It looks like Wednesday Addams has finished making everybody uncomfortable for another season. Well, at least in front of the cameras.
Netflix has confirmed that Wednesday Season 3 officially wrapped production on 30 September. And yes, filming ended on a Wednesday because this show refuses to waste an opportunity. Netflix also released a new image of Jenna Ortega sitting behind a typewriter, presumably writing something unpleasant about somebody who deserves it. Netflix
Now I realise that finishing production does not mean the new episodes will appear next week. The season still needs to go through editing, visual effects and all the other work required to make Nevermore look like a school where every corridor has witnessed something disturbing. Netflix has not announced a release date. But at least we know the cameras have stopped rolling. And judging by the cast, those cameras had quite a lot of people to capture.
The Addams Family Is Getting Bigger
Jenna Ortega will return as Wednesday, alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia, Luis Guzmán as Gomez and Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley. Emma Myers will also return as Enid, while Fred Armisen, Billie Piper, Joanna Lumley and several other familiar faces are coming back.
Then we have the newcomers.
Eva Green will play Aunt Ophelia, Morticia’s missing sister and one of the most mysterious members of the Addams family. If you watched the end of Season 2, you will know that Ophelia does not seem particularly excited about Wednesday’s continued existence. And honestly, Eva Green may be one of the most sensible casting decisions this show has made. She has spent much of her career playing women who look elegant, haunted and fully capable of knowing what you did several years before you tell her. The Addams family should suit her beautifully.
Winona Ryder is also joining Season 3 in a role that Netflix has not explained. This reunites her with Tim Burton and Jenna Ortega after Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Ryder has enough experience with strange families, ghosts and Burton’s particular collection of shadows to arrive at Nevermore without requiring directions.
Lena Headey, Andrew McCarthy and Ted Lasso star James Lance will appear as guest stars. Chris Sarandon, Noah Taylor, Oscar Morgan and Kennedy Moyer have also joined the cast. Netflix
At this point, Nevermore may need to build another wing.
More Family Secrets Are Coming
Series creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have said Season 3 will explore more members of the Addams family and reveal additional family secrets.
We already know they enjoy sword fights, séances, attempted murder and treating funerals as perfectly ordinary social events. So one has to wonder what the Addams family considers too private to discuss at the dinner table.
Aunt Ophelia should become an important part of that story. She is Morticia’s sister and appears to share Wednesday’s psychic abilities, but her history remains unclear. Her introduction gives the show an opportunity to dig deeper into Morticia’s side of the family while placing another powerful psychic directly in Wednesday’s path. Of course, adding more Addams relatives comes with a small risk.
Wednesday began as a story about one member of the family leaving home and entering a larger supernatural world. Since then, Morticia, Gomez, Pugsley, Grandmama and Uncle Fester have taken on larger roles. This makes sense because the Addams family is far too entertaining to leave sitting at home. But the show still needs to remember whose name appears in the title.
The new cast is impressive, but a crowded series can become distracted by its own guest list. Wednesday works because Ortega gives the character such a specific presence. She can stand completely still, say something awful and somehow make it more entertaining than a room filled with people trying very hard to be interesting. Season 3 needs to allow the family to expand without pushing Wednesday into a dark corner. Although she would probably enjoy the corner.
Nevermore May Not Be the Only Setting
Season 3 returned to the Dublin area for production, but Netflix has also teased a possible visit to Paris. A behind-the-scenes image showed Wednesday and Thing in the city, although the streamer has not explained what takes them there. Wednesday in Paris sounds like the beginning of a very different Netflix series.
I cannot imagine her becoming excited about cafés, fashion or photographs near the Eiffel Tower. But I can certainly imagine her investigating a murder in a beautiful building while Thing steals something important. The change of location may also help the series move beyond Nevermore without abandoning it entirely. Season 2 expanded the Addams family’s role, and Season 3 appears ready to make Wednesday’s world even larger. Paris, Aunt Ophelia and several mysterious new characters suggest that the next story will not remain inside the school gates.
For now, Netflix is keeping the plot and release date hidden. We know filming has ended, the cast has grown and the Addams family has more secrets waiting to crawl out of whatever locked room they keep them in.
So Wednesday Season 3 has moved one step closer to our screens.
Whether Nevermore has enough space for everybody is another matter.
