Fred Armisen as Fester, and it looks like one of Wednesday’s drippy love interests is also back (hoo raaay). New to season two, though, are Joanna Lumley and Steve Buscemi, as well as Thandiwe Newton, though she is not seen in the trailer.
Regarding season one, I said that “[t]here’s no reason for anyone over the age of 16 to watch this show,” but I think I found one (1) reason for grown adults to tune in. Well, two (2). One is Jenna Ortega, who is simply delightful as Wednesday. The other is that Wednesday is a Goth take on the fun little murder mystery. The mystery in season one wasn’t hard to figure out, and it involved an obviously YA-inspired love triangle featuring two damp squibs of love interests, but the creepy dolls in the teaser for season two are giving me hope that maybe this time the mystery element will be stronger and more interesting.
They took almost two years to get Wednesday back into production after season one, hopefully most of that time went into writing the second season. The writing on season one was famously criticized by Ortega herself—she ended up diplomatically walking her comments back—so I HAVE to assume they tried to improve that going into season two. Plus, season one was produced right out of the pandemic, when there was still a high degree of chaos as people figured out how to work under new production rules and guidelines. And then there is the ancillary benefit of the dual labor strikes of 2023, providing writers more time to tinker with scripts (you couldn’t make deals or work on set without a waiver, but a LOT of people were writing during the work stoppage, the Thunderbolts* team included).
So hopefully things are much improved this time around. I don’t mind if Wednesday isn’t really for me, I’ve always said every generation gets their own Wednesday and Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday is for a younger audience than me, a 40-something woman. But I also think Jenna Ortega’s performance as Wednesday deserves more than she got in season one. Ortega is fantastic in this role, I’d love to see the writing meet her on her level. I am absolutely going to get suckered into watching Wednesday again by Jenna Ortega, who is turning into a truly irresistible star.
