The first half of Wednesday season 2 is officially available to stream on Netflix, with part 2 due to be released on September 3. Whether it was Netflix Tudum 2025 or the many teaser trailers released in 2024, season 2 was marketed as one of the streaming service’s biggest releases of the year (alongside Stranger Things season 5 and Squid Game season 3). We’ve not had any new episodes since its launch in 2022, and now that Wednesday season 3 is definitely happening, it’s likely going to be another few years before that arrives, too.
So, all eyes are on Wednesday season 2, then. We’ve got new cast additions including Joanna Lumley and Billie Piper, the quiet exit of Percy Hynes White, and even more of Nevermore’s lore to unpack. Before its four-episode release yesterday (August 6), I was expecting social media to be in a whipped-up frenzy of Addams family furore, reviews and promotion plastered all over the internet and me feeling the FOMO I always get when I haven’t invested in something that everybody else has. Instead, crickets.
Granted, it’s not even been 24 hours yet, but what on earth is going on with Wednesday season 2’s release? The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 is running away with social traction, while other weekly releases like South Park season 27 and The Gilded Age season 3 are stealing headlines. Even the latest episodes of And Just Like That… season 3 are making a better public impression. Once again, I think the problem boils down to Netflix’s rollout strategy, and I’m not sure they’ll ever learn their lesson.
Wednesday season 2 part 1’s release is a glaring spotlight on Netflix’s rollout errors
I don’t want to sound like a broken record again (I’ve already complained about Stranger Things’ drawn-out release date), but there’s an obvious problem with how long fans are left waiting for new seasons of Netflix shows, often forgetting or not caring about what last happened in the meantime. However, the streamer’s problems run deeper than that in this case. Aside from a sensational-looking world premiere, Wednesday season 2’s marketing has been haphazard at best. The social media promotion seems to only exist in order to rack up engagement figures (on TikTok, you’re encouraged into a ‘stare-off’’ with Wednesday herself), while the gradual release of the season’s teasers and trailer let the hype trail go cold in the interim.
If I was to open my Netflix homepage today, I wouldn’t find season 2 advertised anywhere. There are no trending hashtags, nothing that jumps out at you of interest when you search the show on Google, and Netflix itself seems to have very little to say outside of some carefully chosen sneak previews. For supposedly the best streaming service around, that feels like very little enthusiasm for its most-watched show of all time.
A lack of excitement for your own production can see the effects trickle down to the audience itself. From my point of view, nobody feels particularly excited to watch, talk about or catch up with the four-episode drop. In essence, Netflix has failed to create any FOMO for the summer (for those of us in the northern hemisphere), and I don’t need to spell out why that’s bad news for them. Again, none of this is helped by the choice to split season 2 into two halves either – a release strategy the streamer desperately needs to leave behind. All at once or weekly, people pick your poison.
Not only is this all a concern for part 2, but it’s also not amazing news for season 3. This probably won’t be a surprise to you, but there’s no current production or release timeline for this, merely the confirmation it has been cleared to go ahead. The time Wednesday is old enough to pay rent is the time we’re likely to be able to stream those episodes, but will anybody care? Will anybody even care in a month’s time? It’s a fascinating case study for what’s going on for Netflix at the moment, and I don’t mean that as a compliment.
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