Now that it’s official that Netflix’s Wednesday, following the adventures of titular Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega), is returning to us for a second season, there’s a lot to consider about where the story could go. After being sent to Nevermore Academy by her parents Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Gomez (Luis Guzmán), Wednesday arrived with one intention: Running away. However, she stuck it out, found her place at the school, and even helped solve the mystery of the mysterious monster roaming about and murdering people that had plagued Nevermore and the neighboring town Jericho for weeks before her arrival. Plus, she stopped a resurrected hate-monger with mystical abilities, Joseph Crackstone (William Houston), from destroying Nevermore and ridding the world of outcasts. In just eight episodes, Wednesday experienced tremendous growth, made several new and intriguing relationships, looked death in the face, and faced off against many enemies. She’s proven herself a heroine like no other, and the series is allowing her to shine without the focus completely falling back on the famous Addams family legacy. So what’s next for our favorite woeful teenager? Let’s look ahead to some of the most exciting prospects introduced in the first season that were left (relatively) unaddressed or unsatisfied by the finale.
Wednesday’s Stalker and Their Role in the Events of ‘Wednesday’ Season 1
After Wednesday stops Tyler (Hunter Doohan), Laurel Gates (Christina Ricci), and Joseph Crackstone — with a little help — in a single night, the powers that be decides to close Nevermore Academy for the remainder of the semester. Before she takes her leave, though, Wednesday visits Xavier (Percy Hynes White) and he asks her to keep in touch during their time away with her new cell phone. She agrees and boots up the phone in the car, where she’s greeted by the smartphone era with something quite disturbing: Someone has been watching her. This mysterious stalker has photos of her and sends a little animated clip of Wednesday being killed, making their intentions clear and letting Wednesday know what awaits her when she returns to school. In her voiceover, after ending her novel based on the murders with a question mark, Wednesday also addresses how the pieces of the puzzle don’t completely fit together. There are aspects of the story, though we have yet to know what exactly those are, that don’t make sense when considering the two people responsible for the chaos around Jericho. So, next semester when Wednesday returns, she already has a mystery to investigate and someone out for her blood. Can she ever catch a break?
Wednesday and Enid’s Friendship
Since Wednesday arrived at Nevermore, her roommate Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers) has been trying to be friendly and get Wednesday out of her shell. They immediately clashed with Enid’s sunny disposition countering Wednesday being the personification of a storm cloud, and such friendship did not come easily. They fought, repeatedly, about how Wednesday treated Enid — a general theme of the season, as similar conversations were had about Wednesday’s treatment of Tyler, Xavier, and Morticia. However, their impactful hug in the season finale, following Enid finally transforming into a full-blown werewolf and fighting Tyler in his Hyde form and Wednesday taking down Crackstone, signals something new on the horizon for these two when school returns. The wall between them has seemingly fallen with Wednesday tossing aside her policy of never touching anyone to return Enid’s hug. Wednesday has learned from being called out on how she treats others, meaning she is a little more perceptive and in-tune with what others are feeling. Now that Enid has proven herself the perfect partner in crime for Wednesday, there’s a real opportunity here for this brilliant relationship to be the centerpiece of the series.
Enid Exploring Life as a Werewolf
When we met Enid, she had yet to fully transform into a werewolf like her parents and brothers. She had the claws, but that was it, and everyone was beginning to wonder if the transformation would ever happen. Her parents were even about to send her to some kind of werewolf conversion therapy camp to try to force it along (which really shows that Enid’s familial relationships are completely screwed up). But, now that she has transformed and fought against a deadly beast on her first night of being a werewolf, how does this change her? Is her sense of optimism going to be the same after witnessing the horrors of the world firsthand as she has? How will the transformations impact her daily life and her relationships? There are a lot of open questions to be answered after such a pivotal moment in her life, and it’s exciting to think of Enid being more in the spotlight now that she has the ability to be such a brute physical force and defend herself and Wednesday if needed.
Tyler’s (Probable) Escape
After Tyler’s fight with Enid, and being shot by his father Sheriff Galpin (Jamie McShane) who finally accepted what had become of his son, the last shot of Tyler is him being in custody after all of the murders he committed. He’s tied up, in a straightjacket, and in the back of a van, being transported to somewhere that will surely be able to contain him. However, the measures that were taken weren’t enough and Tyler begins to transform into the Hyde in the back of the van, teasing a potential escape and more chaos from the Hyde when the series returns. We, and the characters in the universe, still know very little about Hydes, so there’s more exploration to be done of whether Tyler can be “saved” and how much Laurel influenced every decision he made.
New Leadership at Nevermore
The final battles ended with Laurel Gates outed and, supposedly, arrested for her actions. But, not before she killed Principal Weems (Gwendoline Christie) when she was posing as Tyler to overhear Laurel’s full confession. This is part of why Nevermore is temporarily shut down, as time is needed to find suitable replacements. These are really the only two teachers we see at Nevermore in the first season, so it’s going to be a major shift when new people are at the helm. How will Nevermore change under new leadership and new scrutiny, considering Tyler’s mother was a Hyde who attended Nevermore and married a local to produce one of the area’s most infamous killers?
Less Tense Relationships Between Wednesday and Her Parents
Wednesday’s time at Nevermore has allowed her to gain a little perspective and learn some crucial information about her parents, like how Gomez was accused of murdering a local boy in his youth but Morticia actually made the killing blow. She’s learned much more about her parents’ deep love for each other and for her, plus her psychic visions have brought her closer to her mother even though their abilities couldn’t be further apart. (Morticia sees happiness in her visions, while Wednesday sees darkness, and Wednesday’s ability has the potential to drive her mad if she’s not able to get control of it.) When Morticia and Gomez left Nevermore, before the final battle, things between parents and daughter were on better terms. Wednesday started to let go of the disdain she held toward her mother in particular, and her parents decided to relax and stop trying to shape Wednesday and her outlook on life. They’re all in a much healthier place, which should allow for some real bonding and sweetness when we catch back up with the Addams family.
Digging Into Bianca’s Past
Finally, there is one thread that the first season of Wednesday teases, but doesn’t follow through on, involving Nevermore Queen Bee Bianca (Joy Sunday), who thankfully mellows out by the season’s end and develops a friendship with Wednesday. However, the intriguing part of her story comes into the spotlight when her mother visits during parents’ weekend. Bianca ran away from her mother — and her mother accuses her of using some unsavory tactics to get herself into Nevermore — to get away from the cult that her mother has become involved in. The cult uses her mother’s siren abilities to lure people in and steal their money, and with her mother’s song fading, she’s demanding that Bianca return to her and take her place, especially because the cult leader is now her stepfather. What happens to Bianca during the time away from Nevermore and what exactly her past entailed is something the series definitely needs to explore in the second season.
Source: collider.com