Wednesday Season 2 Ending Explained

This post contains massive spoilers for “Wednesday” season 2, part 2.

Season 2, part 2 of Netflix’s “Wednesday” picks up right after the ominous cliffhanger in season 2, episode 4, “If These Woes Could Talk,” declaring Wednesday’s potential death. Of course, Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) cannot be absent from her own show, so it makes sense that part 2 wastes no time in rousing her from a coma. However, something seems to be amiss: Our kooky protagonist is being shadowed by a new spirit guide, who is none other than former Nevermore principal Larissa Weems (Gwendoline Christie). Weems’ unexpected return is a lovely addition to the mystery, as her sarcastic banter with Wednesday swerves naturally into genuine moments of allyship. With the Avian stalker (Heather Matarazzo’s Judi) out of the way, part 2 paves the path for a new antagonist who shares a violent, uneasy history with the Addams family.

Part 1 presented Tyler (Hunter Doohan) as the Big Bad of this evolving saga, but his motivations suddenly take a backseat due to other developments. For starters, the woman Wednesday found in the Outcast experiment chambers at Willow Hill turns out to be Francoise (Frances O’Connor), Tyler’s birth mother, who was presumed dead for years. That’s not the most shocking part either, as Francoise was locked up because of her Hyde abilities and has since become Tyler’s new Master in the present day (which further complicates his relationship with toxic mother figures). It’s easy to lose sight of all the plot threads in season 2, as a lot is going on at the same time. There’s also Principal Dort (Steve Buscemi) unraveling his sinister intentions, Enid (Emma Myers) facing an unsolvable dilemma, and droves of Addams family secrets coming back to haunt Jericho.

While season 2 does not end with a cliffhanger, it does leave a major character’s fate up in the air. It also provides us with a glimpse of what’s to come, which includes a troubling vision about Aunt Ophelia, who comes off as more dangerous than we’ve been led to believe. Let’s take a closer look at the biggest reveals and their implications for Wednesday and her future.

The brilliant animated sequence in season 2, episode 1, “Here We Woe Again,” tells the story of a boy with a clockwork heart who grows more distant from his own humanity in the pursuit of genius. Touched by the tragic loneliness of the boy’s death, Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) reanimates his corpse, which leads to several humorous sequences with his pet zombie, Slurp (Owen Painter). Given Slurp’s backstory and connection to the unscrupulous Augustus Stoneheart, it soon became clear that the gradually recovering zombie would end up playing a major role in the season later on.

And he does, as this young man is Isaac Night, Francoise’s brother (!) and a former friend of Gomez Addams (Luis Guzmán). Somehow, these revelations pale in comparison to the fact that Thing (Victor Dorobantu) was once attached to Isaac yet managed to miraculously survive after Morticia chopped off Isaac’s hand on the night of his demise.

As is tradition with almost every Addams family secret, Morticia and Gomez aren’t heartless killers in this situation, but victims of circumstance. Isaac’s drive to cure his sister drove him to betray Gomez, who lost his electricity-based powers after the machine forcefully harnessing them malfunctioned. This poses an interesting moral dynamic, as Morticia and Gomez acted in self-defense once again (echoing a similar twist from season 1), buried Isaac (who died due to the explosion), and took in Thing (who had no memory of the body he belonged to).

Indeed, Thing is seen undergoing an existential crisis all season, as he feels incomplete without the knowledge of his origins. While Isaac reclaims his lost limb for a while (by overwriting Thing’s sentience), Thing’s loyalty to the Addams clan helps him defeat his host body without hesitation or remorse. This also gives Thing a sense of purpose beyond his status as the family’s ally, as he quite literally takes matters into his own hands and rebels against the morally corrupt part of his body and soul.

Enid and Wednesday butt heads throughout season 2, but these repeated misunderstandings come from a place of concern. Ever since Wednesday’s premonition anticipating Enid’s death, she’s kept her pastel-loving roommate at arm’s length to keep her safe. On the flip side, Enid has been quietly dealing with major life changes, which have to do with the fact that she is an Alpha werewolf. (This also explains why she was a late bloomer and why she wolfed out on days without a full moon.)

The two are only able to bridge their differences after accidentally swapping bodies, as both Enid and Wednesday intuitively learn about each other during this switcheroo (itself the ultimate version of walking in someone else’s shoes). This leads to a sweet moment of tenderness, as the pair realize that they’ve only been wanting to protect each other, with Wednesday acknowledging that she admires Enid’s quiet strength and deep empathy.

