“Wednesday” debuted its first season in 2022. (Check out our recap if you need a reminder.) While it might seem like ages ago in the world of teenage dramas, in the streaming era, it’s relatively recent. However, for a series like “Wednesday,” featuring numerous teenagers, this gap has led to noticeable differences. Isaac Ordonez, who portrays Pugsley Addams, and Moosa Mostafa, appearing as Wednesday’s buddy Eugene, have noticeably grown during the hiatus. Furthermore, Percy Hynes White, who featured as Xavier in the first season, is no longer part of the lineup due to facing serious allegations. Meanwhile, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman, who play Morticia and Gomez Addams, are now regulars, thanks to an expanded second season.

The inaugural season largely relied on Jenna Ortega’s captivating performance as Wednesday Addams to hold its own amidst the cliched elements typical of teenage dramas. In contrast, the new season, at least thus far, offers a lot more. Morticia and Gomez are now in Vermont to stay close to Nevermore Academy after Barry Dort (Steve Buscemi) recruits Morticia for a committee chair position. Pugsley enrolls at Nevermore and befriends a zombie named Slurp (Owen Painter). Bianca Barclay (Joy Sunday) is the student liaison to Morticia, affecting her plans to protect her mother despite past tensions. Wednesday’s roommate, Enid (Emma Meyers), finds herself torn between past love Ajax (Georgie Farmer) and new flame Bruno (Noah B. Taylor). The season also features notable figures as Nevermore’s staff and at Willow Hill, a psychiatric facility, including Billie Piper, Christopher Lloyd, and Thandiwe Newton, indicating how packed this season is.

With such an extensive cast, it’s perhaps expected that Wednesday occasionally takes a back seat. She has plenty on her plate in the first half of the new season, yet it sometimes feels as though it’s not quite true to her character. Despite delivering some memorable lines — my favorite being her quip about Pugsley’s prospects, “We both know being tall and male will only get him so far” — her storylines at both the school and Willow Hill feel less central. Her screen presence is somewhat diluted by the many other characters, and during Episode 3, “Call of the Woe,” she uncharacteristically becomes central to an event she’d typically ignore. In Season 1, the show’s creators smoothly introduced Wednesday’s world, but this season, creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, with executive producer Tim Burton, seem keen on expanding further.