‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 Update: Release Date Prediction, News, Cast, and More

Yellowjackets Season 3 is gearing up to start filming in Vancouver on May 14! The series was initially scheduled to go back into production last summer. However, the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes halted filming.

With production set to resume in May, here’s what we know so far about Yellowjackets Season 3. Season 2 spoilers ahead.

Yellowjackets Renewed for Third Season

Showtime’s Yellowjackets will be coming back.

“With Yellowjackets’ runaway success in Season 1 and the pent-up anticipation for Season 2, we wanted to maximize the momentum by fast-tracking Season 3 now,” said Showtime and Paramount Media Networks head Chris McCarthy.

“The show’s ambition is only exceeded by its execution. And I think the incredible creative team behind it, including Ashley, Bart, Jonathan, eOne, and the Showtime team, for turning this into such a success.”

Yellowjackets received a renewal in December 2022, which meant that filming for Yellowjackets Season 3 was already greenlit. However, due to 2023’s WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, production for Yellowjackets was put to a halt.

Yellowjackets co-creator Ashley Lyle shared an update on the show’s production on Twitter. 

“Well, we had exactly one day in the YellowJackets S3 writers’ room. It was amazing and creatively invigorating, and so much fun. And I’m very excited to get back to it as soon as the WGA gets a fair deal,” said Lyle.

Fans online later started speculating that there would be a bonus Yellowjackets episode between seasons. The speculated date would be on June 2, citing Season 2 had nine episodes while season one had 10 episodes. Lyle confirmed that there will be a bonus episode, responding to a fan’s question on June 1.

“Go to bed! Get some rest! There will be a bonus episode between seasons, but I love you guys and I don’t want y’all to lose sleep thinking it’s tonight,” said Lyle. Lyle responded to another fan that they can’t give an exact release date for the bonus episode but it will be closer to Season 3.

Yellowjackets Cast

For Yellowjackets Season 3, most of the teenage cast members are expected to return. This includes Sophie Nelisse as the teenage Shauna, Sophie Thatcher as the teenage Natalie, and Samantha Hanratty as the teenage Misty. The same goes for Jasmin Savoy Brown as the teenage Taissa, Courtney Eaton as the teenage Lottie, Liv Hewson as the teenage Van, and Kevin Alves as Travis.

Warren Kole as Jeff, Sarah Desjardins as Callie, Elijah Woods as Walter, John Reynolds as Matt Saracusa, and Steven Kreuger as Coach Ben is expected to come back as well.

The adults who are expected to return for Season 3 include Melanie Lynskey as Shauna, Christina Ricci as Misty, and Tawney Cypress as Taissa. Whether Simone Kessell as Lottie and Lauren Ambrose as Van will return is unclear. However, it’s likely they’ll return.

There’s no confirmation yet whether Juliette Lewis will return for Season 3. Lewis as Natalie given what happened in Season 2. It’s likely she’ll be back but will appear in flashback scenes or in dream sequences. The same can be said of Alex Wyndhamn as Detective Kevyn Tan, who might not return.

Teenage cast members Luciano Leroux and Nuha Jes Izman are also not likely to return.

What Happened in Season 2

Yellowjackets follows the story of a high school girls’ soccer team that is on its way to an important match but never makes it. The girls are marooned in the middle of the woods. In the present day, their adult selves are still trying to deal with what they experienced there.

In season two, both the young and adult timelines experienced tragic twists in their respective stories. The teenagers would no longer be starving, but their cabin got burned down, leaving them without shelter in the winter. Coach Ben is also nowhere to be found, leading to the question of whether he started the fire. In the present, Misty accidentally kills Natalie.

What to Expect for Yellowjackets Season 3

There’s not much to know about Yellowjackets Season 3 in terms of plot. However, director Karyn Kusama revealed her plans for the coming season at Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast.

“I’ve been so excited by this. The concept of that immediate aftermath of re-entry into the world, to me, there’s a whole season worth of material there. And the fact that this is such a long game that each of these characters is facing, in terms of reorienting themselves to whatever normalcy is supposed to be. I’m sure we’re going to learn that their normal is a lot different than our normal. There’s a lot that needs to be figured out between Season 2 and Season 3,” said Kusama.

Season 3 will likely be about how the characters have been in the Wilderness for months. It will likely pick up on what happened after the season two finale, or after the bonus episode airs. In the present, there’s Taissa’s sleepwalking as well as her family and her career as a State Senator. Van has terminal cancer and Misty deals with the aftermath of Natalie’s death but Walter will be there to help.

There’s also the fact that Lottie was carried away in season two, but she could still come back.

Yellowjackets Season 3 Release Date News

Because production for Yellowjackets Season 3 was delayed, there’s no official release date yet. Filming was initially supposed to occur in Summer 2023 in Vancouver. However, with the Hollywood strikes now over, production is set to start back up on May 14. Filming will continue through October 24, 2024.

But don’t worry. Ashley Lyle and Yellowjackets co-creator Bart Nickerson said they’re still on track for five seasons.

“There’s always room for things,” Lyle told Entertainment Weekly, but added that they “don’t really see this as being more than a five-season show.”

“I think that there are shows that can go on forever. But I think that when you’re telling such a deeply serialized story and it’s about these characters’ lives, you want to reach a satisfying conclusion and not just drag things out forever. This isn’t really one of those setup shows where it can go anywhere. So far, we’ve been really on track. Season 2 is largely what we always planned. But you do make a lot of discoveries along the way and so it’s always a little bit surprising,” said Lyle.

In comparison, Yellowjackets was renewed for Season 2 in December 2021. And it premiered in March 2023. The show was renewed in December 2022, so fans might have expected a similar release in March 2024. However, with filming continuing through October 2024, it’s not likely that we’ll see new episodes until 2025.