Wednesday season 2 part 1's arrival on Netflix re-triggered the argument and backlash toward Netflix's increasingly popular trend of releasing seasons in parts, and in this case, fans have once again proven that their dislike for the system is perfectly valid.
Wednesday's first installment of part 2 episodes arrived a little under three years after season 1 originally premiered on the platform. A three-year wait for a season of television is frustrating to fans for several reasons, but it becomes even more so when the equation calls for waiting for three years to receive four episodes, and then needing to wait another month for the other four.
This system ruins the season's momentum, as while there may be a large midseason cliffhanger, it still leaves the viewer spending years waiting only to watch half of the season in a matter of days, and leaving them unfulfilled. This mixture of splitting seasons into parts and waiting so long between seasons has resulted in climactic issues for several shows, with Stranger Things being a notable example.
In 2022, Stranger Things was at the peak of its momentum. Season 4's storylines surrounding Vecna had fans in a chokehold, and the iconic use of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" added to the overall stakes and emotional connection to the season as a whole. As season 4 concluded, it left fans on the edge of their seats. Everything was finally coming to a head as Stranger Things revealed the truth of Vecna's identity and his relationship to Eleven, and how Will would once again be connected to the dangers of the Upside Down.
The uncertainty surrounding Max's fate also left fans holding their breath, wondering how she would be utilized next. However, in the three years since season 4 aired, that excitement and momentum have died off to be replaced with excitement over other shows. While fans will inevitably tune in to season 5 to see how the story ultimately ends, it will not be with the same excitement and enthusiasm it would have come with had season 5 premiered in 2023, only a year following season 4's massive ending.
The real-life growing up of the show's main young cast certainly has not helped, as it takes extra suspension of disbelief for one's mind to take in these actors as being the early teenagers the characters are. There are several examples of adult actors portraying teenage characters, such as Cole Sprouse who was in his mid-twenties while playing a high school sophomore in Riverdale. But, the time jumps between filming and airing seasons have rarely allowed the audience to literally see the actors grow up on screen and in the public eye, as it has happened with the young cast of Stranger Things, who went from 11 years old to grown young adults in the 9 years this series aired 5 seasons.
Netflix's Ginny and Georgia was one of the casualties of seeing how waiting so long between seasons, when having younger actors growing up on screen, can create a disconnect. In season 3, 14-year-old Diesel La Torraca was portraying a 9-year-old Austin Miller, whose age had not changed because the show did not portray a time jump to match the real-life years that had passed between filming seasons 2 and 3. Season 2 aired in 2023, while season 3 aired in 2025, and season 3 consisted of only 10 episodes.
Meanwhile, Bridgerton is also at fault for long waits between seasons, as two years have gone by between each season of their three aired seasons, with season 4 expecting to be a total of a 2-year wait after season 3's conclusion as well. One of the most consistent arguments that streaming television shows cannot win regarding how long it takes to write, make, and release episodes is that it has a significantly lower episode count than broadcast television, especially at its height.
Network and broadcast television shows, as well as shows that aired on channels such as Freeform, could make and release shows with around 20 episodes per season on a yearly basis. While the number of episodes on broadcast television may not be as high as it once was for as many shows, broadcast television is still winning in many categories in this case. Shows such as Grey's Anatomy, All American, Elsbeth, Matlock, and Ghosts, as well as nearly every show on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and the CW Network, are consistent with episode releases from the fall through spring of the following year.
Even if the midseason hiatus has become slightly longer, given there are fewer episodes, regular television shows can still be counted on to provide content when it is expected, at the original average rate of having a season prepared per year. This system is still possible, even if many streaming shows tend to go the other way. Even some streaming shows, such as HBO Max's The Pitt (which is expected to return in January 2026, about a year after the show's season 1 premiere) and Hulu's Only Murders in the Building, are proving that streaming services are not incapable of putting out new episodes of shows in a reasonable amount of time, especially for a system that averages about 10 episodes per season, give or take a few depending on the series.
However, while Netflix is at fault for many shows taking so long between seasons, they are not the only culprit in this problem. HBO Max is anticipating the third season of Euphoria to premiere in 2026, which comes four years after the second season aired in 2022. Apple TV saw a three-year wait in between seasons 1 and 2 of Severance, and by the time The Morning Show premieres for its fourth season, it will have undergone a two-year hiatus. Showtime's Yellowjackets underwent a two-year hiatus between seasons 2 and 3. On Paramount+, fans had to wait two years between the end of School Spirits season 1 and the premiere of season 2. But where some streaming services succeed is in weekly releases.
