Good news, Yellowjackets Hive! Work on the Showtime horror-drama's much-anticipated third season is officially a go once again, which we now know thanks to co-creator and co-showrunner Ashley Lyle.
That combustible Yellowjackets Season 2 finale saw—spoiler alert!—Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) burn down the cabin with the team is inside, forcing the teens to evacuate and leaving them stranded with no shelter. We also got an answer to the Antler Queen question in the form of Natalie, a shocking conclusion that could change up how Sophie Thatcher plays the character, along with a whole swarm of big Yellowjackets questions to keep us guessing until Season 3 rolls around.
Graciously, we finally have an update on those future episodes courtesy of showrunners Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson and Jonathan Lisco, who discussed what they could about the upcoming season during a Q&A for SAG-AFTRA nomination committee members. Per Variety, Lyle said:
We’re deep in the writing. Everybody came back so incredibly enthusiastic, raring to go and creatively invigorated. We’re having so much fun and are very excited about it.
Though officially greenlit in December 2022, production on the third season of Yellowjackets was delayed due to the lengthy WGA writers strike, which culminated in September 2023.
The panel also featured series stars Sophie Nélisse (who plays young Shauna), Samantha Hanratty (Misty), Courtney Eaton (Lottie) and Liv Hewson (Van), and the occasion marked the first time that cast members could come together to discuss the show since prior to the SAG-Aftra Actors Strike.
That fiery season 2 finale, "Storytelling," aired in May 2023, but is still on everyone's minds. Ashley Lyle revealed that Coach Ben's choice to burn down the cabin was a story beat wasn't in any way an impulse decision behind the scenes. As she put it:
We wanted to find a new way to test the team, and what better way than to take the big net of shelter away from them?
That finale also saw the demise of adult Nat (played by Juliette Lewis) in the 2021 timeframe, when Misty (Christina Ricci) mistakenly killed her via a phenobarbital injection meant for Lisa (Nicole Maines). Unlike the first season where the actress didn't know the entire story arch that her character would go through, however, Lewis got a head's up about Natalie's shocking end in advance of Season 2.
She told Harper's Bazaar in a March 2023 interview:
The way I describe her in the second season is that she’s a composite of guilt, shame, and denial, and then she’s seeking redemption. So there’s a lift in her that’s not there in the first season.
As for leaving the close-knit cast, which also features as Melanie Lynskey as adult Shauna, Tawny Cypress as adult Taissa, Simone Kessell as adult Lottie and Lauren Ambrose as adult Van, the actress added:
I missed them right away. I’ve never worked with this many girls together. None of us has. It’s really rich, and we all work very similarly—no nonsense. None of us is pretentious. We all have a lethal sense of humor. Really dry.
So far, there's no official word of when Yellowjackets' third season will be premiering, so keep a lookout on the 2024 TV schedule. Like its previous editions, it will be available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription with Showtime.
