How Wednesday Season 2 Pays Homage To The Best Addams Family Movie

This post contains spoilers for "Wednesday" and "Addams Family Values."

It's a new school year rife with woe, as "Wednesday" season 2 promises even more scares and mysteries for its titular protagonist. By the time the season picks up, Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) has undergone quite the transformation since she first arrived at Nevermore Academy. Indeed, she's far more receptive now to having friends and has (unwittingly) even gained some social footing after defeating season 1's big bad, Tyler (Hunter Doohan).

But normalcy is a foreign concept for an Addams, which is why Wednesday has to contend with fresh horrors in season 2, part 1, which includes hunting down a persistent stalker who has been tailing her since the season 1 finale. Juggling this issue with the sudden presence of her family on campus, Wednesday is forced to navigate some complicated emotions as she finds herself having to decide between sticking to her isolationist tendencies or embracing a more vulnerable side of her personality.

Season 2, episode 3, "Call of the Woe," emphasizes this internal conflict by drawing inspiration from director Barry Sonnenfeld's 1993 sequel "Addams Family Values," a delightfully macabre film that's chock-full of politically-charged dark humor. While the movie focuses primarily on Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd), it also features a memorable subplot involving Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and her brother Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) being sent to summer camp, which is the part that "Wednesday" references. But where "Addams Family Values" uses Wednesday and Pugsley's social outlier status (which is mocked by the other kids) to make a scathing political statement, "Wednesday" utilizes the duo's Outcast status to foster a sense of close-knit community (and pride!) that contrasts heavily with what the more socially acceptable Normies stand for.

Let's take a closer look at the summer camp storyline in "Wednesday" season 2 and how it pays homage to the events that go down in "Addams Family Values."

In "Addams Family Values," Wednesday and Pugsley are sent to a cartoonishly conservative summer camp (Camp Chippewa). There, the other kids constantly pick on the siblings, while the adults attempt to punish them for their inability to "integrate" with the group at large. This societal exclusion isn't the worst part of the experience, either, as Wednesday is also forced into participating in a racist Thanksgiving-themed play — which she does, only to subvert expectations and teach everyone an unforgettable lesson.

This is classic Wednesday: She pretends to blend in just to introduce chaos when least expected, wiping off the glee worn by those who adopt (and enforce) such problematic ideologies. "Wednesday" season 1 directly echoes this when she keeps playing the cello after covertly blowing up Joseph Crackstone's statue, all the while inciting town-wide chaos around her.

"Call of the Woe" takes a more empowering, tongue-in-cheek approach, with Wednesday attending a summer camp, Camp Jericho, solely to gather clues about her mystery stalker. Camp Jericho, however, is nothing like Camp Chippewa, as Nevermore's new headmaster, Dort (Steve Buscemi), wants to foster Outcast pride and encourage these outliers to express themselves without fear of being ostracized or shamed. Integrating with the Normies doesn't seem to be a priority for Dort either, which explains why he's irritated when the Phoenix Cadet Master and his group arrive, claiming to have booked the same area for camping purposes. Before their arrival, though, the Outcasts are seen happily setting up creatively-decorated tents and doing whatever they want, including Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) trying (and failing) to conceal his pet zombie from prying eyes.

While Camp Chippewa feels genuinely stifling for Wednesday and her allies, Camp Jericho places the Outcasts and Normies on equal footing, where this status quo is challenged with an intense game of capture the flag. It is also worth noting that "Addams Family Values" presents chipper camp guides Gary (Peter MacNicol) and Becky (Christine Baranski) as being malicious behind their joyful facades, whereas "Wednesday" inverts this by having Dort give a team-building speech that feels authentic and earnest in contrast.

Although the Normies end up getting the shorter end of the stick, "Wednesday" employs dark humor to introduce levity and fun — a sentiment that's been sustained throughout both seasons of the show (so far) to great effect.

"Wednesday" season 2, part 1 is now streaming on Netflix, with season 2 arriving September 3, 2025.