Winona Ryder Joins WEDNESDAY Season 3 in Epic Reunion With Jenna Ortega and Tim Burton
Nevermore Academy is about to get a familiar visitor.
Winona Ryder has officially signed on for a guest starring role in Wednesday Season 3, and the news sets up a killer reunion with Jenna Ortega and Tim Burton. If you loved seeing Ryder and Ortega together in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, you’re going to appreciate how perfectly this all lines up.
Details about who Ryder is playing are being kept secret, but the casting alone already feels like a perfect match for the dark, offbeat world of the series.
Burton, who directs and executive produces the hit Netflix show, couldn’t be happier about bringing Ryder into the fold. He said: “I am so happy that Winona has joined us, she fits right into this world. And she’s a dear friend. I always feel lucky to work with her.”
Ortega played Ryder’s daughter in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the long-awaited sequel to Beetlejuice, which originally starred Ryder back in 1988. Burton directed both films, and Wednesday creators Al Gough and Miles Millar also wrote the screenplay for the sequel. Now that whole creative circle is back together again.
Gough and Millar leaned into Ryder’s legacy with a statement that feels tailor-made for this franchise:
“When it comes to Outcasts, Winona Ryder is the GOAT. Her legendary partnership with Tim Burton has defined some of cinema’s most unforgettable characters. We loved collaborating with her on ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ and couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome her to Nevermore.”
Ryder and Burton have built one of the coolest creative partnerships in genre filmmaking. Beyond Beetlejuice and its sequel, the two also teamed up for Edward Scissorhands and the animated feature Frankenweenie. Those projects helped define the gothic tone that Wednesday now carries forward.
Ryder’s return to Netflix also comes right on the heels of wrapping up Stranger Things, where she starred across five seasons after joining the series back in 2016. That show’s fifth and final season marked the end of a major chapter for the streamer, and now Ryder is diving straight into another one of Netflix’s biggest franchises.
Season 3 is already shaping up to be packed with intriguing additions. Ryder joins Eva Green, who was recently announced as Ophelia, the sister of Morticia Addams.
The core cast returns as well, including Jenna Ortega, Emma Myers, Hunter Doohan, Joy Sunday, Moosa Mostafa, Georgie Farmer, Isaac Ordonez, Billie Piper, Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo, Victor Dorobantu, Evie Templeton, along with Luis Guzmán, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Joanna Lumley, and Fred Armisen.
Based on characters created by Charles Addams, the series continues under the guidance of Gough, Millar, and Burton as executive producers, with MGM Television producing.
Wednesday Season 2 dropped in two parts in August and September 2025 and quickly climbed Netflix’s charts. It currently ranks as the streamer’s fifth most-watched English-language season of television ever. Season 1 still holds the top spot as the most-watched season in Netflix history.
With those numbers, it’s clear that Nevermore isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Bringing Winona Ryder into Season 3 feels like a move that blends nostalgia with the show’s evolving gothic identity.
Now the big question is who she’s playing. A teacher? A mysterious relative? A powerful outcast with history tied to Nevermore?
Whatever it is, having Ryder back in Burton’s dark and twisted playground is a pretty awesome development for fans of Wednesday.