First they put Baby Yoda in jeopardy. Next it’s going to be Enid Sinclair? Say it isn’t so! Back in 2022 nobody could have predicted Charles Addams’ supporting character Wednesday Addams would get her own series, or that it would be one of the best TV options of the year. Springing out of Tim Burton and Danny Elfman’s movie series look and feel, Netflix’s Wednesday grabbed on to the success of recent series like Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Stranger Things, and earlier modern classics like Veronica Mars, Haven, Grimm, and even Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Viewers would quickly find Jenna Ortega to be unflinching in her ability to step into the shoes of someone who is weird, strange, or morbid at first blush. But her Wednesday revealed that at her core she is perfectly normal. She just likes what she likes. In a new school where weird is the norm, even she doesn’t think she’ll fit in. It’s a trait consistent with the prior versions of her character, and it’s also what makes a great coming of age story successful.
Get ready for Season 2. Ortega is back with Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester, Catherine Zeta-Jones as mom Morticia, Luis Guzmán as dad Gomez, Victor Dorobantu as Thing, and Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley, with newcomers Billie Piper and Steve Buscemi. More importantly Emma Myers is back as TV’s best BFF, Enid Sinclair. And the difference between the last trailer and this one is we now know the writers are upping the risks for this season. Will they kill off Enid?
Here’s the new trailer for the second season of Wednesday, with a perfect use of The Phantom of the Opera theme to set the scene:
In case you misssed it, here’s the earlier trailer:
Even if you are a die-hard fan of the beloved Barry Sonnenfeld movies or the 1960s series starring John Astin or decades of animated series and movies, all based on Charles Addams’ groundbreaking comics, you’ll quickly find that writers Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Kayla Alpert, April Blair, and Matt Lambert weren’t messing around when they adapted and updated the characters for the 2020s. Wednesday is a curious girl–she’s interested in all sorts of things–and she’s open to trying new things even if at first she’s a bit hesitant. That’s part and parcel of the YA–young adult–genre. But this takes YA further–it’s not just another CW Network soap opera for teens. You can probably find a bit of everyone, even yourself, in the character of Wednesday Addams. She’s smart, she has a personal code, and she’s loyal to her family and friends–once she makes some–even if she reserves the right to terrorize her own brother Pugsley.
The risk beyond the story elements is the big picture: Is this an effort to one-up the Harry Potter series? It feels a bit dark Hogwarts, but it also looks like it’s going to work.
One of the best series of 2022, the eagerly awaited Wednesday is back, streaming beginning August 6, 2025, on Netflix.
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
