Netflix Tudum 2025: Wednesday, Stranger Things and Squid Game announcements

Why rely on other people’s events like Comic-Con when you can throw your own party?

Netflix held its sixth Tudum extravaganza in Los Angeles and, for the first time, broadcast it live across its own platform.

The two-hour show is a mega hype-reel, teasing some of its more high-profile upcoming titles including Wednesday season two and the final chapters of Squid Game and Stranger Things.

It also threw in some live performances from the likes of Lady Gaga and Hanumankind.

The show opened with the full trailer for Squid Game season three, the final instalment of the South Korean thriller series that features a deadly set of children’s game in which vulnerable people compete for a cash prize – but only the winner walks aways with their life.

The run-sheet followed up with a date announcement and sneak peek of Rian Johnson’s third Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man.

The film will see the return of Daniel Craig as intrepid gentleman detective Benoit Blanc, this time with a whole new mystery and a fresh ensemble of actors including Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington, Daryl McCormack, Thomas Haden Church, Mila Kunis, and Josh Brolin.

The movie was in production in London last year, and behind the scenes, Johnson has reportedly been locked in a battle with Netflix over whether the film would get a cinema release before its streaming premiere.

The first Knives Out movie was a theatrical hit, earning $US312 million at the box office from a modest $US40 million production budget, and Netflix then bid hundreds of millions of dollars for the next two films. The second movie, Glass Onion, had a very limited run in cinemas.

The murder mystery will debut on Netflix on December 12.

Next up, the Tudum event debuted a sneak peek at the Matt Damon and Ben Affleck crime thriller, The Rip. The movie is about cops in Miami who discover millions of dollars in cash. It also stars Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Kyle Chandler and Sasha Calle.

The sneak peek video was only shown during the live broadcast and will not be available separately online – yet.

Still on the movie front, Guillermo del Toro’s version of Frankenstein, starring Oscar Isaac as the macabre scientist and Jacob Elordi as his monster, dropped its first teaser trailer. It also stars Mia Goth, Christophe Waltz and Charles Dance.

There was another trailer for the imminent Happy Gilmore 2, which returns Adam Sandler’s iconic character to the golf course on July 25.

Then the show moved on to what many fans have been waiting for, a date announcement for the final season of Stranger Things, which will be a three part series, with the premiere of Volume 1 on November 26, 5pm Pacific Time. Then Volume 2 will hit screens on Christmas at 5pm PT and The Finale will be on New Year’s Eve, 5pm PT.

The fifth season is a long-time coming after season four left the characters – and the fate of the world on a cliffhanger – almost three years ago in July, 2022.

The eight-episode season’s production was delayed due to the 2023 Hollywood strikes. The cast spent all of 2024 filming, wrapping just before Christmas. Most episodes will run well over an hour each.

When the show launched in 2016, Netflix didn’t realise how much of a huge hit it would have on its hand. The series has now expanded to a stage production, live experiences, video games, an upcoming animated spin-off and tons of merch.

Finally, the show closed out with a clip of the first six minutes of the second season of Wednesday, as well as the announcement that Lady Gaga has joined the cast. Lady Gaga will be playing the mysterious and enigmatic Rosaline Rotwood, a legendary Nevermore teacher who crosses paths with Wednesday.

Other new cast members include Steve Buscemi, Joanna Lumley, Thandiwe Newton, and Christopher Lloyd.

The creepy six-minute clip, that you can watch below, shows Wednesday tied up with her mouth gagged at a long table in a serial killers basement, sitting with porcelain dolls staring at her in the dark. It goes on to show that Wednesday spent her vacation mastering her psychic ability and spells, before she explains her obsession with psychically locating a serial killer known as ‘The Kansas City Scalper’.

The Addams Family universe TV series starring Jenna Ortega will release its second season in two parts, on August 6 and September 3.

Wednesday’s first season remains Netflix’s most-watched English-language original series. If you factor in non-English language titles, Squid Game is still top.