It's not the end - Wednesday season 2 is officially on the way. The new Netflix series about the Addams' daughter came straight from the deliciously twisted mind of Tim Burton and the first season premiered at the end of November 2022.
Jenna Ortega, 20, is the latest actress to slip into the black and white suit of Merlina Addams, and her modern take on the character is arguably right up there with the darling Christina Ricci. The death-obsessed gothic teen and her ghoulish family are back in the spotlight, and we really can't get enough of seeing her.
By the end in episode 8, we're given plenty of satisfying - and TBH, shocking - answers to the mysteries Wednesday is embroiled in throughout the season arc, but we're also left with plenty of questions. No spoilers, but... will she come back after escaping custody? Is Merlina still in danger? What will happen to her? Below, we've put together a complete guide to everything we know about Merlina Season 2 so far, including the upcoming installment's premiere date, plot details, cast information, trailer, and much more!
When will Wednesday season 2 premiere?
The first season premiered on Netflix on November 23, 2022 to great critical and public acclaim. The series broke record after record in its first full week on the streaming platform. Variety reports that the production was watched for nearly 6 billion minutes during its first five days available, making it the second-biggest week of streaming ever recorded by Nielsen, trailing only Stranger Things 4.
On January 6, 2023, Netflix announced the renewal of the series: The second season of Wednesday is coming. The day before the announcement, Netflix teased fans with a clip of the titular character sitting at his typewriter: "The Ending?"
The news of the renewal was finally confirmed with a Netflix video that included a mix of clips from the first season, videos from fans around the world, and a new voiceover from Addams herself.
Those responsible for the new series have already advanced their narrative plans to continue the universe of the series. Speaking to TV Line, co-directors Miles Millar and Al Gough revealed that they had planned the Wednesday storyline for "four seasons".
"We felt like we had just scratched the surface with those characters and the actors are so incredible in those roles," said Millar. He also acknowledged that the series' focus on Wednesday Addams and her journey "to forge her own path outside of the family is important," but that the writers' room would "definitely" be interested in introducing more of the Addams Family dynamic in future seasons.
"For us, it's always about looking to the future, and when we sit down to create a series, it's ideally for multiple seasons," Millar told Variety. "That's never expected, but it's the expectation that the show will be successful. So there's always at least three or four seasons of potential storylines for the characters. They can evolve and change. Often you want to see what characters or cast come up and who he likes to write for. So you want to keep it open and organic enough to change it and evolve it, but we certainly have a pretty good clue of what we want to do in future seasons."
The visual effects team asked, “Which characters would you like to explore more in Season 2? First on the list? Uncle Thing".
"I think it would be great to explore what may have happened to lead to him possibly being cut," said Lon Molnar, co-chairman of MARZ's VFX team. They also expressed that they would be excited to do "anything with that character front and center."
"...We are ready to take the helm and help him tell that story," Molnar said. "We are open to anything." MARZ VFX Producer Casey Sincic shared that further developing the character of Uncle Fester is also something the team would be interested in.
"The work we did on [Fred Armisen's] character was pretty minor," Sincic said. "It was the electricity effects that he used, but I would love to see him be a bigger part of the show in season two."
Series star Jenna Ortega also has some ideas about what she'd like to see from her character Wednesday in future seasons. "I want it to be darker," Jenna told Entertainment Tonight . I want her to get more into the thick of things and not play it so safe, because there are a lot of lines about saving the school and doing whatever, but for me , his main drive with the monster is competitiveness. Something like: "Man, how is this guy doing this?".
"I think I want him to continue down the path of the anti-hero rather than the typical hero," Jenna added. We definitely want that too. He crosses his fingers, and Thing's fingers!
Is there a trailer for Wednesday season 2?
At the moment, there is no trailer for the second season of Wednesday . Let's keep protesting, okay?
What is Netflix's Merlina about?
