Wednesday Season 2 Must Drop This Major Element That Made Netflix’s Season 1 So Popular
Wednesday season 2 is doomed to feel repetitive unless it makes one huge change from the premise of the hit Netflix series’ acclaimed first season. In its first season, Wednesday was essentially a high school show crossed with a supernatural mystery show – sort of like Buffy the Vampire Slayer – as the eponymous Wednesday Addams investigated a series of strange incidents at her boarding school for paranormal children, Nevermore Academy. Season 2 can’t just do the same thing or it’ll feel like a rehash of what already worked.
Along with Stranger Things season 5, Wednesday season 2 is one of the most highly anticipated upcoming Netflix releases. But if season 2 is going to repeat the success of season 1, then it needs to feel just as fresh and inventive, and that won’t be the case if it just copies everything that made season 1 great. Season 2 needs to chart its own path and figure out its own story, and there’s one major change it needs to make in order for that to happen.
Wednesday Season 2 Shouldn’t Be Set In The Nevermore Academy (If It Wants To Be Different)
The easiest, safest route for Wednesday season 2 to take is to remain in the halls of Nevermore Academy and present Wednesday with another mystery to solve on the campus. But that would ultimately feel like a rehash of season 1. Season 1 told that story so successfully that season 2 would inevitably be in its shadow, playing for second place. If season 2 wants to be different than season 1, then it needs to leave Nevermore Academy behind and find a new setting to tell a new story.
This is a strategy that the franchise has used in the past. After the 1991 Addams Family movie borrowed the wacky tone of the original 1960s sitcom, its sequel Addams Family Values shook things up with a much darker sense of humor. It also changed the setting, leaving the Addams’ home behind to send Wednesday and Pugsley to a summer camp. Wednesday season 2 doesn’t have to go to a summer camp, but it should follow suit in seeking out a new location.
Wednesday Season 1 Was Defined By The Nevermore Academy’s Setting
The Nevermore Academy setting was the defining factor of Wednesday season 1. The inciting incident of the whole show was Wednesday getting expelled from the public high school she used to attend with her brother Pugsley. After Pugsley was tied up and stuffed into a locker by some bullies, Wednesday got revenge on the bullies by sending a pack of hungry piranhas after them in the school’s swimming pool. She got kicked out of that school and sent to Nevermore Academy, where the main plot kicked off. Taking place at Nevermore Academy gave the show a geographical identity.
Boarding schools are a classic setting for a TV show. From Zoey 101 to House of Anubis to The Umbrella Academy, plenty of great TV shows have taken place within the walls of a boarding school. It’s a contained environment in which to tell stories, and it forces a cast of vulnerable teen characters to co-exist with one another, with tensions and conflicts constantly bubbling to the surface. The Nevermore Academy setting was a huge part of Wednesday season 1’s success.
Would Wednesday Season 2 Work Without The Nevermore Academy?
For Wednesday season 2 to feel as fresh and exciting as season 1, it needs to do something new, but could the show work without Nevermore Academy? It’ll feel repetitive and familiar if it stays at Nevermore Academy for season 2, but repetition and familiarity are two of the cornerstones of television. TV shows are designed to stay in one location indefinitely. Cheers might not have lasted as long as it did if it left the bar in season 2. Everybody Loves Raymond might not have had its longevity if Ray and Debra moved away from Frank and Marie.
While it would be tough to come up with a new setting that’s just as compelling, Wednesday season 2 could easily survive without Nevermore Academy. The biggest selling point of this series isn’t the setting; it’s Jenna Ortega’s portrayal of Wednesday. If she leaves Nevermore Academy and goes to a summer camp or takes an internship at a local cemetery or returns to the Addams Family’s haunted house and the show follows her there, Wednesday will still be just as much fun.
