Netflix - Wednesday Season 2 Part 1: Gothic Mayhem, Family Chaos, and a Feral Fencer’s Return

By Mulder, 06 august 2025

Three years after her deliciously macabre debut at Nevermore Academy, Jenna Ortega returns as the iconic Wednesday Addams in the first part of Wednesday Season 2. This black-hearted, sharp-tongued heroine now faces the curious affliction of fame. Much like the series itself, which exploded into pop culture thanks to viral dances and the antics of a teenage detective, Wednesday has become a celebrity in her own right. Her dry contempt is met with selfies and stalker fans rather than fear, and the gloomy corridors of Nevermore are buzzing with new faces, mysteries, and a stronger sense than ever that Netflix is building its own supernatural universe. Under the expert direction of Tim Burton, who directs two of the four episodes with his signature talent for the twisted, the series feels bigger and more sophisticated, but not always better.

Season 2 relies heavily on spectacle and its various characters, and while the stakes are deliciously bloody, the focus on the main character sometimes gets lost in the crowd. From the start of the season, when Victor Dorobantu's disembodied hand beats a serial killer unconscious, Wednesday makes it clear that she has no intention of playing it safe.

Dark humor, blood, and Tim Burton's signature style are omnipresent in this spectacular stop-motion tale told around a campfire, which tells the story of a boy with a mechanical heart—a perfect reminder of the horrific and offbeat DNA that permeates this series. Thematically, the first part deals with Wednesday's struggle to control her emerging psychic powers, now accompanied by a disturbing symptom: black tears. This is not just a scary visual effect, but a representation of her inner collapse, especially as she begins to foresee the death of her best friend, Enid, played by Emma Myers. These visions destabilize her emotionally and psychologically, pushing her to push away those who care about her, a classic behavior for Wednesday, but one that seems deeper here thanks to Jenna Ortega's precise modulation, which manages to convey the character's impassive misanthropy while allowing real concern to shine through.

The fact that Jenna Ortega has grown even more confident in her role, apparently influencing script changes on set and refusing to reduce Wednesday to a romantic caricature, certainly has something to do with it. The pointless love triangle from season 1 is gone; Xavier, played by Percy Hynes White, has completely disappeared, and Tyler Galpin, played by Hunter Doohan, only returns in a twisted villain role, locked up in Willow Hill psychiatric hospital, where psychiatrist Dr. Fairburn, played by Thandiwe Newton, is now a main character. The refocusing on Wednesday's independence and intelligence, rather than her romantic angst, is a smart creative choice, and it's clear that creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have taken fan feedback and Ortega's ideas to heart. Wednesday isn't softened, but she is more nuanced. Her sarcasm has a purpose, her coldness has depth, and her relentless quest for the truth becomes the driving force of the season as soon as she senses something sinister in the air, namely a stalker and a real crow murder picking out eyes around Jericho.

Yet despite all this narrative potential, the first part sometimes suffers from the weight of its own ambitions. Steve Buscemi, as Nevermore's new director Barry Dort, is a fascinating and unpredictable character with menacing undertones, but his subplot, along with the larger narrative arc surrounding the gala involving Morticia, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, feels like a strange detour that places too much emphasis on the adults. Gomez, played by Luis Guzmán, is as charming and oblivious as ever, but the constant presence of the Addams parents on campus borders dangerously on overexposure. Part of the charm of the first season lay in how Wednesday stood out, not only from the other students, but also from her strange but loving family. Here, the family dynamics are explored in greater depth, particularly the tense and competitive relationship between Wednesday and Morticia, but this is sometimes at the expense of Wednesday's autonomy in her own series. Fortunately, Grandmama Frump, played by Joanna Lumley, is a diabolical and delightful character, halfway between Miranda Priestly and a Victorian funeral director, who injects a dose of venomous humor into the family scenes and offers a more generational glimpse into the Addams tradition.

