In late 2021, Showtime premiered a new original series,Yellowjackets. Despite its stellar ensemble cast, the drama-meets-thriller show arrived without much fanfare — well, until viewers actually saw the pilot. Once it debuted,Yellowjacketsquickly shot to the top of critics’ must-watch lists, and became the go-to topic during Monday morning TV water cooler debriefs.
Now, Showtime’s Emmy-nominated hit is returning for a second season in March. Ahead of the Season 2 debut, viewers may want to re-familiarize themselves withYellowjacketsSeason 1. With this in mind, here’s everything to know about the show, from major first-season plot points to where towatchYellowjacketswhen it returns.
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What Is Yellowjackets About?
With an ensemble cast of both adult and young adult actors,Yellowjacketstells one story using both past and present timelines. The past thread starts in 1996 when a girls’ soccer team from a New Jersey high school travels across the country to play in a national tournament in Seattle, Washington. But when their plane crashes deep in the Canadian wilderness the surviving team members and coaching staff must fight to survive for 19 harrowing months.
The other thread is set in 2021, allowing viewers to track what the surviving women are up to as adults. In the present, viewers only see a handful of the now-adult former teammates; while it’s clear some characters didn’t make it out of the wilderness, the fates of others are kept vague. Clearly, though, all thesurvivors are plagued by the traumathat landed them in national headlines back in the ‘90s.
For many of the adult versions of the characters, survival in society is just as challenging — in its own ways. Some characters have crafted careful facades, while others have embraced the cracks formed by their inescapable pasts.
Yellowjackets Cast: Who Is In Yellowjackets?
While the past sequences fall squarely in the horror genre, the present juggles several tones, but excels when it harnesses suspense and thriller tropes. Nonetheless, both timelines are equally compelling, namely because of the strong performances, includingMelanie Lynskey’s Emmy-nominated turn. In fact,Yellowjacketsdoes an incredible job in the casting department, with the high school actors and adult actors feeling like true extensions of each other; they aren’t just playing the same character, they are the same character in two different moments in time.
Lynskey plays adult Shauna Shipman, while Sophie Nélisse plays the teenage version of the character. Back in the ‘90s, Shauna is best friends with Jackie (Ella Purnell), the captain of the soccer team. The incredibly determined Taissa Turner is played by Tawny Cypress in 2021 and Jasmin Savoy Brown in 1996. There’s also the unsettling soccer team equipment manager-turned-manipulative-nurse Misty Quigley — played by Sammi Hanratty in the past and Christina Ricci in the present.
Another fan favorite? Natalie “Nat” Scatorccio, a so-called “burnout” who couldn’t care less what people think of her. Teenage Nat is played deftly bySophie Thatcher, while her adult self is played by Juliette Lewis in a career high turn. In Season 2, Liv Hewson’s Vanessa “Van” Palmer will be played in the present by Lauren Ambrose, and Courtney Eaton’s Lottie Matthews will be played in the present by Simone Kessell.
What Happened in Yellowjackets Season 1?
InYellowjacketsSeason 1much of the drama starts before the plane crash— and ramps up decades later in the characters’ adult lives. While an ensemble show,Yellowjacketscertainly uses Shauna as one of its most-central characters. Prior to the crash, Shauna was best buds with Jackie, the team captain, but was secretly having an affair with Jackie’s then-boyfriend, Jeff. In the wilderness, Shauna adapts well, while Jackie struggles deeply — these starkly different reactions make the wedge between the two once-besties all the more visible.
Not only does Jackie find her leadership abilities called into question, but her rivalries with other characters come to a head. Moreover, Jackie is one of the few characters who is confirmed to be dead,having not made it out of the wilderness. This trauma haunts Shauna in her adult life where she’s in an unhappy marriage with Jeff and forever struggling to connect with her teenage daughter, Callie.
Taissa is another central character around whichmany storylines orbit. In the past, she was the most determined player on the team, even injuring her teammate Allie during practice after deeming her not good enough to play for the championship. Soon after the crash, she grows closer with Shauna and dates Van, the team’s goalie. As an adult, Taissa navigates everything from marriage and parenting to running for New Jersey state senate and blackmail.
