Between the large variety of streaming options available to TV fans and the long wait times between new seasons, you’d be forgiven for forgetting some of the best programming on air today. Hopefully, when looking for shows that have slipped between the cracks, you take a look at Showtime’s Yellowjackets. This gaudy, eye-popping drama is a mix of many different genres and capitalizes on shock value and creative storytelling techniques to craft a unique experience unlike anything else running at the moment.
The show is named after the girls’ high school soccer team that the plot revolves around. The young women of the Yellowjackets are talented, ambitious, but flawed teenagers with hopes and dreams for the future. When their plane crashes in the woods during a cross-country flight to a soccer game, the obscene circumstances force many of the girls to do things they never would have imagined. In an ingenious bit of storytelling and character development, the show also bounces 25 years into the present timeline (the crash happened in 1996) to show the survivors of the crash in their early 40s in 2021. If you read Lord of the Flies at some point in school as a kid or got hooked on Lost during its 2000s heyday, you’ll immediately see some parallels and shared DNA between Yellowjackets and those stories.
It’s been over a year since the second season aired (it was one of the best shows of 2023), and fans should start getting excited for Yellowjackets season 3. I have all the details known so far right here.
Who will star in Yellowjackets season 3?
*Note: Spoilers for Yellowjackets season 2 below
Yellowjackets features one of the most talented casts in television. The ensemble consists of two different performers portraying the same characters, one for the past and one for the present. While the older actresses seem to have gotten more critical acclaim, the younger talent on the show deserves equal shine. They help bring out the best in each other and paint a clearer picture of the characters throughout their lives.
Almost all of the main cast members are expected to return for Yellowjackets season 3. Most notably, Melanie Lynskey will continue to play adult Shauna, one of the troubled stars of the team who is still dealing with trauma in the present, such as losing a stillborn child while lost in the woods and having to eat the remains of her best friend when the team got too hungry. Lynskey’s performance lets viewers see the ways Shauna is a ruined individual well into her 40s, such as her inability to love her husband or give adequate affection to her teenage daughter. Lynskey has been nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for this role.
One of the biggest additions to the cast in season 3 will be Hilary Swank. The Academy Award-winning actress is known for movies like Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby. The show has been excellent in the guest star department in the first two seasons with actors such as Elijah Wood.
One of the most daring and risky decisions of the second season was the choice to kill the adult version of Natalie in the season finale. This takes Juliette Lewis off of the show, a film legend from the 1990s best known for starring next to Johnny Depp in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. Shows like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones pioneered this technique of abruptly removing main characters in the 2010s to varying degrees of success. We’ll see how it works out for Yellowjackets very soon.
What will Yellowjackets season 3 be about?
There will be two concurrently running storylines once again in Yellowjackets season 3. The 1996 story has been completely upended as the girls must find a new place of refuge in the bone-chilling winter frost. The final scene shows their cabin being burnt to the ground. Expect many members of the team to react in a jarring, nonsensical fashion as they have done to most stressors in the first two seasons.
The cliffhanger has made for an intriguing hiatus in which fans have debated who the arsonist is and whether the girls will seek revenge on the person in season 3. All signs point to the coach of the team, Ben, burning their home down. He was suicidal and feared the girls with every fiber of his being after seeing them turn to cannibalism throughout season 2.
The present timeline finishes season 2 with most of the adult members of the soccer team reconvening at Lottie’s ritualistic compound that’s disguised as a therapy retreat. There will surely be a fallout from Natalie dying during the ritual. She is the first adult member of the team to perish from the trauma and deception that still haunts the grown women. Just like Lottie’s role as a cult figure for the group in both the past and present was a central storyline in season 2, expect the writers to build a symmetry between the characters in the past and present in season 3.
When will Yellowjackets season 3 come out?
Yellowjackets season 3 will come out on February 14, 2025. The first two episodes will come out at the same time followed by weekly releases until the season finale on April 13, 2025. The teaser for the release date brilliantly ties the Valentine’s Day holiday into the marketing of the show. Romance has been a vital part of the tension in the series so far. The cannibalism and fight for survival prevalent in the first two seasons also run parallel to the passion of a good romantic storyline, and we can’t wait to see how the relationships unfold in season 3.
Is there a trailer for Yellowjackets season 3?
Yellowjackets has a trailer for season 3 posted to the show’s official YouTube channel. There’s a lot to analyze for superfans of the series. The girls have gone off the deep end both in the past and present timelines. Shauna howling in the past, Misty stabbing Shauna in the back in the present (literally), Coach Ben making his case to the teen girls, and Hilary Swank’s character appearing desperate and running for her life in the final scene of the trailer all make us more excited than ever for the show to return. It looks like Yellowjackets will dive completely into its horror and mystery vibes in both timelines in the third season.
The full-length second trailer focuses a lot on the way the mental health of the girls deteriorates in the past timeline. Natalie has been declared the new leader of the group as the girls search for a new home in the wake of the cabin burning down. They also want to know where Coach Ben is hiding, but there isn’t an indication of whether his life is in danger. Cannibalism also seems to be an even bigger theme for season 3. When the trailer cuts to the present timeline, Misty is telling Shauna’s daughter about the ways they had to eat each other to survive. She says it sarcastically, but both the characters in the show and the audience now know just how serious the circumstances were in the forest.
There was also a small cameo from Jackie toward the end of the trailer. Fans love this character, but she was killed off in the second season and became the first victim of the cannibalism of the group. Why is Jackie back? Is it a flashback? A dream by a character such as Shauna? We’ll have to wait patiently and see on February 14.
Where can I watch Yellowjackets season 3?
Yellowjackets season 3 will be available to stream on Paramount+. If you prefer to watch the show live, you can view new episodes weekly on Showtime. The network known for Dexter has quite a few hits to check out!
