As the streaming wars heat up in 2025, two of the world’s biggest platforms—Disney+ and Netflix—are doubling down on their fantasy franchises, each unveiling new twists, old favorites, and fresh faces that promise to keep fans glued to their screens. With Disney+ revealing the first teaser for the much-anticipated second season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Netflix dropping bombshells in Wednesday Season 2, fantasy lovers are in for a wild ride this year.
On August 12, 2025, Disney+ officially pulled back the curtain on the first teaser trailer for the second season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. For fans who remember the rocky road of the franchise’s big-screen adaptations, this is a moment of cautious optimism. According to TechRadar, the new trailer confirms that Percy will return to Camp Half-Blood, ready to continue learning what it means to be the son of a god. But, as ever, trouble isn’t far behind.
This season draws its inspiration from the second book in the beloved series, The Sea of Monsters. That means a shift to a more nautical theme—think Poseidon’s watery realm, mythical sea creatures, and, in a twist that will surprise even die-hard fans, Percy discovering he has a cyclops for a brother. The looming threat of Kronos, the titan whose shadow grows ever darker over Camp Half-Blood, ensures that the stakes are higher than ever.
For many, the move to a streaming series represents a chance to do justice to Rick Riordan’s sprawling universe. The earlier film adaptations were widely criticized for straying too far from the source material and for failing to capture the heart of the books. This time around, Disney+ seems determined to get it right. The production values are high, the cast is settled into their roles, and showrunners appear committed to telling the full story—without the specter of early cancellation hanging overhead. As TechRadar notes, "Based on this trailer, though, Percy Jackson fans should feel pretty confident about at least the next run of episodes – they're looking nice and premium."
But Disney+ isn’t the only platform making waves in the fantasy realm. Over at Netflix, Wednesday Season 2 has delivered a twist that’s left viewers reeling. In Part 1 of the new season, Heather Matarazzo joins the cast as Judi Spannagel, the seemingly bubbly and harmless executive assistant at Willow Hill Psychiatric Facility. But things are rarely as they seem at Nevermore Academy.
Matarazzo, best known for roles in The Princess Diaries and Welcome to the Dollhouse, brings a new level of complexity to the series. As revealed in an interview with Netflix’s Tudum, Judi’s chipper demeanor is a mask for a much darker secret. By the end of Part 1, viewers learn that Judi is, in fact, the Avian killer—the villain controlling crows and running the underground Longterm Outcast Integration Study (LOIS) program, which abducts and experiments on outcasts.
Showrunners Miles Millar and Alfred Gough delighted in subverting audience expectations. Millar told Tudum, "We love the idea of leading the audience down the path and thinking that Dr. Fairburn is the bad guy. And then revealing that, actually, the hooded figure is Judi, the ditzy assistant. For us, it’s always about: How do you subvert the expectation, red herrings, and tropes of a murder mystery?"
The season’s cliffhanger leaves Judi chased into the night by the very outcasts she’s tormented, with Wednesday Addams’ fate hanging in the balance. The next installment, Part 2, is set to arrive on September 3, 2025, and fans are already speculating about what comes next.
Matarazzo shared her excitement about joining the cast, saying, "They very graciously asked if I would be interested and I, of course, was very interested because I’ve been a huge fan of Mr. Tim Burton, as well as Al Gough and Miles Millar, for a long time." She described her character as "colorful and unlike any character I’ve ever played," and credited the creative team for crafting a role with real depth and surprises.
Her journey to Nevermore wasn’t just a professional highlight—it was also a personal one. Matarazzo spent seven months filming in Dublin, collaborating closely with legendary director Tim Burton and the show’s costume and hair designers. She described Burton as "very exact. He knows exactly what he wants. And with that, too, he’s an actor’s director... Watching Tim work is like getting to watch a bird in flight that also happens to understand the ground very well."
Costume design played a crucial role in Judi’s transformation. Matarazzo recounted, "The first day I went in for a wardrobe fitting, they had a cascade of outfits, and we really got to talk through what the metamorphosis of Judi’s character was going to be—especially as we progress within the episodes. And the more she takes off the mask and we see who she truly is, how does that then change the wardrobe for the later episodes?"
It’s not just the look that’s layered; Judi’s motivations are equally complex. The big reveal that she is Dr. Stonehearst’s daughter and the mastermind Avian killer was a challenge to play, especially since Matarazzo’s first day on set was filming the scene where Judi’s true identity is exposed. She explained, "Al and Miles were very generous in answering my questions within the space of what motivates a character to do something. What is it that she had within herself? What was the drive of that ambition? Was it the fact that she had a desperate need for her father’s approval and that she never felt that she really got it?"
Judi’s tragic demise, driven by her arrogance and belief that no one could outsmart her, provides a cautionary tale about the dangers of underestimating one’s adversaries. Matarazzo noted, "Wednesday is a very clear nemesis for Judi. And I think Judi’s ultimate downfall is that she didn’t think that she could get usurped by a teenage girl. There is an arrogance in her demise."
As for whether Judi is truly gone, Matarazzo left the door open, musing, "That’s a question for Miles and Al. I was like, 'What if she had a twin?' I’ve always wanted to play a twin... even if you were considered dead, it doesn’t mean that you necessarily are gone."
With both Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Wednesday pushing the boundaries of fantasy storytelling on the small screen, 2025 is shaping up to be a landmark year for fans of the genre. Whether it’s gods and monsters or outcasts and secret villains, the streaming giants are making sure there’s magic—and mayhem—ahead.
