Wednesday Season 2 Trailer Offers Up More Goofy Gothic Goodness

Jenna Ortega is a deadpan delight in Addams Family reboot.

Into every generation a mall goth icon is born…

Wednesday Season 2 Trailer

What’s the plot?

Wednesday is, of course, a spin off/reboot of venerable spooky franchise The Addams Family, which started as a one panel comic strip by creator Charles Addams before being adapted as a classic TV series in 1964 and a couple of really fun movies in the ’90s. This take comes from genre veterans Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville) with the help of executive producer, lead director, and Hollywood Goth King Tim Burton, seem to have cracked it with Wednesday. The series puts the titular Hot Topic fan in a new context by packing her off to Nevermore Academy, a prep school for monsters, kids, and monster kids, where she navigates the travails of adolescence, along with all the supernatural shenanigans we know and love.

Who’s in it?

• Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams, of course.
• Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair, Wednesday’s chipper werewolf roomie.
• Jamie McShane as Donovan Galpin, the local sheriff.
• Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin: barista, sheriff’s son, and possible love interest.
• Joy Sunday as siren student Bianca Barclay.
• Georgie Farmer as Ajax Petropolus, a gorgon student crushin’ on Enid.
• Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams. No notes.
• Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams. And again: no notes.
• Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester, and honestly this cast is better than Heat.

We’re also getting (deeeeep breath) Steve Buscemi, Billie Piper, Evie Templeton, Owen Painter, Noah B. Taylor, former Uncle Fester Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Lumley as Grandmama, Thandiwe Newton, Frances O’Connor, Heather Matarazzo, and Joonas Suatamo. Plus, of course, Lady Gaga as Rosaline Rotwood, “a legendary Nevermore teacher who crosses paths with Wednesday.”

When’s it out?

As seems to be increasingly common, Wednesday Season 2 is being split in half, with the first four episodes dropping on August 6, and the final four on September 3.

What’s the vibe?

You may balk at Wednesday‘s “doin’ it for the kids” approach, and for all its EC Comics style grue, this is pretty safe fare. But that’s the thing, mon ami: like Twilight, this is a gateway drug. The Wednesday fans of today are the Dario Argento fans of tomorrow. Maybe. Look, just watch it with your kids. Get ’em Unknown Pleasures for Christmas. Nature will take its course.