Though it hasn’t been officially renewed for a second season,Wednesdaycontinues to break viewership records and rocket up Netflix’s list of most-watched series. It seems like a no-brainer for a renewal. With Netflix struggling to find a newStranger Things-esque hit,Wednesdaymight just be what the streamer needs.
Season 1 of the hit series ended with numerous questions left unanswered, and even had a few cliffhangers in store for the audience. There’s definitely plenty of material for the series to explore should it move forward. In fact, season 1’s ending basically confirmed that the writers have more in store for its audience.
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Who is Wednesday’s Stalker?
Season 1 ofWednesdayends with its titular heroine (played by Jenna Ortega) being gifted a smartphone by Xavier Thorpe (Percy Hynes White). As soon asWednesday leaves Nevermore Academybehind for the semester, she’s greeted with threatening messages sent from an unknown caller. In a perfectly macabre ending to the season, Wednesday notes (as happily as she can) that she has her first stalker.
The season finale provides quite a few possibilities for who that stalker may be. It could definitely be a new character - or, given that the series is structured as a mystery, it could be someone that Wednesday had previously been interacting with all season. Could it be Sheriff Galpin (Jamie McShane) is out for vengeance after Wednesday uncovered the truth about his son Tyler (Hunter Doohan)?
Or perhaps it could be one of the background students at Nevermore. Curiously, one student named Yoko Tanaka (Naomi J. Ogawa) is listed in the main cast, but is given very little to do in season 1. Perhaps her role is destined to be expanded in future seasons ofWednesday.
Wednesday seems sure that the stalker is the true mastermind involving the plot to destroy Nevermore. That could point to a townsperson being involved. Though Dr. Kinbott (Riki Lindhome) reportedly died in season 1, her death wasn’t seen on screen. Perhaps she may yet return to the show and reveal she knows more than she lets on.
What’s MorningSong Up To?
MorningSong is a cult being run by Bianca’s (Joy Sunday) mother Gabrielle (Grady Goldman). The two are sirens, and Gabrielle ended up marrying the cult’s founder, a man named Gideon. The cult has made the two of them fabulously wealthy; Gabrielle has been using her powers as a siren to lure in new recruits and to keep authorities off their tail. In Gabrielle’s only appearance, however, she reveals to Bianca that her siren song is “drying up”. In order to get her estranged daughter to join them, she threatens to ruin Bianca’s reputation unless she leaves Nevermore and joins MorningSong.
That subplot is never fully resolved, and Bianca promises to leave Nevermore after the semester is over. By the end of the season, the school closes down for the rest of the semester, and Bianca presumably goes to be with her mother. Her character will definitely return next season, however, and she’ll probably bring some of the MorningSong drama back with her.
The fact that Gideon remains a faceless presence in season 1 also suggests he might appear in future seasons, when the writers know he’ll have more to do, instead of casting him now. Gideon and Gabrielle’s commitment to MorningSong means they’ll probably try and get Bianca out of Nevermore no matter the cost. MorningSong’s goals will then come under Wednesday’s scrutiny.
Moving Forward Without Some Of the Cast
Several ofWednesday’s most influential women, and some of its best characters, are potentially either gone from the series, or will have a very different role going forward. Besides Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), Wednesday found herself begrudgingly growing thanks to the influence of Dr. Kinbott, Ms. Thornhill (Christina Ricci), and Principal Weems (Gwendoline Christie).
Dr. Kinbott and Principal Weems both die inWednesday’s final episodes. Weems, however, is a shapeshifter, and it’s possible Christie could return in some manner - especially if Weems wasn’t as innocent as she seemed. Her death appeared to redeem her in Wednesday’s eyes; a fakeout and betrayal on her end would cause a lot of heartbreak and turmoil in Wednesday.
Ms. Thornhill, meanwhile, was revealed to actually be Laurel Gates, the daughter and only remaining heir to Joseph Crackstone (William Houston). She’s last seen being attacked by a swarm of bees, courtesy of Eugene (Moosa Mostafa), before Wednesday stomps on her. Her fate is ambiguous, but if she’s alive, she’s in police custody. Perhaps Wednesday could pay her a visit to find out more about the mastermind behind season 1’s events. Crackstone rebukes her for being a woman, as well, and she may not be too happy about that.