When the entire season is released as a whole, it gives the fans the ability to binge-watch the season in its entirety right away, or spread it out over the course of as many days as they want or need to finish it. Having all of the episodes available at once keeps anticipation and momentum going, allowing the viewer the opportunity to finish the story to the end. Meanwhile, weekly releases give the viewer the opportunity to watch an episode and have time to digest it, or even start internet discourse as a way to react to episodes as a collective group.
Fans had great fun reacting to the intensity of the events occurring in the third season of Yellowjackets as they questioned just how far Shauna Shipman would go, and argued in weekly installments of their choices for "Team Jeremiah" or "Team Conrad" throughout Amazon Prime Video, airing its final installment of episodes for The Summer I Turned Pretty. Airing weekly episodes creates an online community of people who can experience shows together, similarly to how Pretty Little Liars gained live social media reactions during its original run on Freeform, or how fans spent years arguing and debating the love triangle on The Vampire Diaries between Elena, Stefan, and Damon.
Yet, this is another area where streaming shows in shortened seasons are harming the overall television landscape and narrative, and even broadcast television falls into a similar trap with shortened seasons. One of the reasons a love triangle, such as the one between Elena, Stefan, and Damon, could be argued for so long was because the show lasted long enough and had enough episodes to thoroughly explore all three characters, who they were as individual people, and what each side looked like as a couple.
The Vampire Diaries was an eight-season-long CW series that had around 20 episodes each season, which meant enough content to explore the growth of many characters and relationships that grew between them. This meant characters, storylines, and relationships that could be truly explored because it had the time to do so. Streaming shows with fewer episodes have to work twice as hard with half the time, if they even get as many as 10 episodes in a season.
Netflix's The Recruit only had six episodes in its second season. The Summer I Turned Pretty's final season only consists 11 episodes. Wednesday's second season only has eight episodes in total, while the third season of Yellowjackets only has 10. Many of these shows are able to do a lot within those episodes, likely because they are fully aware going in that they will only have a limited time to tell the season's story. However, the smaller number of episodes also means less time with the characters, and less time to form an emotional attachment to the characters and their stories, especially when audiences are expected to wait years in between seasons.
Is Mark and Helly's relationship still going to feel so captivating if fans have to wait another 3 years for Severance season 3? How intense do Wednesday's dynamics with Enid and Tyler have to be by the conclusion of season 2 to still hold the audience's attention when it comes to waiting another 2 years for the already renewed third season? How long do audiences need to wait to see what happens between Shauna and Natalie when they reunite after Natalie finally reaches someone from the outside world at the end of Yellowjackets season 3? Will the emotional aftermath of the third season of Ginny and Georgia still resonate with viewers by the time season 4 comes around?
For huge fans of these shows, yes, of course, all of these things will matter. The biggest fans of any show will count down the days until they finally get the answers they crave. They will re-watch the existing seasons or excitedly view any behind-the-scenes videos they can find until the trailer for the next season makes its way to their screen. But, the people who streaming services risk alienating are the average viewer, who is happy to watch the show as it shows up on their time scrolling, and would be happy to watch the next season, as long as they can remember what happened in the previous one by the time it comes around.
Ultimately, streaming shows need to figure out a way to return to releasing follow-up seasons on a more consistent basis and take notes from broadcast television shows that manage to find a way to air seasons in an expected amount of time. For as great and exciting as many streaming shows are, one of the questions that it always leaves fans asking is that while the season was good, was it good enough to warrant the multi-year wait. If audiences are not going to get the opportunity to spend long seasons with their favorite characters, they should at least not have to wait years in between seasons to see them again.
Meanwhile, Netflix's strategy of the two-part release has only grown to continue to aggravate fans. While Cobra Kai was able to deliver a three-part final season that appears like it was made for that release style, as each third of the season demonstrates a significantly different aspect of the show's final arc, not every series can or should present itself in this manner.
Fans of Cobra Kai would have likely preferred to get the entire season at once. This system puts too much pressure on the middle of the season to bring the viewer back wanting more, even though they would likely have continued the season anyway. Netflix is asking for a mid-season finale in the midst of an 8 to 10-episode season, at a point in the season where things are still growing, or are just hitting the point where the storylines are potentially about to become explosive, leaving the audience unhappily waiting until part 2 finally comes along.