Woe there, outcasts! Feel that chill running down your spine? It’s your first clue that Wednesday is back for another season of supernatural adventures and terrifying mysteries. Season 2 of the spooky series will premiere in two parts on Netflix, with Part 1 debuting on Aug. 6, followed by Part 2 on Sept. 3.
A new teaser takes you back to Nevermore Academy, where Jenna Ortega returns as the titular Wednesday Addams. And the knives — not to mention, brass knuckles, swords, and Hydes — are out, as the teen detective’s next chapter begins. “The most exciting thing is being able to revisit her,” Ortega, who is also a producer this season, tells Tudum. “Wednesday Addams is one of the coolest characters of all time, so to have gotten the opportunity to play her once was incredible, and then to be able to slip into the costume and tone again, it’s so much fun. She runs circles around everyone that she has a conversation with, so to play someone who’s so much more intelligent than you will ever be, it’s quite funny and strange and enjoyable.”
This year, Wednesday is joined at school by a new member of the Addams family: her little brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez), who begins his own Nevermore journey. Their parents, Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Gomez Addams (Luis Guzmán), will also have an increased presence on campus — a rare new form of torture for the fiercely independent amateur sleuth.
“Season 1 really focused on Wednesday, but you met the other characters but didn’t get to know them, and now we get to expand their storylines and expand the scope and breadth of the show,” creator Alfred Gough tells Tudum about this upcoming chapter. Indeed, the teaser hints at some never-before-seen locations, and introduces some new faces alongside familiar favorites like Wednesday’s roommate Enid (Emma Myers), frenemy Bianca (Joy Sunday), barista by day and murderous Hyde by night Tyler (Hunter Doohan) and, of course, Thing (Victor Dorobantu).
Still, if you think you know what to expect from Wednesday’s antics — brace yourself. “Nothing is what it seems in Season 2,” creator Miles Millar tells Tudum. “Wednesday goes into this season thinking she knows Nevermore. It’s the first time she’s returned to a school willingly. But as soon as she gets back, nothing happens that she’s expecting. She thinks she’s going to be in control, that she knows where all the bodies are buried, and she doesn’t.” After all, what would be the fun in that?
Grab a shovel and start digging through the first-look photos below — and tune into Wednesday Season 2 when Part 1 hits Netflix on Aug. 6, if you dare.
“Your family at school is the worst thing possible, isn’t it?” director and executive producer Tim Burton tells Tudum. “I never wanted my parents to come to school. Wednesday is an even more extreme version of that. Poor Pugsley. He’s kind of an outcast among outcasts, so I feel for him. He comes into Nevermore for the first time, so we get to see his experience at school. Everybody has their own specialty power, and he’s new to his own. He’s just exploring his newfound teenage powers.”
Catch a glimpse of those electrifying powers in the teaser as Pugsley takes down the Jericho sign.
Joanna Lumley joins the cast as Hester Frump, Morticia’s complex mother and Wednesday’s closest ally.
“The idea of bringing Hester, Morticia’s mother, into the fold this season was something we were so excited about,” Millar says. “The first day on set when Joanna walked on, she just was Hester, and she nailed every single line, and it’s just so delicious. She’s perfect and hilarious. That Wednesday-Hester relationship is unique; you see a twinkle in both their eyes when they’re together on-screen. I think everyone is going to fall in love with Hester.”
Lumley tells Tudum about joining the cast, “There’s always something thrilling about working for Tim Burton. His whole mind takes him to a different world, and the world that they’ve created here for Wednesday and Nevermore and the family is just intoxicating. It’s wonderful. I get to wear many, many huge wigs, one on top of the other — and lots of quite constraining clothes, so I love it.”
After Principal Weems’ (Gwendoline Christie) heroic demise in the Season 1 finale, Nevermore is in need of new leadership. Enter Principal Barry Dort, played by Steve Buscemi. “Steve brought a new energy to this season,” Burton says. “You can just sense when people love watching somebody work and respect somebody’s work. Same for me. I really enjoyed every day because it was fun and it was creative.”
Buscemi tells Tudum, “I’ve always been a fan of the Addams family — the movies, the TV show, and I was a big fan of Wednesday, so I was very excited to know that they were interested in me to play the new principal of Nevermore. Barry Dort is a bit of a mysterious figure. Something about him is not right, but he loves the school and he has real outcast pride.”
The shocking reveal that sweet barista Tyler was in fact a Hyde and the monster behind the slew of murders in Season 1 has further shaken Wednesday’s already tenuous ability to trust anyone around her. You can watch a snippet of their chilling reunion in Season 2 here.
Cara mia, that’s romance! “Bringing the family to Nevermore felt like an obvious move for us in terms of another thorn in Wednesday’s side — more conflict for that character, Millar says. “And the mother-daughter relationship between Wednesday and Morticia is really the central relationship of the series.”
Where would Wednesday be without her confidante and literal right hand? “Thing’s got a lot of emotional baggage and trauma to work through,” Ortega says about everyone’s favorite appendage.
Fred Armisen returns as Wednesday’s Uncle Fester, always a harbinger of hijinks to come. “Fred is the loveliest person, and he loves playing this role and he brings so much humor to it,” Gough says. “This year, we were able to expand his role which you just got a taste of in Season 1.”
Season 2 of Wednesday will premiere on Aug. 6 and Sept. 3, only on Netflix. Catch up on Season 1 here.
