Wednesday is coming back.
There are shows that find an audience, and then there is Wednesday — the Tim Burton-directed series that, upon its November 2022 arrival, immediately outpaced every English-language title in Netflix's history, unseating Stranger Things Season 4's opening-week viewership record. Much of that reception traced back to Jenna Ortega, whose flat, unbothered take on Wednesday Addams turned into a genuine cultural touchstone — nowhere more visibly than in a dance scene that took on a life of its own online.
Popularity of that magnitude tends to invite scrutiny, and Wednesday has been no exception. In conversation with Vanity Fair before Season 2 arrived, Ortega was asked about the show's decision to write out Percy Hynes White's character, Xavier Thorpe, following sexual assault allegations against the actor, which he has denied. Her response leaned into the show's tendency toward reinvention: “[It's] a weird redirect, but we're introducing so many different characters that I think it kind of will get lost.” She added that the series' “world does feel slightly askew anyway.”
Ortega has also had occasion to revisit her own earlier remarks. On a 2023 episode of Armchair Expert, she told hosts Dax Shepard and Monica Padman that she'd grown frustrated on set with story choices — a love triangle among them — that she felt betrayed the character's internal logic: “Everything that she does, everything that I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all.”
Writers in the industry took issue with how she characterized the production, and Ortega later conceded the moment could have gone better: “I probably could have used my words better in describing all of that… I think it was hard because I felt like I had represented the situation better; it probably would've been received better.”
By the time cameras rolled on Season 2 in Ireland in May 2024 — delayed by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes — Ortega was describing a season built around darker, more horror-inflected storytelling, told in episodes that functioned closer to standalone films than a traditional serialized arc. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, Emma Myers, Gwendoline Christie, and Christina Ricci returned, with Steve Buscemi, Thandiwe Newton, and Christopher Lloyd rounding out the new additions. The season debuted in 2025.
A Story That Leaves the Academy Behind
The question hanging over Season 3 isn't really about Nevermoor Academy — it's about how far the show is willing to travel away from it. Season 2 closed with Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers) teetering on the edge of a permanent transformation into an alpha werewolf, prompting Wednesday, Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen), and Thing to leave the school in pursuit of her. For a series that has rarely strayed from its gothic campus setting, that's a meaningful pivot, and it's one Netflix appears ready to lean into with its probable 2027 slate placement of the new season.
Photos from the set, circulating earlier this year, offer a resolution to the cliffhanger: Enid appears restored to human form, her signature dyed hair unmistakable. If accurate, that reframes what viewers might expect from the season — less a rescue mission to reverse a transformation, and more a question of how Enid regains control of an ability that isn't going away, as the pair make their way back toward Nevermoor.
Netflix‘s own April announcement leaned into the geographic surprise, pairing a photo of Ortega in front of the Eiffel Tower with a statement noting: “Production for Season 3 has been underway near Dublin, but a newly surfaced behind-the-scenes image hints Wednesday might be taking a shift from Nevermore's shadowy halls to something a little more chicly sinister.”
Why the Franchise Keeps Expanding
Speaking about the show's staying power, co-creator and showrunner Alfred Gough credited the collective effort behind it, per comments shared by Netflix: “Television has — and always will be — a team sport. [Co-creator and co-showrunner] Miles [Millar] and I have been doing this long enough to know that shows like this don't come along every day. It's such an alchemy of writing, directing, acting, crew, streamer, studio, and fans. We remain grateful and excited to continue this journey and tell these stories with all of our partners.”
The ensemble remains largely intact: Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán as Morticia and Gomez Addams, Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair, Joy Sunday as Bianca Barclay, Georgie Farmer as Ajax Petropolus, Naomi J. Ogawa as Yoko Tanaka, Gwendoline Christie as Principal Larissa Weems, Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams, Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin, Jamie McShane as Donovan Galpin, Joanna Lumley as Grandmama Hester Frump, Billie Piper as Isadora Capri, and Christina Ricci in the dual role of Marilyn Thornhill/Laurel Gates.
Joining them is Eva Green as Aunt Ophelia Frump, the relative glimpsed writing “Wednesday Must Die” in Wednesday's Season 2 vision. Burton, for his part, expressed enthusiasm for the returning talent alongside a handful of new faces: “I'm so excited to be back for Season 3, and it's great to be reunited with all of the original cast. The addition of some dear friends and past collaborators of mine — [Winona Ryder, Eva Green, Chris Sarandon, Noah Taylor]… makes this season extra special. I feel very lucky.”
A specific release date has yet to be set.
How do you feel about the changes made to Enid in the Wednesday series? Let us know in the comments down below!