Pugsley, played by Isaac Ordonez, is now a student at Nevermore and, as you might expect, attracts chaos like a magnet. His subplot involving a zombie named Slurp is quirky and grotesque, in the old-school Burton style, but feels like little more than filler in the narrative. Far more captivating, and underutilized, is Bianca Barclay, played by Joy Sunday, a mermaid now caught between school intrigues and family obligations. And Fred Armisen's Uncle Fester, promoted to co-star in episode 4, remains a chaotic force of nature whose every scene is a joyful reminder of what Wednesday could be if she let herself go more often. Adding to this menagerie are cameos and appearances by Billie Piper as the music teacher, Heather Matarazzo, Anthony Michael Hall, and a particularly inspired Christopher Lloyd, whose severed head in a jar is a macabre reminder of his role as Uncle Fester in the 1990s films.

One of the main strengths of season 2 is the confidence with which it masters different tones, whether it's a day of Rube Goldberg-style pranks or a tense episode set in a forest, reminiscent of both The Addams Family and Full Metal Jacket. There's an episodic energy here that recalls older television structures, with each episode built around a distinct theme or location, keeping the pace energetic and varied. That said, the Netflix bloat is still present: each episode runs around an hour, and the density of characters, plot twists, and subplots can feel excessive. It's a paradox: the series revels in its atmosphere but sometimes loses the narrative thread. And the decision to split the season in two—with the first part ending just as the momentum really starts to build—feels more like an algorithmic inconvenience than an artistic choice. The cliffhanger, while effective, comes before anything truly decisive happens, leaving the first half feeling like a particularly stylish prelude.

But what elevates Wednesday above its more chaotic contemporaries is the alchemy between the acting and the design. Jenna Ortega is the gravitational force around which the chaos revolves, always captivating, whether she's sword-fighting with her mother in the woods or dissecting psychological trauma with her trademark smirk. The set design is lavish in its gloom, with Gothic arches, candelabras, and winding corridors rendered in true Burton style. Chris Bacon's orchestral soundtrack blends horror-tinged classical tunes with ironic pop covers, and even when the series indulges in fantasy, such as in Enid's werewolf love triangle or the all-too-frequent tensions between misfits and normies, it does so with a wink and just enough venom to keep things interesting.

The first part of Wednesday's season 2 is an ambitious, elegant, and at times heartbreaking continuation of a series that knows exactly what kind of monster it is. It takes risks with its story, deepens the mythology of its central character, and surrounds her with an expanded, if overcrowded, supporting cast. But at the heart of it all remains Jenna Ortega, whose performance makes Wednesday Addams a cultural figure not only viral on TikTok, but also endowed with lasting dramatic weight. She is the perfect vehicle for Tim Burton's teenage alienation, and as we await Part 2, with the promise of Lady Gaga, more gothic absurdities, and hopefully a more focused narrative, it's clear that Wednesday hasn't run out of tricks just yet. It may not be Halloween, but thanks to Nevermore, the weird and the wacky are very much in the spotlight.

Synopsis:
As Nevermore Academy reopens its doors, Wednesday Addams returns with sharper wit and darker mysteries to unravel. This season, she faces new foes, deepens her psychic abilities, and uncovers chilling secrets about her family's past. With tensions rising between students, teachers, and the supernatural forces closing in, Wednesday must decide who she can truly trust—before her visions become a deadly reality.

Wednesday
Created by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar
Based on Characters by Charles Addams
Showrunners: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar
Executive producers: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Tim Burton, Steve Stark, Andrew Mittman, Gail Berman, Kayla Alpert, Jonathan Glickman, Tommy Harper, Kevin Lafferty, Kevin Miserocchi, Jenna Ortega
Producer: Carmen Pepelea
Starring Jenna Ortega, Gwendoline Christie, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Hunter Doohan, Percy Hynes White, Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Georgie Farmer, Naomi J. Ogawa, Christina Ricci, Moosa Mostafa, Steve Buscemi, Isaac Ordonez, Owen Painter, Billie Piper, Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo, Victor Dorobantu, Noah B. Taylor, Evie Templeton, Luis Guzmán, Catherine Zeta-Jones
Theme music composer: Danny Elfman
Composers Danny Elfman, Chris Bacon
Cinematography: David Lanzenberg, Stephan Pehrsson
Editors: Jay Prychidny, Ana Yavari, Paul Day
Production companies: Millar Gough Ink, Tim Burton Productions, Toluca Pictures, MGM Television
Network: Netflix
Release November 23, 2022 – present
Running time: 46–57 minutes