Weems’ death and Laurel’s ambiguous fate leaves Nevermore without a principal and without a botany teacher. Perhaps Morticia, noted lover of (dead) plants, could take over as the botany teacher, or as principal herself. It would bring inmore of that classicAddams Familyinfluence and some more easter eggsto the series, and allow for a deeper exploration into her relationship with Wednesday.
Tyler & the Love Triangle
Tyler (Hunter Doohan) is one of Wednesday’s love interests in season 1. He appears to be the show’s resident normie at first, but then it’s revealed that he’s actually the Hyde - theCG monster Wednesdaywas seeking all along. Tyler coldly tells Wednesday that she’s failed, and claims to have been stringing her along the whole time. He, however, had taken a genuine shine to Wednesday when he first met her at the Weathervane - long before he knew who she was and that she was important to Laurel’s plans.
Tyler is last seen in police custody, but he’s trying to break out as he tries to transform into the Hyde. He looks pretty securely locked up in the police van, and he may still have ended up in police custody. But he’s certainly not gone from the series. Without a master, Tyler is now free to do as he wishes. And it’s not entirely clear if he was doing everything out of his own free will, or if Laurel had brainwashed him to be against the outcasts the whole time.
Interestingly, his Hyde subplot may have more secrets to tell. Weems claims that Hydes were banned from the school 30 years ago for being too dangerous. That lines up with Weems, Morticia, and Gomez’s (Luis Guzmán) attendance at Nevermore, where they were classmates with Tyler’s mother. Weems, however, says she did not ever ask what kind of outcast Tyler’s mother was, and his mother only started transforming around the early 2000s, 10 years after the school had banned Hydes.
Xavier also appears to have finally caught Wednesday’s eye, but they only get a cursory scene together before she departs from the school. Xavier’s visions of the Hyde are also left unexplained; this was a crucial clue for Wednesday, who found it highly suspicious that Xavier knew so much about the Hyde. He may have been exonerated from being the Hyde, but what does he (and potentially his famous father) have to do with the events in season 1?
The love trianglewas also widely criticizedas having been one of the weaker elements of season 1. Wednesday, as a character, does not put much stock into romance. Perhaps that will influence season 2’s writing.
Wednesday’s Character Development
Wednesday changes quite a bit throughout the series. She starts out saying she’s perfectly fine being alone and does not want any friends - in fact, she idolizes serial killers. As she grows to like being at Nevermore, many of her views are challenged. She actually does like having friends, and even hugs her roommate/best friend Enid (Emma Myers). She also, despite claiming to have promised never to cry again, is on the verge of tears when Thing is nearly killed.
ThisWednesday is a very different character from Christina Ricci’s portrayal. This version actually does have a heart, no matter how much she likes to claim she does not. There’s still plenty of character development to be had - she still struggles with being a Raven while wanting to be closer to a Dove - but she’s on a path to becoming more open as a person.
Part of the uniqueness ofOrtega’s version of Wednesdayis that the series revolves entirely around her. Ricci’s version was certainly a scene-stealer, but she had to share the spotlight with the rest of the Addamses. And movies are very different beasts from television shows: a movie is structured very differently, and allows for characters to be the same by the end of its runtime. With a television show, however, audiences expect some kind of payoff. Wednesday has to grow in some way, and she does.
She also became closer with Morticia as the series goes along, but it’s not clear that she’s totally fine with her mother now. The two are more alike than Wednesday cares to admit, which bothers her: her mother may be obsessed with the macabre, but she also likes popularity and positivity in a way Wednesday does not.
Season 2 of Wednesdayhasn’t been announced just yet, but it’s a promising series for Netflix. There’s little doubt that the streamer won’t renew it. If and when it does come back, the series will have plenty more stories and mysteries to tell. It’ll be up to Wednesday to unravel them all.
