Jenna Ortega returns as the delightfully morbid and gloomy Wednesday Addams in the new trailer for Wednesday season 2. She's joined by the rest of the Addams family, including the return of Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams, Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams, Fred Armisen as Lurch. and Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams—who begins his own Nevermore Academy journey. The Addams family will expand this season, introducing equally kooky additions such as Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley as Grandmama Hester Frump.
Ortega herself has promised that season 2 will forgo the cheesy love triangle stuff in favor of a more horror-focused season, and the trailer does a great job of highlighting the tonal shift. It appears that the fan-favorite friendship between Wednesday and her roommate/bestie Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers) will be front and center this time around. I'm sure those who ship the "Wenclair" pairing will be happy to see how central their relationship is to the season 2 plot.
Based on the newly revealed footage, season 2 will see a significant expansion of Wednesday's psychic powers, specifically her black tears-causing visions. She experiences a particularly brutal vision of Enid dying and sets out determined to save her, "or die trying."
Morticia suggests she's experienced something similar, lamenting that she doesn't want "history" to repeat itself, opening the door to further exploration into her past. Given the arrival of Morticia's own mother in Lumley's Grandmama, we know that Zeta-Jones will have a more significant role to play this time around. As will Wednesday's brother Pugsley. Not only is he starting at Nevermore, but season 2 will explore his own budding powers.
The trailer sets up a different dynamic for Wednesday at Nevermore this time around. Her season 1 heroics have earned her a dedicated fanbase, much to her annoyance. The meaner she is to them, the more delighted they are to be around her.
Steve Buscemi also makes his first appearance playing Principal Barry Dort, the replacement for Gwendoline Christie's Larissa Weems.
Discussing Buscemi's role in season 2, co-creator Alfred Gough told Tudum, "The thing that Principal Dort brings to the school is the idea of outcast pride. Weems was all about the normies and outcasts trying to work together. There was Outreach Day and she brought in Professor Thornhill, who was a normie teacher. Dort has used all of that against her. He besmirches her legacy and says outcasts have to have pride. It’s all about, ‘We do it for ourselves.’ That’s an interesting energy to bring to the school."
Overall, the Wednesday season 2 trailer is well done, teasing plenty of intriguing storylines and exciting visuals (like that giant fiery bird!) without spoiling too much, all underscored by the perfectly themed Phantom of the Opera score. And I happen to be partial to party and carnival scenes, so I was thrilled to see one of each cued up by the trailer.
The sophomore season will consist of eight episodes, to be split into two parts. The first four episodes start streaming exclusively on Netflix on August 6, followed by the remaining four episodes on September 3.
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