‘Wednesday’ Season 3 Burning Questions After That Epic Season 2 Finale

‘Wednesday’ Season 3 Burning Questions After That Epic Season 2 Finale

[This story contains major spoilers from Wednesday season two.]

The creative team behind Netflix’s Wednesday sure knows how to leave its audiences wanting more. Season two’s last episodes may wrap up the mysteries that propelled fans through the two-part season — the Addams family soundly defeats Isaac Night (Owen Painter), and the saga of the Morning Song cult is brought to a close. But the final scenes raised new and equally intriguing questions that are, as yet, left unanswered.

Among the most obvious: Why is Grandmama Hester (Joanna Lumley) keeping Ophelia, who has supposedly been missing for 20 years, locked in a dungeon? And for that matter, who will play Wednesday’s seemingly murderous aunt, whose face audiences haven’t seen? Will Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) be able to save Enid (Emma Myers), who’s on the run in the wilderness and trapped in her wolf form? And what is this place that Capri (Billie Piper) is offering to take Tyler (Hunter Doohan) to help him live with his fellow hydes? 

The Hollywood Reporter rounds up all of those burning questions, along with some of our more esoteric theories about what exactly has been going on at Nevermore Academy, and what could potentially happen in season three. But beware, speculation abounds in the theories below, so take them with an Addams Family-appropriate level of mistrust.

In the first half of season two, Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) thinks Goody Addams’ spellbook is enabling Wednesday to abuse her psychic powers, so she takes it away. Wednesday then challenges her mother to a duel, which Morticia wins, earning the right to burn the book. When Hester subsequently tries to negotiate the return of the book for a donation to Nevermore, Morticia throws it into the fire, telling her that her family is nonnegotiable.

Morticia and Gomez have both proven their ability to keep a secret — not even telling Thing that he began life as the hand of a murderous mad scientist who tried to kill Gomez — so we wouldn’t bet our gothic mansion on the likelihood that Morticia is playing things completely straight when it comes to burning the spellbook.

Did she desperately want to get the book out of Wednesday’s hands? Yes, and she achieved that. Wednesday is convinced that the book is reduced to ashes. But can we be certain that Morticia didn’t substitute an imposter book to throw into the fire? No.

And even if she wasn’t playing any tricks, there was an interesting look on Morticia’s face after she threw Goody’s book into the flames: a look of regret? Confusion? Surprise? It’s not impossible the book’s magical powers somehow kept it safe from the fire, or failing that, that Morticia had a change of heart and pulled it out before it was destroyed.  (Read our Morticia chat with Catherine Zeta-Jones.)

Earlier in season two, viewers saw a surprise return of season one’s teacher-turned-villain Marilyn Thornhill, aka Laurel Gates, played by Christina Ricci. After it was revealed that Thornhill was actually the person controlling Tyler’s Hyde, who was behind all the outcasts’ killings in the first season, she was ultimately attacked by Eugene’s (Moosa Mostafa) bees in the finale.

However, she clearly didn’t die — at least not yet — as she made her grand return in episode four, titled “If These Woes Could Talk,” of season two. Dr. Fairburn (Thandiwe Newton) has Thornhill transferred to Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital, where Tyler is being held after he was apprehended in season one, for advice on how to rehabilitate Tyler, as she’s his master.

But when Thornhill asks to see Tyler face-to-face, which Dr. Fairburn eventually agrees to, it doesn’t go as planned, as Tyler clearly has some resistance towards her. He ends up transforming into a Hyde and angrily grabs Thornhill by the neck, slamming her against the wall, but not enough to kill her.

Later in the episode, when chaos unfolds at Willow Hill, Thornhill lets Tyler out of his isolation cell. “I told you Mama would get you out of here. I could never abandon you,” she tells him. However, Tyler clearly feels very different. “Wish I could say the same. You’re the reason I’ve been locked away in here. You’re not my mother. You’re my master, or should I say… you were,” he replies.

After giving her a head start to run from him, Tyler transforms into a Hyde, quickly catches up to Thornhill and ultimately kills her… or so it seems.

When later asked, co-creators and showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar wouldn’t confirm whether Ricci’s character is definitively deceased. “Christina Ricci is just an amazing person and actor, and she brings such value to the show, and the character’s so wonderful. Never say never,” Gough told Netflix, before Millar added, “I will say, in this show, no one is officially dead dead. There’s always a way.”

