Wednesday season 2 adds Reacher star in mystery role – and it's set to mark a Tim Burton reunion

The cast of Wednesday is expanding ahead of its eagerly anticipated season 2.

Reacher star Anthony Michael Hall is the latest to join Jenna Ortega, Emma Myers, Hunter Doohan, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and more in the Netflix hit's next chapter. His role, though, remains mysterious (and spooky), according to Variety.

His involvement in the show is set to mark his reunion with director Tim Burton, whom he last worked with on gothic romance Edward Scissorhands, and helmed four of Wednesday season 2's eight episodes. In the 1990 fantasy flick, Hall played Jim, the supercilious, curtain-banged boyfriend of Winona Ryder's character Kim. The actor has also appeared in cult films such as The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, and Sixteen Candles.

Based on The Addams Family cartoon (and subsequent TV and movie adaptations), Wednesday gives its titular teen the Enola Holmes treatment as she's shipped off to Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for outcasts, and discovers that someone – or something – is butchering people all over town. As an aspiring crime writer with a penchant for the macabre, the pig-tailed protagonist soon takes it upon herself to catch the killer.

Newbies previously announced for season 2 include Steve Buscemi, as Nevermore's new principal Barry Dort, Joanna Lumley, as Grandmama, Evie Templeton, Owen Painter, Noah Taylor, Christopher Lloyd, Thandiwe Newton, Billie Piper, and Lady Gaga. Luis Guzmán, Fred Armisen, and Isaac Ordonez will also be returning.

"I think the feel that we're going for is a little bit more horror-inspired," Ortega said of the new batch of episodes in an interview with Vanity Fair back in September 2024 – though it's worth noting that she cited the 1964 film adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's 1942 work, starring Vincent Price, as a specific starting point. "Not to say that suddenly we're the goriest show of all time. I mean, there [are] six-year-olds watching."

Wednesday season 2, which will be rolled out in two parts, premieres on August 6. The second chapter will drop on September 3. While we wait, check out our picks of the best shows on Netflix to help fill out your watchlist.