Netflix‘s hit Wednesday released the opening scene of its highly anticipated second season — and officially announced Lady Gaga as joining the cast.
The streamer for the first time confirmed the singer-actress is joining the little monsters at Nevermore Academy, playing a still undisclosed guest role on the upcoming season of the hit series, which stars Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams as she attends a school for outcasts with unusual abilities.
The news was announced at Netflix’s Tudum fan event at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles Saturday, where Lady Gaga took the stage for a climactic — and Wednesday-themed — performance. Emerging from a coffin with the words “Here lies the monster queen” on the lid and backed by a cadre of Addams Family-esque dancers, Gaga performed “Zombieboy” from her recently released album Mayhem.
Following another dance performance — to the Cramps’ “Goo Goo Muck,” which soundtracked Wednesday’s viral dance scene in season one — Gaga re-emerged to perform “Abracadabra” before returning to her coffing.
The series and the singer had previously connection after the first season aired. Ortega’s dance scene in the show (with moves inspired by Siouxsie Sioux and Bob Fosse, among others) went viral and there was a popular remix version of the dance using Lady Gaga’s song “Bloody Mary.” Lady Gaga then performed the “Bloody Wednesday” dance herself on TikTok (check it out, below).
Wednesday season two (watch the trailer) will be released in two parts; the first will be released Aug. 6 and the second will drop Sept. 3.
Gaga will be one many newcomers to the show in season two, which also added Steve Buscemi, Billie Piper, Evie Templeton, Owen Painter and Noah Taylor as series regulars and Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Lumley, Thandiwe Newton, Frances O’Connor, Haley Joel Osment, Heather Matarazzo and Joonas Suotamo in guest roles. They join returning cast Hunter Doohan, Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Luis Guzmán, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Fred Armisen, Isaac Ordonez and Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo.
Lady Gaga’s previous acting credits include Joker: Folie à Deux, A Star Is Born — for which she won an Oscar for best original song and was nominated for best actress — House of Gucci and two seasons of FX’s American Horror Story.
The first season of Wednesday — from creator/showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar along with executive producer and director Tim Burton — was a smash for the streamer in 2022. Wednesday became the most-viewed English language series in the studio’s history, with 252 million views, and spent 20 weeks in the streamer’s global Top 10 (Squid Game remains Netflix’s biggest hit internationally). The series also catapulted Ortega to a new level of stardom, which was further fueled by her role in Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice last fall.
Along with Gaga’s performance, Netflix released the opening minutes of season two, with Wednesday locked in a serial killer’s (Haley Joel Osment) basement, recounting how she ended up there and explaining that the killer thinks she is his next victim.