Immediately post-crash, equipment manager Misty reveals not only her adept survival skills, but her inappropriate crush on the injured Coach Ben. After finding the plane’s emergency locator transmitter, Misty destroys it; she is reveling in the attention she’s (finally) receiving from her teammates as a result of her vital medical skills. As an adult, Misty becomes a nurse at a care facility, but continues to have a penchant for violence andremains ruthlessly manipulative— of those in her care, the people she dates, and folks from her past.
Lottie, a member of the team who lives with schizophrenia, begins to have disturbing visions after she runs out of meds in the wilderness. Worn down by their experiences, some of the teammates,like Van, start to believe that Lottie has supernatural abilities — something that creates more rifts within the already-strained group. And, finally, Nat unwillingly becomes an essential member of the group after showcasing her proficiency with a hunting rifle. In the present, she attends a rehab program, paid for by Taissa, but struggles with substance-use disorder.
How Did Yellowjackets Season 1 End?
Toward the end of the season, the high schoolers take hallucinogenic mushrooms at a “Doomcoming” celebration, causing them to have visions and commit acts of violence. Lottie, who’s something of the could-be-supernatural ring leader, orders Shauna to slit Travis’ throat — he’s one of the few men who survived the crash and one of the coach’s sons. Nat, who’s been sleeping with Travis, stops Shauna from hurting him.
Still, this moment widens the rift in the group, with Misty and Van falling in line withLottie’s cult-like way of thinking and leadership. Later, Jackie confronts the group about their actions — and tells Shauna she knew about the affair with Jeff — and ends up sleeping outside where she freezes to death overnight.
In the present,Nat tracks down Mistyand threatens to kill her after receiving a postcard marked with a chilling symbol from their past. However, all the survivors received the same ominous symbol; this seeming blackmail attempt encourages Nat and Misty to search for Travis, who they soon learn has been murdered in a ritualistic manner. Other strange detail? His bank account was completely drained just after his death.
Meanwhile, Taissa tries to keep her state senate campaign on track, but becomes increasingly concerned when her young son, Sammy, starts making disturbing pictures. This thread leads Taissa to realize that she becomes someone else entirely at night, haunted by her traumatic past.
Much of theother drama swirls around the unhappily married Shauna. When she thinks Jeff is having an affair, she hooks up with Adam, an artist she meets seemingly by chance after a car accident. Once Shauna learns that Adam is digging into her past, she kills him — with little hesitation. It’s like she’s back in the wilderness, doing what she can to survive. At home, Shauna confronts Jeff, who reveals he blackmailed both Shauna and her former teammates — namely, Nat, Taissa, and Misty — because his furniture store is going under.
To spare Jeff,Shaunaconvinces Taissa and Nat that Adam was the person blackmailing them. Later, the former soccer players attend their 25-year high school reunion, where Shauna threatens to kill Randy, Jeff’s friend, if he tells anyone about the attempted blackmail. And although Taissa wins the senate race, her home life is set to implode when her wife, Simone, finds a series of disturbing objects hidden in the basement: the head of their dog, their son’s doll, and what looks like a human heart.
Meanwhile, Misty poisons Jessica Roberts — a fake journalist who approached Shauna in the series’ pilot and who continued to stalk Nat and Misty — and a shadowy group kidnaps Nat. Viewers also learn that it was the still-alive Lottie who drained the late Travis’ bank account. Clearly,viewers are in for a real ride with Season 2.
Where Can I Watch Yellowjackets?
How To Watch Yellowjackets For Free
When Does Yellowjackets Season 2 Premiere?
The Emmy-nominatedYellowjacketswill return for its second season in March. New episodes will drop on Showtime’s streaming platform on Fridays, with the first episode of Season 2 debuting on March 24. New episodes will air on network television on Sundays, with the second season’s first episode premiering on March 26. Ahead of the release of its second season,Yellowjacketshas already been renewed for a third season.
