Season 2 of Netflix’s hit horror-comedy Wednesday has brought a slew of new characters to the forefront of the show, especially those from the Addams family. Returning players like Morticia and Pugsley share more of the spotlight with Wednesday, while characters like Fester make their series debut. But the most enigmatic character of all this season is Grandmama Hester Frump, the cold-hearted matriarch of the Addams clan. Read on to learn more about this ghoulish grandmother.

In Season 2 Part 1, Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) has her work — and her grievances — cut out for her. She must grapple with a creepy stalker, her psychic powers failing her, and the possibility of her roommate Enid (Emma Myers) being killed by a mysterious murderer with a distinct love of crows. But worst of all, the perpetually annoyed teen has to deal with her doting mother, Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), meddling in her business. 

This fraught mother-daughter relationship acts as the emotional core of Season 2 as Wednesday and Morticia learn to see and respect each other. But it’s going to be a bumpy ride to get to that point of mutual understanding, and one such bump comes in the form of Grandmama Hester, Morticia’s mother and Wednesday’s grandmother. There’s a lot to unpack with Hester and her relationship with both Wednesday and Morticia. Here’s everything we know so far about the mysterious matriarch.

Played by the incomparable Joanna Lumley (who you may recognize from Netflix’s Fool Me Once, if not Absolutely Fabulous), Grandmama Hester is cold, fabulously dressed, and filthy stinkin’ rich. She’s the head honcho behind Frump Mortuaries, one of the most successful outcast-owned businesses in the country, so it’s no surprise that she’s absolutely swimming in it. When managing her business and upholding the Addams family legacy, Grandmama is  equally sharp and calculated. Her cutting nature can lead to some tension between her and other members of her family, especially when it comes to her daughter Morticia.

We learn early on in Season 2 that Hester and Morticia are not on speaking terms. The two are so distant that Morticia hesitates to even call Hester for an obligatory donation request for the Nevermore gala she’s planning — not that the greedy wench would ever give away a cent of her wealth anyway. There are quite a few reasons behind Morticia’s woeful mommy issues, some of which being Hester’s cold parenting style, stark personality differences between the two, and Hester’s disapproval of Morticia’s choice to marry Gomez (Luis Guzmán). 

We get a little insight into their relationship from Lumley, who tells Tudum, “Hester secretly quite admires Morticia and she’s hugely irritated by her. Hester wishes that Morticia had taken after her a bit more. And she thinks Morticia’s married beneath her — that Gomez is not up to it. She thinks he’s just useless.”

But the biggest reason that Morticia holds such animosity towards her mother is because of how Hester mistreated her long-lost sister Ophelia. In the mid-season finale, we learn that Ophelia suffered a breakdown from psychic exhaustion in her youth. Despite Ophelia’s issues being psychic and not mental, Hester sent her away to the sinister outcast insane asylum Willow Hill just to get rid of her. Ophelia eventually escaped the facility, never to be seen again. Between Hester and Morticia lay familial wounds that may never heal, but with Hester and Wednesday, it’s a much different story.

For two such dark, emotionless characters, Hester and Wednesday really know how to melt each others’ cold, dead hearts. It makes sense: while Morticia is sweet and loving, Hester and Wednesday find solidarity in their shared hatred of everything good in the world. We see their oddly sweet dynamic when Wednesday calls for Hester to aid her investigation in Episode 4 — Wednesday actually smiles in Hester’s presence, as unsettling as that may be, and Hester buys a cemetery for Wednesday in an uncharacteristically selfless act.

But it’s not entirely selfless — as we can observe, Hester derives a deep sense of satisfaction from driving a wedge between Wednesday and her mother. As Lunley comments on their relationship, “Wednesday and Hester have a very interesting bond. Hester can see that Wednesday is sometimes irritated by or disobedient toward her mother, and she rather loves that. She dotes — like grandmothers dote on all their grandchildren — but her favorite family member is Wednesday.”

Wednesday Season 2 Part 1 ends with all these relationships seemingly unchanged: Hester and Wednesday still love each other, and the resentment between Hester and Morticia doesn’t waver. But we still have the second half of the season to go, and judging by Season 2’s focus on these three generations of Addams women, some huge changes may be in store. It looks like we’ll have to wait for Season 2 Part 2 to expose more Addams family drama.

Watch Wednesday Season 2 Part 1 now on Netflix.