Wednesday Season 1 created two different social groups in the small town of Jericho, Vermont. The first are the “marginalized.” These include people in the world with abnormal abilities, such as Wednesday and his psychic powers, as well as supernatural beings such as werewolves, mermaids, gorgons, vampires and hydes. The other group are garden-variety humans without any special abilities, called “normals.” (Think of the muggles of harry potter.) While most of Season 1 focused on the outcasts, there were some norms that were also important to the plot.
Within Jericho, there are tensions between both groups. Deputy Donovan Galpin is not only distrustful of the outcasts, but is also suspicious of Nevermore Academy, leading Principal Larissa Weems to take drastic measures to protect the students from her. There’s also Lucas Walker, the mayor’s son, who begins the series bullying the outcasts before meeting Enid and starting a romance with Bianca. However, of all the rules introduced last season, The Gates Family was by far the most important to the plot and could continue to play a key role in future seasons.
The Gates family and the Addams family go back a long way. A long, long time ago. In fact, they go back to the beginning of the dispute between normal and marginalized. Joseph Crackstone was one of the first pilgrims to settle in Jericho in 1625. He deployed fire-and-brimstone rhetoric to rile his fellow Normans against the outcasts, accusing them of being impious. He finally came face to face with Wednesday’s ancestor, Goody Addams. He accused her of being a witch and planned to burn her alive in a crypt with her fellow outcasts. Goody was able to escape, but the other outcasts, including his own mother, were not so lucky. Joseph was hell-bent on ridding the world of the outcasts forever, but Goody killed him and sealed his coffin with a blood lock. He later founded The Nightshade Society, whose purpose was to protect the outcasts from harm.
Laurel Gates was the main antagonist of last season
Centuries later, Ansel Gates, a descendant of Crackstone, carried his ancestor’s torch to kill all the outcasts. On the night of the 1990 Rave’N, Ansel gave his son Garrett nightshade poison and ordered her to pour it into the punch, thus killing all of Nevermore’s outcasts. However, unbeknownst to Ansel, Garrett had fallen in love with Morticia. When he saw Morticia with Gomez at the ball, he tried to confront him, but when he accidentally crashed into a pillar, the bottle of belladonna broke in his breast pocket and he was poisoned instead. According to Mayor Noble Walker, Ansel had confessed this to him and used his significant wealth to cover it up by supporting Mayor Walker’s campaign. While Garrett’s death was quite tragic, all of his family members met tragic ends. His mother committed suicide, his father drank himself to death, and his sister drowned.
…Or her? The season 1 finale revealed that Marilyn Thornhill, the first normal teacher at Nevermore, was actually Laurel Gates all along. She also decided to take revenge for the death of her family and continue Joseph Crackstone’s mission of getting rid of all the outcasts. While she managed to temporarily revive José, Wednesday killed him permanently by stabbing him in the heart. Laurel decided to shoot on Wednesday, but Eugene and her bee stopped her. While Laurel was on the ground, writhing from the insect’s attack, Wednesday stomped on her.
How could the Gates family continue to appear?
With Joseph Crackstone officially dead for good and Laurel defeated, how could it be possible that the Gates family would still show up? Well, viewers never saw what happened to Laurel after she stomped on her Wednesday. She could be incarcerated or institutionalized and could be an asset to next season’s stalker. Although Mayor Walker said that Ansel had drunk himself to death, since Mayor Walker had covered up for Ansel in the past, it is possible that he is still alive. It would also be interesting if he reappeared repentant. After all, his hatred of the outcasts led to the disappearance of his family. Maybe he could be alive and desperately trying to turn the page. Or perhaps he could continue blaming his misfortunes on the marginalized. Another possibility is that although Season 1 focused on the immediate Gates family, perhaps Season 2 could feature extended family members. That would create an interesting contrast to an Addams Family reunion.
Additionally, Garrett could return in a flashback episode with other information about the Gates family secrets. Plus, since this is a supernatural show, she could appear haunting the halls of Nevermore as a ghost, which could give him a chance to get some closure with Morticia and Gomez years after her death.
The next season of Wednesday will surely raise the stakes. Since the bad blood between the Gates family and the Addams family has gone on for centuries, it makes sense that their rivalry will continue to weave together in season 2. There are all kinds of fun narrative opportunities with this complicated clan. Regardless of how they are used next season, it is sure to be creepy, wacky, and creepy.
netflix
Netflix is one of the most popular and viewed streaming services in the world. Starting with its mail-order DVD service, Netflix has become an entertainment giant, with original shows and movies including Squid Game, Stranger Things, The Irishman and The Killer.