Looks Like ‘Wednesday’ Season 2 Is Writing Off a Major Character

This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.

The Big Picture

Jenna Ortega will take the lead in Netflix’s goth-tastic
Wednesday
, sans romantic subplot, leaning more into horror elements for Season 2.
Familiar faces Percy Hynes White and Naomi J Ogawa won’t return as series regulars, making way for new story paths at Nevermore Academy.
Ortega steps up as a producer to dial up the horror factor, promising a bone-chilling affair with less lovey-dovey fluff in Season 2.

Netflix dropped some major casting tea this morning for the upcoming season of its goth-tastic hit Wednesday, where Jenna Ortega reigns supreme as the delightfully macabre protagonist. As the spooky doors of Nevermore Academy swing open once again, some familiar faces won’t be returning to roam its eerie halls. Percy Hynes White and Naomi J Ogawa, who gave life to fan-favorites Xavier Thorpe and Yoko Tanaka, respectively, are bidding adieu to series regular statuses, while Jamie McShane is set to only make a guest appearance, reprising his role as the troubled Sheriff Donovan Galpin.

The good sheriff was left reeling in the Season 1 finale, grappling with the shocking revelation that his son Tyler (played by the returning Hunter Doohan) was the monstrous Hyde. The plot thickened as Tyler, in a classic monster-movie cliffhanger, tried to morph his way out of a tight spot. Galpin’s badge might be getting a new shine, though, as Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo, who plays Deputy Ritchie Santiago, steps up as a series regular, news which hints at a new story path to wander down, with the potential for a new sheriff roaming these here parts.

Christopher Lloyd and Steve Buscemi Join ‘Wednesday’ Season 2

Billie Piper and Haley Joel Osment are also officially joining the hit Netflix series.

No More Romance for ‘Wednesday’

As for White’s psychic heartthrob Xavier, despite saving his skin in the finale and heating up the screen with Wednesday, rumour mills spun tales of his potential exit even as Deadline reported his option extension last year. Ortega, for her part, wasn’t keen on the romantic side to the show and felt it didn’t make a lot of sense for her character.

“We’ve decided we want to lean into the horror aspect of the show a little bit more. Because it is so lighthearted, and a show like this with vampires and werewolves and superpowers, you don’t want to take yourself too seriously. We’re ditching any romantic love interest for Wednesday, which is really great.”

Meanwhile, Ogawa’s Yoko, despite her cool vampire creds and ties to the enigmatic Nightshade Society, found herself fading into the background, making her departure a less shocking, but still poignant, update. Ortega is not just returning in front of the camera but stepping behind it as a producer, promising to dial up the horror and dial down the teen angst. With the news of a new direction for the series, the changes to the cast do make a lot of sense. So, brace yourselves, horror buffs and romantics, because it sounds like Wednesday Season 2 is set to be a bone-chilling affair with less lovey-dovey fluff.