Wednesday was a surprise hit even for Netflix. Even though the Addams Family-inspired series carried a big name in Tim Burton, who directed a smattering of episodes, the gothic YA drama was led by Jenna Ortega, who at the time was still relatively unknown. One viral dance and a breakout performance later, and it’s hard to imagine the series without Ortega, who brought her beyond-her-years professionalism to Wednesday Addams’ matter-of-fact macabre manor. The combination was as electric as Uncle Fester, and the series quickly shot up the Top 10 when it premiered the day before Thanksgiving in 2022.
It may have taken three years for Wednesday to graduate to her sophomore year, but she’s finally back — at least for the first semester. Wednesday is the latest Netflix offering to be subject to a new experiment: releasing only half a season at a time, in order to extend the excitement around the story. It may be a risky strategy, but Wednesday Season 2 Part 1 feels uniquely calibrated to this strange structure, turning a four-episode arc into what amounts to a miniseries, compacting all the altogether ooky drama of Wednesday in a sleek new form.
