Wednesday Season 2 Gives A Tim Burton Alum A Standout Guest Starring Role

This post contains spoilers for "Edward Scissorhands" and "Wednesday" season 2.

Tim Burton's distinctive vision defines Netflix's "Wednesday," which is back with a two-part second season that promises to double the Gothic mysteries offered by the first one. Sure enough, Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) is pulled into a mysterious case as soon as she returns to Nevermore Academy, which serves as the perfect site for ooky-spooky monsters (and the odd stalker) to come out and play. Season 2 leans into Burton's aesthetic blueprint to create its own visual identity, which comes to life through muted yet colorful palettes, macabre Gothic architecture, and Wednesday's gloomy presence (which both contrasts and complements her surroundings).

But Burton's vision encapsulates much more than the world we see onscreen, as it also includes socially accepted characters that vehemently oppose those who exist along societal fringes. The Normies introduced in season 1 are a good example of this, as they seem hell-bent on vilifying the Outcasts out of pure prejudice, attacking what they perceive as strange or peculiar. Moreover, some bullies turn out to be Outcasts themselves, targeting Wednesday because of a knee-jerk impulse to mock what they do not understand. These bullies are either eventually redeemed or given their comeuppance, but they've always existed throughout Burton's oeuvre to portray the psychology of those who are desperate enough to fit in at the cost of others.

Out of all of Burton's work, it's perhaps "Edward Scissorhands" that best explores themes of societal ridicule, isolation, and self-expression through a fantastical lens. In the film, characters like Jim (Anthony Michael Hall) react negatively to the titular figure solely because they embody unconventionality and don't fit into accepted societal molds of what a teenager should look or act like. Now, 35 years after that movie's release, Hall has reunited with Burton to play yet another bully figure, this time as a prominent guest star in "Wednesday" season 2, episode 3, "Call of the Woe." Let's talk about it!

Nothing screams unpredictable fun/whimsey quite like an Outcast-only summer camp, which also means that Wednesday has no interest in going. However, when Thing (Victor Dorobantu) informs her about a potential clue involving her stalker near Camp Jericho, Wednesday reluctantly agrees, despite being annoyed by the overbearing presence of her family. As the students begin doing as they please, like Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) unsuccessfully attempting to hide his pet zombie, Nevermore's new headmaster, Dort (Steve Buscemi), delivers a rousing speech about Outcast pride and community building. However, just when things start looking up, Phoenix Cadet Master Ron Krueger (Hall) arrives with his group of Normie teens, claiming that they were the first to book the campsite. Tensions rise.

After reaching an impasse, Wednesday proposes a game of capture the flag to decide who gets to stay, where each team is supposed to recapture their zephyr (a symbolic team logo of sorts) and race back within the time limit. The result is a fun little sequence that uses animation to explain the rules, followed by the Outcasts winning the match (along with their claim over the campsite).

Hall's Krueger, however, isn't a good sport about this fair win. Instead, he encourages the Normie kids to enact revenge against the Outcasts, which backfires when his brains are unexpectedly eaten (!!) by Pugsley's zombie pet. Of course, his death is treated with the same semi-serious dark humor the show has embraced since day one, showing how intolerant bullies like Krueger get their comeuppance for sowing seeds of unprompted hatred and prejudice.

Krueger himself doubles as a playful nod to Hall's antagonistic character in "Edward Scissorhands," who is presented as an aggressive and bigoted force in stark contrast to Edward's (Johnny Depp) radically empathetic nature throughout the film. Despite Jim's twisted efforts to vilify Edward and shun him from mainstream society, he is ultimately punished for the hatred in his heart when he falls to his death near the end of the movie. Hall's role as Krueger, in turn, serves to bring things full-circle thematically when it comes to the actor's appearances in Burton's projects, reinforcing the retributive natural laws that govern the zany artist's fantastical fictional worlds.

The first part of "Wednesday" season 2 is now streaming on Netflix, with the second part arriving September 3, 2025.