Since it appears Gough and Millar are open to anything, it’s safe to assume Lady Gaga returning as Rosaline Rotwood is definitely a possibility. Especially since her highly anticipated role in the show had limited screen time in season two.

Gaga’s Rotwood, who was a powerful psychic and a former teacher at Nevermore, makes a cameo in episode six, titled “Woe Thyself.” When Wednesday visits her grave to seek assistance in regaining her own psychic powers, things go awry (in typical Nevermore fashion), and Rotwood makes Wednesday pay the price by forcing her and Enid to switch bodies. The pair must quickly gain a truer understanding of one another or face death, which luckily they do.

Despite Gaga’s limited screen time, which left some viewers frustrated, it also led to some fan theories surrounding season three. After Wednesday informs Rotwood that Grandmama Hester sent her there, Rotwood tells the young Addams during their brief interaction, “Hester. So desperate for my approval. But she never had what it took to be a truly great Raven. She craved a family so badly, she fell head over heels with a huckster. I sense none of that sentimentality in you.”

Since Rotwood and Hester clearly have a history, some fans are speculating that there could be more in store for Gaga’s character in the next season. One fan theory sees the singer also playing Ophelia Frump, as it was revealed in the season two finale that Hester is keeping Morticia’s sister secretly locked in a dungeon. While nothing has been confirmed, fans will just have to wait and see if and how Gaga returns in season three.

It seems Tyler and Wednesday’s complicated relationship will likely continue in season three, despite Tyler threatening to kill her and Enid this season.

Though Tyler’s plans don’t necessarily work out, there may be more to the story. Some fans have theorized that he can’t just forget his romantic feelings for Wednesday from season one, which may be why he had a concerned look on his face when Isaac buried Wednesday alive in the season two finale. Though Tyler didn’t stop Isaac, he could have sensed Agnes (Evie Templeton) nearby (similar to how he caught Agnes, who can disappear, when she followed them into Willow Hill’s basement in episode six) and knew she would save Wednesday.

Later in the finale, when the roles reversed and Wednesday had an opportunity to kill Tyler with an axe, she clearly missed on purpose, actually freeing him to escape the trap set by Isaac and his mother, Francoise (Frances O’Connor). When Tyler asks, “Why?” a deadpan Wednesday responds, “I missed.”

While some fans hope Tyler and Wednesday are endgame once the show eventually wraps, there’s one thing for certain: Their relationship status is definitely listed as “complicated” heading into season three.

Though Tyler is now free from Isaac, Francoise and Thornhill, his future remains uncertain as he still struggles with his inner hyde. But in the finale, he actually gets a compelling offer from none other than Isadora Capri (Billie Piper), Nevermore Academy’s new head of music, who is also a werewolf.

During their brief conversation, she tells Tyler, “We both know you can’t survive out here alone, but I can save you. … I’m offering a support system for people just like you, fellow hydes in a way where the world can’t find them. You’d be part of a pack, creating a bond that transcends the need for a single master.”

While Tyler is confused as to why the offer would be coming from Isadora since she’s a werewolf, she later reveals her father was also a hyde. This now raises several questions for the next season: Is Tyler going to join this secret hyde cult? What does Isadora get out of helping Tyler? Could Isadora be a hybrid?

Aside from the relationship drama Enid faced throughout season two, dating will probably be a bit harder in season three as a werewolf.

Enid, who typically brings normal high school moments like dating to a show full of magical, outcast chaos, found herself stuck as a werewolf in the season two finale. When she transforms on the night of a full moon to help save Wednesday, who was buried alive by Isaac, she risks getting trapped in wolf form permanently as an alpha werewolf. At the end, viewers see Enid flee Nevermore as a wolf, with Wednesday and Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) heading out on a road trip in search of her.

Before Enid transformed, she appeared to have resolved the awkward tension with Ajax Petropolus (Georgie Farmer), whom she dated in season one. However, things were a bit more unclear regarding where her relationship stands with Noah B. Taylor’s Bruno, her love interest throughout season two.

