Wednesday Season 2 Reveals The New Grandmama (And The Casting Is Perfect)

The Addams Family tree just got a little bigger. "Wednesday" season 2 marks the arrival of the oldest and trickiest member of the Addams clan, Grandmama Addams, and she's both a massive departure from previous iterations of the character while being brilliantly Tim Burton-branded all at the same time. Instead of the almost feral-looking, birds-nest-hair-wielding Grandmama we're used to, this version is a far more refined woman who seems more likely to ask her magic mirror who's the fairest of them all than spend her days stirring unsightly recipes over a cauldron. It makes sense, really, what with legendary British actor Dame Joanna Lumley taking on the role here.

Famous in the United Kingdom for her incredibly elegant voice, Lumley began her career in television in the British spy thriller series "The New Avengers" (no, not those guys), as well as appearing in one of the essential James Bond movies, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," along with "Trail of the Pink Panther" and "The Curse of the Pink Panther." It was in 1992, however, that she became a comedy great after appearing in the British sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous," which spanned a decade and even got its own film. Now, she's bringing her classiness to "Wednesday," which marks the latest occasion that Lumley and Burton (who's both an executive producer and director on the Netflix series) have crossed paths, with Lumley having previously lent her voice to a pair of beloved animated movies he either produced and/or directed.

Long before she was taking up residence at the Addams Family's home, Joanna Lumley appeared in 1996's "James and the Giant Peach," which reunited Henry Selick and Tim Burton as a director and producer, respectively, after their previous collaboration on "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Part live-action and part stop-motion animation, the Roald Dahl novel adaptation is perhaps even scarier than "Nightmare," between its imagery of a rampaging, parent-killing rhinoceros and Lumley as James' evil Aunt Spiker alongside Miriam Margolyes as the equally cruel Aunt Sponge. As far as kids' movie villains go, Lumley does an exceptional job and makes for a terrific addition to a film that's woefully overlooked, despite being one of the best adaptations of Dahl's work. It also explains why, roughly a decade later, Lumley got the call to appear in another stop-motion project associated with Burton: 2005's "Corpse Bride."

This time both produced and co-directed by Burton alongside Mike Johnson, with Johnny Depp starring opposite Helena Bonham Carter as the titular character, "Corpse Bride" definitely sits in the better half of Burton's directorial efforts. Lumley, meanwhile, co-stars as one of the villains of the piece, the unpleasant Lady Maudeline Everglot. Now, with the actor having already played a pair of wicked women for Burton, it makes for a wonderful change of pace to see Lumley in a Burton project where she gets to be devious and a little dark, but in the best possible way. As Grandmama, she's perhaps one of season 2's highlights, as well as solid proof that Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) gets her beautifully bleak perspective from her dear old granny.

"Wednesday" season 1, part 1 is now streaming on Netflix. Part 2 will premiere September 3, 2025.