Credit: Inside the MagicWednesday Season 2 is already one of the biggest shows in the world, and not a single episode has been released yet. According to its production company, however, it has already crushed a record that beats even the mighty Star Wars franchise.
The Netflix series Wednesday was a huge smash when it debuted in November 2022, cementing star Jenna Ortega as one of the biggest young stars in Hollywood and (arguably) its latest and greatest scream queen.
The Tim Burton-produced series (created by his increasingly frequent collaborators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar) is loosely inspired by the Addams Family franchise, originally created by Charles Addams as a series of single-panel cartoons for The New Yorker.
We have come a long way since then. In the decades since their debut, the Addams Family has featured in multiple hit films, TV series, video games, comic books, and even a well-regarded pinball machine.
This latest iteration of the spooky-ooky clan centers on teenage daughter Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) as she is sent off to Nevermore Academy, a school for weird children, after being expelled from regular high school. In Season 1, Wednesday dealt with school rivalries, a difficult/helpful roommate, emerging psychic abilities, mother issues, and, as all teens must, centuries-old murder mysteries.
Related: ‘Wednesday’ Season 2, ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Cast New Leads
Wednesday Season 1 was an enormous success for Netflix and is widely seen as being positioned as a follow-up to the immensely popular supernatural drama Stranger Things, which will be closing out with Season 5 someday in the distant future.
However, Wednesday Season 2 has also run into its own delays, including pauses caused by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023; Jenna Ortega took some flak in that industry-wide incident and was accused of basically selling out her show’s writers and claiming that she basically wrote her character herself.
Netflix generally keeps a veil of secrecy over its productions, but it was recently revealed that Wednesday Season 2 is currently in production in Ireland. The production company responsible for it, Screen Ireland, has announced that the upcoming season of the show is the biggest production ever filmed in Ireland (per Variety), even more than the Disney Star Wars sequels filmed there.
According to Screen Ireland, Wednesday Season 2 is the “largest production to ever film in Ireland” in terms of production spend, which is to say, the actual filming of a project, as opposed to post-production or re-shoots.
Irish Prime Minister Taoiseach Simon Harris reportedly visited the set to meet with Tim Burton, Alfred Gough, and Miles Millar, releasing a statement saying, “I’m delighted to see Ireland continues to be chosen as a location to film series and movies which supports our economy, creates jobs, showcases our creative talents and promotes our country on a global stage.”
Related: Jenna Ortega Update: Creators of Hit Teen Series Make It Impossible for ‘Wednesday’ Star To Return
Prior to Wednesday, the Disney Star Wars sequel trilogy was one of the most notable productions to film in Ireland in years. Both The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017) were partially filmed there, with the country serving as the island sanctuary of an embittered Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).
Wednesday Season 2 is already demolishing records before it is even released. If it can beat Star Wars, who’s next?
Wednesday Season 2 will star Jenna Ortega, Emma Myers (Enid Sinclair), Joy Sunday (Bianca Barclay), Moosa Mostafa (Eugene), Georgie Farmer (Ajax), and Victor Dorobantu (Thing).
Catherine Zeta-Jones (Morticia Addams), Luis Guzmán (Gomez Addams), Isaac Ordonez (Pugsley Addams), Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo (Deputy Ritchie Santiago) have all been promoted to series regulars, while Jamie McShane (Sheriff Donovan Galpin) and Fred Armisen (Uncle Fester) will guest appear.
New cast members and guests will include Steve Buscemi, Billie Piper, Evie Templeton, Owen Painter, Noah Taylor, Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Lumley, Thandiwe Newton, Frances O’Connor, Haley Joel Osment, Heather Matarazzo, and Joonas Suotamowill. The series is expected to return to Netflix sometime in 2025.
Who are you most excited to see in Wednesday Season 2?