Gather round the bonfire, Yellowjackets fanatics and devotees. It’s time to dance for joy because we finally have some good information about Yellowjackets Season 2. Your favorite (and mine) murder teenagers are back with the best twist on girl power I’ve maybe ever seen on television. After some tantalizing casting announcements and first looks we now have a trailer, release date, and some new clues for Yellowjackets season 2! I even have at least two new theories just based on this information.
Quick, spoiler-free recap for those who might not remember everything about Yellowjackets except that they friggin’ loved it. (Or, if you haven’t seen the show and are just interested in knowing more … hi!) The drama series is about the adult survivors of a 1996 plane crash. Via flashbacks, we see the crash and how the passengers—a girl’s soccer team, their mascot, their assistant coach, and their coach’s family—survived (or didn’t) in the Canadian wilderness for over 19 months. The girls get into a lot of creepy stuff in the woods that may or may not be supernatural, and while those who managed to escape and grow up back in civilization appear to have normal lives, the past is always waiting around the corner to haunt them.
The Yellowjackets season 2 trailer is here!
More footage and Florence and the Machine’s cover of “Just A Girl” by No Doubt? Bless the wilderness.
Check the Yellowjackets season 2 trailer out for some new creepy cabin rituals, hiking expeditions that look like Lost in the snow, and a still-pregnant teenage Shauna. We see some of the survivors greeted by a sea of reporters when they first return to society. We get good, long looks at both Van and Lottie as adults, as well as the apartment and compound where they live, respectively. We get a few short looks at Ben, and the scarcity of his appearance does not bode well for his survival, but his willingness to join in the rituals does. The trailer has some interesting new information as well. We learn that at some point after the girls were rescued, Lottie was hospitalized in a medical institution in Switzerland.
We also see a new character played by John Reynolds, who is, presumably, a detective investigating Adam’s death and Shauna’s connection to it. His character is working with Kevyn, who was sleeping with Nat in season 1. That could work in their favor if he helps cover up for them. It could also backfire, as Kevyn knows that Nat took his gun. Oh, and Shauna kind of straight-up admits to her daughter that she’s a murderer—though, to be fair, she could be talking about her deeds in the wilderness and not Adam.
When does Yellowjackets season 2 premiere?
The new season of Yellowjackets arrives on March 24. That leaves plenty of time to catch up or rewatch season 1 on Paramount+ or wherever you get Showtime. This show has mysteries wrapped in mysteries covered in a foggy green aura of secrets. The first season revealed what happened to Jackie and the identity of the Antler Queen. (I won’t say what or who in case there are any spoiler-phobic newbies lurking in the shadows here.) But we still don’t know who all of the survivors are, or if there are any survivors left in the woods. We still don’t know who the girls sacrificed and ate in the flashback the beginning of the series. There’s also a murder that occurred in season 1 that remains unsolved. We still don’t know what happened to Shauna’s wilderness baby. We still don’t know who … uhhh … that guy in the cabin was.
Don’t all these unanswered questions make you want to take out your handy dandy notebooks and start writing down clues?
The new cast in Yellowjackets season 2 ups the nostalgia factor
Genuinely could not be more excited for these folks to join the Yellowjackets hive:
- Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under, Servant) plays Adult Van, Taissa’s teenage girlfriend.
- Simone Kessell (Terra Nova, Obi-Wan Kenobi) plays Adult Lottie.
- Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Ice Storm) plays a citizen detective in the present named Walter.
- François Arnaud (Midnight Texas, The Borgias) plays Coach Ben’s boyfriend Paul in either the past or present, we’re not sure which yet.
- Nia Sondaya (Truth Be Told, Bel Air) replaces Keeya King as teenage Akilah, one of the Yellowjackets.
- Nicole Maines (Supergirl, Good Trouble) will play Lisa, “an associate of adult Lottie attempting to recover from past trauma”—she’s gotta be Shauna’s wilderness baby, right? Right?
- John Reynolds (Search Party, Stranger Things) plays the aforementioned detective.
The plot of Yellowjackets season 2 seems pretty straightforward
OK, here’s where I’ll delve into spoiler territory. Don’t read on if you aren’t caught up!
At the end of season 1, in the present day, Natalie is kidnapped by Lottie. They still don’t know who killed adult Travis, but it was probably Lottie or her associates. Season 2 is going to be dealing with the aftermath of that for sure. We even see Natalie with Lottie in the trailer. Taissa also won her senate race just as her wife Simone found their dead dog and a creepy altar in the basement. Furthermore, Shauna’s teenage daughter definitely knows her mother at least covered up—if not fully committed—a murder against a local hottie (she did both), and Misty may or may not have killed a reporter who was investigating the survivors.
Back in the woods and back in the past, to borrow a phrase from A Song of Ice and Fire, winter is no longer coming. It’s here. Jackie’s death proved that they need to be more vigilant and step up their game if they want to survive. We also don’t know what happened to Travis’ little brother Javi. He wandered off the night Jackie died and wasn’t found. Did he just die off-screen, or did he take refuge somewhere?
Yellowjackets season 2 could have some twists
Not to get too far into theory territory, but the inclusion of Coach Ben’s boyfriend Paul has me thinking some thoughts. I’m wondering if this season’s flashbacks are going to show us other time periods, too, beyond the fairly linear events of the crash and the present day, 25 years later. There’s no way that Paul found them in the woods, right? And there’s no way that Arnaud, a thirtysomething actor IRL, is playing present-day Paul. So does that mean we’ll get to see what Coach Ben was like before the crash?
Or, to toss out an alternative scenario, are we going to see more of what happened when the survivors first returned to society in 1998(-ish) beyond that bit we see in the trailer? That would mean that Ben survives, and I really hope he does. Of all the characters whose fates are unknown, I’m rooting for him.
It wouldn’t be the first time that the show has strayed from those two timelines. The very first scene is from an undetermined time in the woods when the girls had gone full cannibal, and it appears that we’ll be getting more of that moment in season 2. A few other episodes in the first season opened with a brief flashback. There’s also a glimpse in the trailer of what looks like a spring or summertime wilderness banquet. I guess I’m saying that I don’t know what to expect other than some frights, delights, and surprises. Buzz buzz, bitches…
(featured image: Showtime)