In part two, when Wednesday and Enid switch bodies, Wednesday (while possessing Enid’s body) discovers that Bruno (Noah B. Taylor) actually has a secret girlfriend back home when she overhears a phone conversation between Bruno and another woman. Wednesday ends up breaking up with him in Enid’s name, and then once the real Enid learns about Bruno cheating, she starts to avoid him. But when Bruno attempts to explain himself and convinces Enid to go to the Nevermore Gala with him, things take another turn when Bruno’s girlfriend from home makes a surprise appearance.

“I’m not gonna be the villain in this story. I think I wanted us to work out because I was holding onto the past, but I have a new path now. One that I have to face alone,” Enid says in episode seven, titled “Woe Me the Money,” ending it with Bruno, who appears devastated.

Taylor told THR that he interpreted Bruno’s feelings as “he did genuinely care about” Enid and that he was “too scared to hurt anybody,” so he kept entertaining both girls. As for whether he thinks Bruno might chase after Enid if he returns for season three, Taylor predicted, “I think he would try to weasel back in there a little bit, to keep fighting for her. I think that could be interesting.”

Facts about Morticia’s sister (and Wednesday’s aunt) Ophelia are sprinkled throughout season two. Ophelia is a Raven, like Wednesday, and they both have similar psychic powers.

Most of what we know comes from Morticia, who says that as a teenager, Ophelia was impatient and strong-willed, and that in her sophomore year at Nevermore, she was found screaming in the quad, with black tears running down her cheeks. (All of the above are similarities Wednesday shares with her aunt.) Over Morticia’s objections, Hester sent Ophelia to Willow Hill after her psychic crisis, but it has been 20 years since she’s been seen, according to Morticia. On the subject of parenting, Hester says that if her daughter is in trouble, it’s a mother’s job to stand back and let her fend for herself: “Thrive or die.”

But in the season two finale, Morticia gives Wednesday Ophelia’s journal, and as she reads it Wednesday sees Ophelia in a psychic vision. That’s followed by an even more surprising scene, in which Hester returns home from Nevermore and goes down to her dungeon, where Ophelia is imprisoned, having written the words “Wednesday Must Die” on the wall, apparently in blood.

Hester and Morticia are deeply estranged, so it makes sense that the matriarch wouldn’t mind keeping a secret from the family. But to what end? It’s clear that Ophelia has it out for Wednesday, so did Hester lock her up to protect her other daughter and granddaughter? That seems to go against her hands-off parenting approach. And how did she imprison Ophelia all this time without raising Morticia’s suspicions?

Meanwhile, in a show known for casting big names (for example, Lady Gaga — whose vibe Ophelia is definitely reminiscent of — as Rosaline Rotwood this season) and bringing back actors with connections to Addams Family classics (like Christina Ricci and Christopher Lloyd), finding out who is playing Wednesday’s aunt is sure to be a fun guessing game. Tim Burton, who directed the finale, played his hand well when he decided not to show Ophelia’s face. 

The first two seasons of Wednesday have followed a tried-and-true format of adolescent fantasy drama. In the same way that each Harry Potter book followed one school year, so have each of the first two seasons of the Addams Family series. But in the closing scenes of season two, Nevermore is shut down, and Agnes says that Enid — who’s trapped in her werewolf form — was spotted on a wildlife camera near the Canadian border. So Wednesday hits the road in Fester’s sidecar, bound by her earlier promise to hunt down her friend.

Finding werewolf Enid, then somehow figuring out how to restore her to her human form, is a herculean task — the kind viewers will want to see onscreen. But an odyssey like this seems like it could break the established format. Could season three go in an entirely different direction, with a road trip centered around saving Enid? Or if not a whole season, the storyline seems like it could support at least an episode or two.

Adding fuel to the theory that Wednesday is ready to expand beyond the grounds of Nevermore and the nearby town of Jericho, Catherine Zeta-Jones recently told THR, “I’m hoping that in season three, we’re able to see the Addams family outside of their world. That’s always interesting to see how people react, and how you react in the world that’s not an outcast world.” (Though she also conceded that she doesn’t know the showrunners’ plans for the upcoming season.)

There’s no release date yet for the forthcoming third season, and showrunners Miles Millar and Alfred Gough were tight-lipped in a recent article on Netflix’s Tudum. Asked for plot details, Millar demurred, saying, “Sure, but then I’d have to bury you in a shallow grave.”

***

Wednesday season two, Parts 1 and 2, is now streaming on Netflix.