In a tragic turn of events, Enid wolfs out into her Alpha form to save Wednesday, but the catch is that she might be stuck in this form forever while being hunted down by other werewolves. To think that Enid willingly embraces this fate despite knowing the risks tells us everything about her loyalty to her friend. Well, Wednesday isn’t the kind of person to make empty promises or abandon the people she loves, so she sets out to find Enid alongside Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen), who seems like the perfect candidate for such a high-priority mission.

While Enid and Wednesday might have their respective dynamics with the world at large, the essence of “Wednesday” has always boiled down to this connection. It appears Enid’s fate will be the focal point of the show’s now-confirmed third season, as her safety is paramount to our protagonist (who will go to the ends of the Earth to save her friend).

Tyler is a tragic character through and through on “Wednesday.” Think about it: His mother’s supposed death drove a wedge between him and his father, who was then brutally murdered in season 2, part 1 (yet did his best to protect his son until his last breath). Tyler’s Master, Ms. Thornhill (Christina Ricci), later proceeded to advantage of the void left behind by his mother’s supposed death to turn him into a beast and control him, which morphed his soul beyond recognition. At the same time, Tyler isn’t completely innocent here, as the character makes informed decisions to harm and manipulate others in his quest to feel seen and accepted. That said, his morality is murky at best, as we see him experience flickers of remorse during the season 2 finale, leaving us to hope that he might heal with the aid of the Hyde community.

The return of his mother and his uncle only worsens Tyler’s mental state, as both figures try to control him by reducing him to a pawn in their schemes. Francoise’s love for her son manifests in abusive behavior, making it hard not to sympathize with Tyler’s situation; after all, he’s still just a kid molded by the environment he’s been raised in. On top of that, most of the adults in his life have been primarily concerned with taming him, and the only healthy, protective love he’s gotten was marred by his father’s grief-fueled neglect while he was alive. So, when Francoise forces Tyler to give up his Hyde powers, Wednesday’s intervention emerges as an act of kindness, as she urges Tyler to retaliate against his family. However, Francoise’s tragic death leaves Tyler alone and vulnerable again, reopening wounds that had only begun to heal.

But this time, he’s approached by the seemingly sympathetic Isadora Capri (Billie Piper), who promises Tyler that a hidden community of Hydes can help him work through his feelings of abandonment. Tyler might be able to find acceptance in a future season, but his true fate has yet to be revealed.

The season 2 finale, “This Means Woe,” wraps up a string of mysteries and subplots, including the (final) demise of the season’s Big Bad, Isaac, and a begrudging reconciliation between Morticia and her mother. Likewise, season 2’s Morning Song cult storyline wraps up with a twist, as Principal Dort exposes himself as the mastermind behind everything. This is enough to get him removed as Nevermore’s Principal, leaving a power vacuum that needs to be filled sooner rather than later. As for ex-Principal Weems, her spirit dissipates into pure light after she completes her mission to guide Wednesday, with our gloomy protagonist finally regaining her psychic abilities by the end of the season. Even with these satisfying resolutions, though, a kernel of doubt lingers: What other unsavory secrets is the Addams family hiding, and will they find a way to haunt Wednesday?

Well, the answer lies in the abrupt vision Wednesday has about Aunt Ophelia, who is mentioned repeatedly throughout season 2 but remains a mystery by the time “This Means Woe” concludes. Her vision is quite frenetic, but we see Wednesday’s Grandmama Hester (Joanna Lumley) enter a basement inside her lavish mansion. There, a blonde woman — presumably Ophelia — scribbles “Wednesday must die” on the walls with blood. Now, this doesn’t feel right for obvious reasons, but it is worth noting that Morticia believes that her sister is “missing” and suffered a mental breakdown due to her inability to control her visions. In other words the show is deliberately drawing a thematic parallel between Ophelia and Wednesday, although we don’t know how the pair are linked aside from, obviously, their familial connection.

Is Ophelia’s proclamation about Wednesday a warning? Or is it a threat that she intends to carry out herself? Recall that Wednesday is currently in possession of Ophelia’s grimoire, which appears to map the decline of her sanity but hasn’t offered any solid answers yet. This storyline will surely be explored in season 3, so here’s hoping that our next adventure remains as spooky as ever without turning into something hideously macabre.

Season 2 of “Wednesday” is currently streaming on Netflix. Season 3 has yet to receive a premiere date.