The series has been said to be a unique mix of fantasy, horror, mystery, and comedy, but has been described mostly as a coming-of-age series. The 8-episode first season follows Merlina Addams' first year as a student at Nevermore Academy. The first chapter of the young woman's story that showed her attempts to master her budding psychic ability, thwart a monstrous massacre that terrorized the city, and solve the supernatural mystery that engulfed her parents 25 years ago, all while unfolding in her new and tangled relationships in Nevermore.
The finale of the first season of the Netflix production ended with several cliffhangers and an unexpected twist, so there is much more to explore - and many questions that need answers - in the second season.
Who plays Merlina Addams the Netflix series?
Jenna Ortega was cast in the lead role of the series in May 2021. The actress posted a photo of herself on Instagram holding the pilot script, with the caption: "New chapter. I hope I can do Merlina Addams justice. *nap twice *".
Just over a year later, Netflix has finally released a first look at Jenna's transformation into character - and she's frighteningly unrecognizable as young Addams. In the photos released by Netflix, Jenna can be seen wearing Merlina Addams ' signature white-collared, long-sleeved black dress , her long braided pigtails, her strikingly pale complexion, and her listlessly haggard expression. Jenna's metamorphosis into character is so perfect it's almost scary. Well, I guess that's what it's about, isn't it?
In November 2022, Jenna Ortega sat down with Teen Vogue for her own episode of "Character Study," where she discussed what it took to become Wednesday Addams and shared details of her behind-the-scenes transformation.
"I felt like I was being pulled a prank or something," Jenna told Teen Vogue of the moment she received an email from Tim Burton telling her he was interested in meeting her for the role. The role was a perfect match for Jenna, who she says she's been "compared to Wednesday" her entire life.
"Because I'm very dry and I think people can't tell when I'm being serious or when I'm being sarcastic. And I didn't think it was that bad until we were on set sometimes and Tim would go 'Ugh... that it was dark,'" Jenna said in the video with a smile.
Jenna seriously dedicated herself to becoming Wednesday, previously sharing with Netflix that she took fencing and cello classes twice a week to prepare for the role and changed the way she walks. Jenna revealed even more of her physical and mannerism changes to Teen Vogue.
"I think my posture has improved immensely since I've been working that job. Because I always made sure my back was straight. I didn't move my hands or arms a lot if I didn't have to," says Jenna, "Sometime during the first two Weeks into shooting, I did a take where I didn't blink at all. And Tim Burton said to me, 'I don't want you to blink anymore. We tried to incorporate weird gestures.'
By collaborating with series creator Tim Burton to create a new version of Merlina Addams. Jenna was willing to try anything. ("We had never seen Merlina as a teenager"). He told us that when it came to her appearance, Tim was "quirky and specific" about her appearance, going out of his way to distinguish her hair from earlier iterations of the younger Addams.
"We tried silver streaks in our hair, short little braids, very long thick braids. We tried all the variations and at some point the hairdresser... pulled out a bangs clip," Jenna said. The bangs went a long way for the look , but it wasn't perfect…until Jenna made a suggestion: "'Hey, maybe get a real haircut.'"
Jenna's take on the iconic character is all-encompassing. She cut her hair, changed her posture, learned new skills, and even slowly began to become Wednesday: "I think a lot of Wednesday's color, some of it plays with the filter. There was a little bit of makeup. But I went through so much time in Romania and it was winter, that it got to a point where they used to put makeup on my hands and things like that and they just…stopped," Jenna said with a laugh. "I lost all the melanin!" Check out the full episode of Jenna in the Teen Vogue character study above.
Cast of Merlina season 2
The cast for the first season of Merlina included Chicago star Catherine Zeta-Jones as Addams Family matriarch Morticia Addams, Narcos actor Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams, and Isaac Ordonez as Wednesday's little brother Pugsley. The rest of the cast is completed by the main and supporting actors Fred Armisen, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Hunter Doohan, Georgie Farmer, Moosa Mostafa, Emma Myers, Naomi J. Ogawa, Joy Sunday, Percy Hynes White, Gwendoline Christie and Christina Ricci in a multi-layered paper.
This post will continue to be updated as more news about the second season of Wednesday emerges.