Few shows have captured our imagination like Showtime’s Yellowjackets. The twisty mystery box series follows two parallel storylines: the first is a survival horror set in 1996, where a New Jersey girls high school soccer team survive a plane crash in the remote woods and must endure both real and imagined threats. The second follows the surviving team members in present day, where the trauma of their ordeal haunts their adult lives. It sounds grim, but there’s a thick current of dark comedy running through the series, with brilliant performances from the cast. The series is also a paean to ’90s girl culture, from its soundtrack to its roster of all-star ’90s queens like Juliette Lewis and Christina Ricci.
The critically acclaimed series has scored 7 Emmy nominations (including 2 for Ricci and Melanie Lynskey), and fans are clamoring for any news of season 2. But it looks like we’ll have to wait a little bit longer. While season 2 was set to debut at the end of this year, the showrunners have pushed the release to early 2023. Series creators Bart Nickerson and Ashley Lyle told The Wrap, “Nobody wanted to get back on the air quickly more than we did … But we really rolled directly from finishing up season 1 into season 2. It’s a deeply serialized story, and we wanted to make sure we didn’t rush it, and that we got it right. And so this was the earliest we could accomplish that.”
The duo did share some news about an exciting new casting update: Lauren Ambrose (Servant, Six Feet Under) is joining season 2 as adult Van! It’s great news for Van fans, who have seen the younger character (played by Liv Hewson) survive a plane crash, a wolf attack, and burning to death twice. The showrunners hinted that adult Lottie (Courtney Eaton) would appear at some point in season 2, but the role has yet to be cast. Fans have been rooting for Shannyn Sossamon (A Knight’s Tale), much like they were rooting for Ambrose in the role.
Season 1 ended with plenty of burning questions, and the series creators promised that some (but not all) answers would be forthcoming. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lyle said “It’s important to answer the plot questions we raise, or dig at it and not let it exist as a theoretical mystery. Who is blackmailing the Yellowjackets, we intend to answer. What does it all mean and what’s the point of human experience? Those are questions we won’t be able to answer fully. But we don’t want to leave people hanging on a plot level.”
Lyle also addressed the show’s rabid fan base, and how the series is weirdly perfect for the times we’re living in. t’s not a coincidence that we’re all starring in our own personal survival epics right now. That might have struck a chord with people, considering the world around us. It’s important to treat that subject matter with the gravity it deserved and the incredibly dark humor we’re living with every day.”
Season two of Yellowjackets is set to premiere sometime in early 2023.
(via THR, featured image: Kailey Schwerman/SHOWTIME)
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