After a long and restless wait, Netflix finally dropped the newest trailer for Wednesday Season 2, and reactions have been as sharp and divided as Wednesday’s own wit. On the surface, the return of Jenna Ortega’s deadpan antihero should be a cause for celebration.
But behind the black lace and gothic staging, something feels eerily different.
From Macabre to Marketable: The Addams Family Legacy
To understand why this tonal shift matters, it’s worth revisiting where The Addams Family came from. Long before they became meme fodder or pop culture icons, Charles Addams‘ original cartoon panels in The New Yorker offered sly, deadpan slices of gothic Americana. The family wasn’t just spooky—they were subversive. Intelligent. Odd, but functional. Their love for each other was as real as their love for the macabre.
Adaptations over the decades have varied in tone—from the sitcom levity of the 1960s show to the baroque absurdity of the 1990s films—but most honored the family’s core values. When Wednesday premiered in 2022, it seemed at first to follow suit. Casting Luis Guzmán as Gomez felt like a nod to Addams’ original illustrations—less suave Raul Julia, more bug-eyed romantic. That choice sparked conversation, but it was undeniably rooted in source fidelity.
Gomez and Morticia Addams in the trailer for Wednesday Season 2 – YouTube, Netflix
Still, cracks showed. Catherine Zeta-Jones’ Morticia was polished but emotionally distant, lacking the warm menace of Carolyn Jones or the seductive weirdness of Anjelica Huston. Pugsley, meanwhile, was barely there—a whimpering afterthought to his sister’s arc rather than the mischievous foil he’s often been. The series struggled to balance homage with reinvention.
Now, with the Wednesday Season 2 trailer embracing pop sensibility and musical irony, the show seems to be shedding its black-and-white origins for something flashier and more fractured.
Trailer Breakdown: More Flash, Less Fang
The newly released Wednesday Season 2 trailer throws viewers into a dizzying mix of tones. It opens not with shadows or sarcasm, but with security scanners and the saccharine swell of The Sound of Music’s “My Favorite Things”—a musical choice that feels jarringly at odds with the show’s established atmosphere. While some might interpret it as ironic juxtaposition, others may see it as a misfire.
The Addams Family in the trailer for Wednesday Season 2 – YouTube, Netflix
The Addams Family isn’t known for sentimentality, and this particular needle drop feels less like subversion and more like streaming-era quirk for quirk’s sake.
Visually, the trailer is polished—lavish costumes, dramatic lighting, elaborate sets—but it lacks the eerie intimacy that defined Season 1’s strongest episodes. That may not be a coincidence. According to CBR, Tim Burton is once again directing only four episodes this season, the same number he helmed in the first. While his distinct visual touch helped define Wednesday’s mood early on, episodes not under his direction noticeably lacked that baroque weirdness and rhythm. A similar inconsistency may rear its head this time around.
Celebrity Influence
We also get our first glimpse—albeit brief—of Lady Gaga’s involvement.
Her role remains under wraps, but the trailer leans heavily on her presence, framing her entrance as a moment of theatrical importance. While fans of the pop icon are no doubt excited, others worry her inclusion signals a pivot toward stunt casting over story cohesion. In her interview with Entertainment Weekly back in March of 2025, Gaga was tight-lipped, saying only: “I don’t want to give away anything…but I love Jenna, and I really had an amazing time!”
Wednesday Adams played by Jenna Ortega in the trailer for Wednesday Season 2 – YouTube, Netflix
Gaga’s enthusiasm seems genuine—but so are the concerns that her larger-than-life persona might unbalance the show’s tone, turning Wednesday into a platform for celebrity moments rather than a story about characters who’ve captivated audiences for generations.
And then there’s Jenna Ortega herself, who appears committed to evolving Wednesday’s character. As she shared with Collider back in March of 2025, she’s stepped into a producing role and pushed for “darker” storytelling and more autonomy over the tone. It’s a promising sign—one that hints Ortega understands what made the character resonate in the first place.
Still, whether that vision survives the gravitational pull of pop culture spectacle remains to be seen.
Casting Gaga: Excitement or Distraction?
Lady Gaga joining Wednesday for Season 2 feels more like a marketing move than a natural evolution of the story. She’s strange, theatrical, and has genuine talent, but she’s also a global icon. That kind of star power can easily overshadow an ensemble cast that thrived because it wasn’t full of household names.
Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie à Deux (2024), Warner Bros. Pictures
Her character remains a mystery, and that secrecy only fuels concern that her role is more about drawing headlines than deepening the narrative. Gaga has acting chops—as seen in A Star is Born and American Horror Story—but unless her character is truly integrated, there’s a risk she becomes a flashy distraction from the weirdness that made Season 1 resonate.
This isn’t a world that needs stunt casting. It needs cohesion. And Gaga’s inclusion will either amplify or eclipse the story—there may not be an in-between.
Wednesday at a Crossroads
Season 2 of Wednesday has the potential to build on what worked and correct what didn’t. Jenna Ortega’s increased creative input is a step in the right direction. Her instincts for the character are sharp, and her desire for a darker, more grounded tone mirrors what longtime fans of The Addams Family have always appreciated.
Wednesday Adams played by Jenna Ortega in the trailer for Wednesday Season 2 – YouTube, Netflix
But the show is teetering on a knife’s edge. The visual excess, tonal whiplash, and celebrity cameos risk turning a quirky gothic dramedy into just another algorithm-fed content drop. The Addams Family was never about blending in or following trends. They thrived on being themselves—dark, loving, odd, and deeply consistent. If the series forgets that, no amount of production value or pop star power will save it.
In the end, the Addams legacy isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about identity. Whether Wednesday Season 2 honors that legacy or dilutes it beneath the weight of streaming-era spectacle is the real mystery at play.
How did you like the Wednesday Season 2 trailer? Let us know in the comments below.
The 2019 animated was decent. The sequel was not.
It’s Netflix. It will be cynical, anti-family, feminist propaganda.
I am so glad Raven got to write about this. She loves the Addams Family so much and she did a great job writing about it here.
Of course I am biased, but it’s still the truth.
Thank you, Darling!