If you loved Yellowjackets Season 1 as much as we did, then you’ll probably be disappointed by this news: There are still at least six months until it returns for its second season on Showtime.
“We’re looking into the first quarter of 2023,” Ashley Lyle, who co-created the series with Bart Nickerson and serves as showrunner with Nickerson and Jonathan Lisco, told The Wrap. “We are on a very similar production track in terms of time as we were last season, although of course, we have to shoot an additional episode because we had already shot the pilot the last time.” Production on Season 2 will not start until the end of August, and they expect it to wrap in February. “We’ll be airing sometimes shortly after that,” according to Lyle. That’s the “earliest” they could have the season ready “right” since they “wanted to make sure [they] didn’t rush it.”
Kailey Schwerman/SHOWTIME
Nickerson pointed out that because the drama became such a hit, there’s quite a bit of “responsibility” for the writers “to earn the level of affection the audience is showing. The idea of delivering something that wasn’t as good as the first season was just too much to bear. So I said, ‘I think that we should take a little more time with this and just make sure it’s really good.’”
That 2023 premiere date is only slightly off from Showtime Networks president of entertainment Gary Levine’s prediction after the Season 1 finale aired of the end of 2022.
Yellowjackets Season 1 was nominated for seven 2022 Emmys, including Best Drama Series, Best Lead Actress (Melanie Lynskey, for playing adult Shauna), and Best Supporting Actress (Christina Ricci, for playing adult Misty). The series follows a team of soccer players after their plane crashes in the wilderness and 25 years later as adults.
The 1996 timeline in the finale included a moment we knew was coming: Jackie’s (Ella Purnell) death. She froze, and while there is the possibility that Season 2 will open up with the others eating her, for Lisco, “it feels too fast in a way,” he told TV Insider after the finale. “Have these women descended to that point yet?” That being said, he did say it was certainly possible if they jump forward six months in that timeline.
Meanwhile, in the present-day, Natalie (Juliette Lewis) was kidnapped by followers of fellow Yellowjacket Lottie (according to The Wrap, they’ve cast the adult version). And she’s not the only Yellowjacket we have yet to see as an adult we might meet in Season 2. “I think it’s unlikely that we’ve met all the survivors from the crash,” Lisco told TV Insider. “We could see another major survivor playing a pivotal role in Season 2.”
While we may still have months until the new episodes premiere, with filming starting later this month, we should hopefully at least be getting teases about what to expect sooner rather than later.
Yellowjackets, Season 2 Premiere, 2023, Showtime