Warning: If you haven’t watched the entirety of Wednesday season 1 yet, there are some SPOILERS below.
Netflix still hasn’t officially ordered another season of the Addams Family series Wednesday (read our review HERE), but given how popular the show has proven to be (it’s Netflix’s second-most popular English-language series of all time), it’s only a matter of time before the announcement is made. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, the show’s creators and showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar gave some hints as to what they have in mind if / when Wednesday season 2 starts moving forward.
First, they addressed the fact that the mystery that drove the plot forward in the first season was solved by the last episode. Millar said, “I think for us, it’s always about feeling that the season, because there’s only eight episodes, it feels like a book, so it feels complete and really satisfying. When you reach the end of a series, you wanna feel satisfied that the story is told. It’s about tying up those loose ends, and then you want expectations and cliffhangers for questions for the next season but really wrapping this mystery up, so we can really begin with a whole new mystery next season.“
Then they were asked what will come next for Wednesday and her fellow students now that Nevermore Academy has closed down. Gough answered, “We wanna sort of explore and sort of complicate all of those relationships going forward. The school was closed when they left, which gave us the most possibilities for season two, and I think that’s something that we’re excited to explore. For us, the show also is really about this female friendship, with Wednesday and Enid really being at the center of that. The fact that they really connected with audiences, it has been really gratifying. So, we’re excited to explore now that Wednesday’s dipped her toe into the friendship pool, what’s that gonna look like? It’s like, she hugged. That was her big arc for the season, right? So it’s like now, we do that. Then, the other thing that’s really interesting is to continue to explore the Wednesday-Morticia mother-daughter relationship as well, which now that Morticia knows about the power, it has given her sort of an idea of how that’s going to go. How is their relationship going to evolve?“
Millar added, “One of the other elements is that Al and I have always loved the Addams Family and this character in particular, but we’re also the father of four daughters between us. So, we have definitely culled from life for this one, and I think we’re definitely inspired to write or find a teen girl character like this, who’s so rare, who’s so self-confident, literate, smart, weird and unapologetic about all those things. Often, teen girls can start off as an ugly duckling, and they blossom into a swan, whereas here Wednesday is fully formed. I think it’s such an amazing aspirational role model to see this character. It’s so rare to see a female teen protagonist like this, and it’s something that has been really gratifying to hear our daughters and their friends talk about the show in this way. It’s really hit that target in a really positive way, even though she is so morbid and dark and kooky and crazy, but she’s actually an incredibly positive force in her world and our world. So, that’s something that I really love about this show, that it’s actually put something very positive out there.“
As for whether or not Wednesday and Enid’s friendship might turn into something more (as some fans are hoping), Millar said, “As Al said, this idea of sisterhood is key to the show. We’re not gonna discount anything, and, obviously, sometimes characters reveal themselves, which is the fun thing we love about television, that it’s an organic journey. We have a roadmap, and we’d like to have routes along that map that take you in unexpected directions. So, we’re open to everything. We wanna explore that friendship in every way, but we’re not gonna be, this is where you sometimes get misdirected by fans and things like that, so it’s just being really open to see how those characters develop and that friendship. As Al said, that friendship is key to our sort of vision of the show.“
Half of Wednesday‘s eight episode season was directed by Tim Burton, with Gandja Monteiro and James Marshall splitting directing duties on the other four episodes. Wednesday is described as
a comedic, supernaturally-infused coming-of-age series that follows the teenage girl’s years as a student at Nevermore Academy, where she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the town, and solve a mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new relationships at Nevermore. Snap snap.
Jenna Ortega plays Wednesday, with Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley and Luis Guzmán and Catherine Zeta-Jones as Gomez and Morticia. They are joined on the show by Riki Lindhome as Wednesday’s therapist Dr. Valerine Kinbot; Joy Sunday as Siren Nevermore student Bianca Barclay; Emma Myers as Wednesday’s sunny roommate Enid Sinclair; Hunter Doohan as townie Tyler Galpin; Moosa Mostafa as quirky Nevermore student Eugene Otinger; Georgie Farmer as awkward and shy Nevermore student Ajax Petropolus; Naomi J. Ogawa as vampire Nevermore student Yoko Tanaka; Percy Hynes White as supernaturally artistic Nevermore student Xavier Thorpe; Jamie McShane as Sheriff Donovan Galpin, Tyler’s father, who has a vendetta against Gomez; Gwendoline Christie as Larissa Weems, “the principal of Nevermore Academy who still has an axe to grind with her former classmate Morticia Addams”; Victor Dorobantu as Thing, the non-verbal disembodied hand; George Burcea as Lurch; Tommie Earl Jenkins as Mayor Walker; Iman Marson as Lucas Walker; William Houston as Joseph Crackstone; Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo as Deputy Santiago; Oliver Watson as Kent; Calum Ross as Rowan; and Johnna Dias Watson as Divina.
Thora Birch had signed on to play a character named Tamara Novak, “Wednesday’s dorm mother and the only ‘normie’ on staff at Nevermore Academy, with a focus on all things botanical.” Sadly, due to a family illness, Birch had to leave the production in Romania and return to the United States before filming was complete. Christina Ricci, who previously played Wednesday herself in the live-action feature films The Addams Family and The Addams Family Values, replaced Birch, taking on the role of Marilyn Thornhill.
What did you think of the first season of Wednesday, and are you looking forward to seeing a second season? Let us know by leaving a comment below.