The idea was perhaps overdue: Take Wednesday, the sullen and morbid daughter of the Addams Family, and give her a show of her own. The resulting Netflix series, “Wednesday,” starring Jenna Ortega and directed partly by Tim Burton, was an immediate hit: Season 1 is the most-watched season of English-language programming in Netflix history, spurring countless memes, themed parties and a genuine dance craze.
Equal parts “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” with a dash of “Veronica Mars,” the show seemed all but guaranteed to be renewed for a second season. (It was just renewed for a third.) But nearly three years have already passed since we last saw the deadpan teen and her assorted friends and foes. Here’s what to remember ahead of Season 2, the first four episodes of which arrive on Wednesday. (The rest arrive on Sept. 3.)
It’s all Wednesday, all the time
Unlike earlier Addams Family depictions, going back to the original comics by Charles Addams, “Wednesday” takes place largely outside Addams Mansion. Wednesday’s parents, Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Gomez (Luis Guzmán), are mostly sidelined after they drop off their daughter at Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for supernatural misfits, where most of the action is set. But Season 1 did give plenty of screen time to Thing (Victor Dorobantu), the disembodied hand whom her parents sent to spy on her — but who proved to be a loyal and helpful companion.
Despite their absence, Wednesday’s family haunted her nevertheless because Nevermore was where her parents met and fell in love. The school’s no-nonsense principal, Larissa Weems (Gwendoline Christie), who sometimes helped and sometimes hindered Wednesday, also once roomed with Morticia and was a rival for Gomez’s affections.
School cliques
As Wednesday’s bubbly werewolf roommate, Enid (Emma Myers), explained in the first episode, Nevermore’s social scene is divided among the Fangs (vampires), Furs (werewolves), Scales (sirens) and Stoners (gorgons) — all of them “outcasts” in the academy’s parlance. Some students’ talents fall outside these categories, including Wednesday, who experiences intrusive psychic visions triggered by touch. There’s also a secret society, the Nightshades, which Morticia helmed in her student days.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The post ‘Wednesday’ Is Back. Here’s What to Remember Ahead of Season 2. appeared first on New York Times.
