Wednesday is back after a three-year hiatus, and critics say the ghoulish wait was well worth it.
The second season, to be released in two parts on Aug. 6 and Sept. 3, has received mostly glowing reviews, even surpassing the first season’s Rotten Tomatoes score by double digits. As of now, the first half of Season 2 stands at 86 percent, compared to just 73 percent for Season 1, which bowed on Nov. 23, 2022. According to critics, the new episodes are “deliciously twisted” and “murderously enjoyable.”
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Emmy nominee Jenna Ortega returns in season 2 as Wednesday Addams, a goth girl with psychic powers, as she navigates fresh foes and a creepy mystery at Nevermore Academy. The Netflix show is created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on Charles Addams‘ iconic characters, and is produced and directed by Tim Burton.
The sprawling cast includes Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams, Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams, and Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams, plus newbies like Steve Buscemi as Principal Barry Dort, Christopher Lloyd as Professor Orloff, Joanna Lumley as Grandmama Hester Frump, and Lady Gaga as Rosaline Rotwood.
Jenna Ortega in Wednesday Season 2Bernard Walsh/Netflix
Vicky Jessop (London Evening Standard) raves, “Tim Burton’s latest work is still deliciously twisted, and goes down like a spoonful of poisoned sugar. Something this addictive certainly isn’t good for us, but we’ll keep coming back for more.”
“A near three-year delay would have killed off a lesser show,” begins Ed Power (Daily Telegraph UK), “but Wednesday‘s murderously enjoyable second season proves worth the wait.” Aramide Tinubu (Variety) agrees with that sentiment, writing, “Full of zing and depth, the season remains just as thrilling as the first.”
While Liz Shannon Miller (Consequence) notes that the two-part release strategy “ends up curbing the show’s momentum,” Sarah Dempster (Guardian) proclaims that Ortega’s Wednesday has enough charisma to “power a thousand hearses. Not that she’d appreciate our enthusiasm.”
But not everyone is equally amused. After all, what would a show set at a school be without its bullies?
Nick Schager (The Daily Beast) harrumphs, “Oozing with plot and attitude but dreadfully short on inspiration, it continues to feel like a training-wheels Burton rehash that’s only fit for viewers under the age of 13.”
And Josh Bel (Boston Globe) hisses, “Gough and Millar are still beholden to their serialized mystery plotting, so there are multiple threads about hooded killers, secret lairs, and surprise villain comebacks. It’s even more tiresome the second time around.”
Season 2 delves deeper into the Addams family mythology, with Burton teasing, “We’ve grounded that element of the story so that we could identify real family issues that happen in real life.” The new episodes also explore the mother-daughter dynamic between Wednesday and Morticia, and now Morticia’s mother.
Wednesday Season 1 received 12 Emmy nominations in 2023 and won four: Best Main Title Theme Music, Best Contemporary Costumes for a Series, Best Production Design for a Contemporary Program, and Best Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic). Season 2 will be eligible at the 2026 Emmys.
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