Wednesday Season 2 Part 1: All Character Deaths Explained

Warning! Includes MASSIVE SPOILERS for Wednesday season 2, part 1!

Wednesday season 2, part 1, is packed with character deaths, leaving plenty of material to dive into. While the choice to break Wednesday season 2 into two parts was controversial, it’s clear that Netflix didn’t pull any punches with the first part of the season. There’s plenty to discuss while waiting for more.

Building up to Wednesday season 2, part 1’s ending, the series offers all the plot twists, humor, and world-building audiences could have hoped for in the sophomore season.

Carl Bradbury

Entrance to Willow Hill in Wednesday season 2

Carl Bradbury is the man we see early in Wednesday season 1, who’s taking photos of a couple having an affair at a camping ground. Carl was an ex-cop who used to work with Sheriff Donovan Galpin, and the two of them were looking into the strange occurrences at Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital.

Bradbury was caught in the act of spying, killed by a murder of crows in a gruesome fashion. We learn more about Carl after his death, when Wednesday arrives on the crime scene to investigate and finds Donovan Galpin, now badgeless, watching from a distance.

Donovan Galpin

Ex-sheriff Donovan Galpin was one of the central antagonists of Wednesday season 1, with his son, Tyler Galpin, being the killer hyde. Galpin was consistently suspicious of Wednesday Addams and the outcasts of Nevermore during his time as sheriff, and with Wednesday solving the case, he was ultimately stripped of his badge.

Despite no longer being in law enforcement, Donovan Galpin continues to conduct investigations when he returns in season 2. He and Carl Bradbury worked together to investigate the happenings at Willow Hill, and just before Bradbury’s death, Donovan learned of his discoveries and survived long enough to pass them down to Wednesday.

Wednesday wasn’t quick to trust her old nemesis, but she took Donovan’s words seriously, allowing her to progress deeper into her own investigations throughout season 2, part 1. This was one of the moments that demonstrated that, despite Donovan’s flaws, he was a decent man with good intentions of protecting the town of Jericho.

Season 2 almost seemed to be setting up a redemption arc for Donovan, but the second episode saw him suffer the same fate as Carl Bradbury. Donovan Galpin had his eyes torn out and was murdered by a murder of crows caused by the Avian, whose identity was revealed in season 2, episode 4.

Dr. Fairburn

Thandiwe Newton is an extraordinarily talented actress and one of the most exciting additions to Wednesday season 2’s cast, which makes it all the more disappointing to see her go by the midseason finale. She played Willow Hill’s Dr. Fairburn, a woman entrusted as the face of the establishment by Judi Spannegel.

Judi is the daughter of Augustus Stonehearst, the founder of the LOIS program, which sought to control outcast powers and turned his daughter into an Avian. While masquerading as a ditsy assistant, Judi was secretly the one who had gone around killing multiple characters throughout the season.

This makes Dr. Fairburn’s role all the more important, and likely why Netflix brought in a recognizable, veteran actor with a screen presence like Thandiwe Newton’s. She worked exceptionally well as a red herring, and audiences likely suspected that she was the one behind all the murders.

A particularly fascinating element was Dr. Fairburn’s interest in Tyler Galpin, believing that she could actually find a way to rehabilitate him. This contributed to the sense that she might be the bad guy, seemingly looking into Tyler for the hope of finding a way to control him, as Stonehearst had tried previously with outcasts.

Marilyn Thornhill

Marilyn Thornhill was perhaps the most critical character death in Wednesday season 2, part 1, as she was the primary antagonist of the show’s first season. Played by Christina Ricci, an actor who once portrayed Wednesday Addams in a previous rendition, Thornhill was the twist villain of season 1’s narrative, masterminding Tyler Galpin.

In season 2, Marilyn and Tyler both found themselves in Willow Hill, with Dr. Fairburn reuniting them for a brief moment. Tyler tries to kill Marilyn despite the connection they share, and yet, when she’s freed in Fester and Wednesday’s riot, she goes to try and release the dangerous hyde.

In their final confrontation, Marilyn tries to dissuade Tyler from killing her, even after he offers her a five-second head start to run away. He then transforms into his hyde form and kills her, impaling her with his claws and then tossing her against a wall.

While Marilyn was a prominent character, her absence leaves room for new villains, and her return to freedom might have overshadowed Judi. Not to mention, this leaves Tyler open to a new arc, now that he’s free and away from the control she had over him.

Ron Kruger

Audiences might not have recognized Anthony Michael Hall, an actor best known for his teen roles in movies like Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, during his guest starring role in Wednesday season 2, episode 3. He plays Ron Kruger, the head of the normie camping troop, who are assigned the same campsite as Nevermore.

The debacle leads to a fun, rather deadly game of what is essentially capture the flag, with Kruger’s troop losing the Nevermore outcasts. Even though the cadets are willing to be good sports and take the loss, Kruger encourages them to take vengeance, leading them to raid the Nevermore camp during the night.

Ron Kruger is one of multiple characters to come face to face with Slurp, and he quickly meets his end before he and his troop can take action against the outcasts. While Kruger was just a one-off villain of the week, it’s still fun to see Anthony Michael Hall in a role like this, with a fun, self-deprecating ending that epitomizes Wednesday.

Augustus Stonehearst

Augustus Stonehearst is a character who we barely got to meet, but whose impact on the series is already tremendous, making his death important to note. Augustus was a normie who worked as a science teacher at Nevermore Academy before becoming the director of Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital.

His project, LOIS (Long-Term Outcast Integration Study), was intended to transfer outcast abilities into normies, which he successfully did on Judi, using his own daughter as an experiment. As is often the case with fictional scientist characters interested in the potential of special powers, Stonehearst descended into madness pursuing his work.

During the events of Wednesday season 2, part 1, Augustus Stonehearst is a patient at the facility he once directed. This puts him in the line of fire when Slurp, Pugsley Addams’ zombie companion, goes on a rampage at the facility in episode 4. Augustus Stonehearst had his brains eaten by a zombie.

This leaves some compelling elements for the back half of season 2, as Judi will be facing the news that her father died. She might not have much love for the man, but this could still contribute additional emotional complexity for her arc in the next four episodes.

Gabe Packard

Gabe Packard, the student driving instructor, might be the Wednesday season 2 character death I’m most offended by, as I found him to be a hilarious supporting character. Watching his sassy tone quickly get outmatched by Wednesday made for a hilarious scene, and I wish he could have been kept around longer for a recurring bit role.

Unfortunately, the man’s tenure as a Wednesday character was short-lived, with him being yet another character to get to bits by Slurp. Slurp needs to eat; I get it. Just, why did it have to be him?