Entering a second season of a series when it has achieved critical or commercial success is a tough challenge because of the high expectations and increased attention. As a result, these series often face difficulties during this phase. Some call this the sophomore slump, but I prefer to call it the sophomore bloat. While not always true, many of these shows significantly expand their cast in the second season. This makes sense because success attracts more people who want to be involved, and sometimes the production budget increases to match their popularity. However, adding characters means more stories are introduced, which leaves less time to focus on the characters viewers are already invested in. This can create a disconnect and lead to growing pains. While Wednesday expands its cast in Season 2, it mainly does so by promoting guest characters from the first season, such as the Addams family taking a more prominent role, and by replacing departed characters or those whose storylines are closed early on. This approach allows the series to introduce new characters and interactions without heavily overshadowing the original characters that fans want to see. While only Part One has been released, and a season assessment cannot be made, so far, this has helped showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar navigate the series through the difficult waters of its return.
The first part of season two, released as four episodes, focused heavily on shortcuts and the limits of powers. Wednesday (played by Jenna Ortega) has been exploring her abilities and targeting others, but not without side effects, such as bleeding eyes and losing consciousness. This causes conflict with her mother, Morticia (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones), who wants to protect her. However, Wednesday is especially motivated because she has a vision of Enid (played by Emma Myers) dead and will do anything to prevent it and keep her from discovering the truth. Since they are poor at communicating, Enid gets frustrated because she thinks Wednesday is pulling away from their friendship instead of trying to protect it. A leftover from the first season is Tyler (played by Hunter Doohan), a Hyde, who has been confined in a secure facility for powered individuals—similar to Arkham Asylum—his Hyde form having been unlocked and controlled by last season’s villain Marilyn Thornhill (played by Christina Ricci). However, her storyline is concluded in this part as this theme is explored, and serves as part of the cautionary tale for the path Wednesday is on.
What made Wednesday work in its first season, and continue to work, is that it is a fresh take on the material, created by people who love these characters and this world. The first season was full of references to previous Addams Family work, most notably, a reference to Wednesday dancing. In part one of season two, a standout callback is the camp from Family Values. While Camp Jericho differs greatly from Camp Chippewa, especially as our “outcasts” are not outnumbered, it felt both referential without the need to walk the same paths.
Netflix has adopted split-season releases for its more popular series, allowing for binge drops while spreading out the episodes. I prefer this approach over single-day releases, especially when the second half is a reasonable time apart. I do wish Netflix would adopt a weekly release schedule. It’s rare that I talk about shows with a single release date because no one watches on the same schedule. However, weekly releases tend to keep shows in our weekly routines, sparking conversations and anticipation about what will happen next. These split releases weren’t common a few years ago, so maybe a weekly release schedule is in Netflix’s future. For now, Season 2 (Part 1) of Wednesday is available on Netflix, and Part 2 will drop on September 3rd, 2025.
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