What We Know About ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 So Far

If you’re like us, you’re champing at the bit for more “Yellowjackets.” Season 2 concluded in May, but Season 3 could still be a ways off due to the writers strike, which delayed the production of the new season. We don’t have a release date yet, but we know a little about what to expect in Season 3. We’ve answered your burning “Yellowjackets” questions below.

**Spoilers ahead!**

Don't have time to read? Check out the full recording of the Yellowjackets Hive podcast episode below:

When Season 2 of “Yellowjackets” ended, things seemed very precarious in the adult timeline. Lottie (Simone Kessell) was taken away by medical personnel, leaving the rest of the women to pick up the pieces after Natalie’s (Juliette Lewis) death. We’re eager to see where their journey goes from here, especially as it relates to Van’s (Lauren Ambrose) cancer, Shauna’s (Melanie Lynskey) relationship with her daughter, and Taissa’s (Tawny Cypress) family strife, not to mention Misty (Christina Ricci) having to deal with the fact that she killed — albeit unintentionally — her best friend.

Meanwhile, the teens are in some hot water of their own, since their only form of shelter burned down before their very eyes in the season finale. How they will recover from that devastating loss is something we’re dying to see (no pun intended). Was it Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) who lit the cabin aflame, or was some other force at work in the wilderness? The fate of the cabin brings Cabin Daddy to mind, especially since there have been rumors that the long-awaited bonus episode “Yellowjackets” co-creator Ashley Lyle confirmed last spring could revolve around the mysterious figure.

We were lucky enough to get confirmation that there would be a Season 3 of “Yellowjackets” before Season 2 even premiered. The show was renewed for a third season in December 2022, but the writers were given only one day to work on Season 3 before the WGA strike halted production of the show in May.

Following the strike's conclusion, Lyle confirmed in a tweet in early October that the writers room had reopened, which means she and the rest of the “Yellowjackets” staff could get back to writing the new season. And with the SAG-AFTRA strike finished, the actors will be allowed to film the new material.

Where does that leave us in terms of a possible premiere date?

Season 2 took approximately three months to write and six months to film. If Season 3’s production timeline is similar to Season 2’s, writing should be completed within the next two months and filming could begin by April 2024. That could allow us to see a winter 2024 premiere for Season 3.

Karyn Kusama, one of the show’s executive producers and the director of the “Yellowjackets” pilot and Season 2 finale, has said in multiple interviews that Season 3 will show more of the teens’ post-rescue 1998 timeline. We don’t think Season 3 will solely show the characters’ lives in 1998, however, given that we still have around 10 months left in the wilderness based on what we know about the timing of the group’s rescue. That means there’s still a lot of ground to cover in the forest.

As for other storylines Season 3 may tackle, Cypress spoke about Taissa’s connection to the Man With No Eyes in a TVLine interview, teasing, “You’re going to have to wait at least until Season 3 to get some real answers on what’s going on with her” — and, presumably, with him. It’s also easy to guess, based on where Season 2 left off, where the storylines may be headed for some of the other core adult characters.

Casting for “Yellowjackets” Season 3 has not yet been announced, but we’re not expecting to see Lewis again due to her character’s death — unless, of course, the show brings her back for flashbacks in the adult timeline. We hope the rest of the main cast stays intact, and we suspect the door is open for Elijah Wood to return as Walter. Jeff Holman, who plays Randy, told Yellowjackets Hive in an interview that he’d be more than willing to return as well.

Notably, there were three unnamed extras shown periodically throughout Season 2, specifically when the teens hunted Natalie and when the cabin was burning. Everything in “Yellowjackets” is meticulously planned, so we have to assume those characters were shown intentionally. That leads us to believe we could more formally meet them in Season 3.

Although Fellowjackets theorized the bonus “Yellowjackets” episode may drop on June 2, Lyle posted on X (formerly Twitter) that it would be released “between seasons.” Then we were hoping for a holiday-season debut, but, unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Now that both the writers and actors strikes have concluded, however, perhaps producers are putting the final touches on the episode for a surprise release.

Along with the drop date, we also don’t know what the bonus episode will entail. We know Lynskey’s husband, Jason Ritter, filmed something during Season 2 of “Yellowjackets,” but we never saw him on screen. Could he possibly be the mysterious Cabin Daddy? Maybe the bonus episode will be his stand-alone backstory? We’re hoping to find out in the first quarter of 2024.

Season 2 of “Yellowjackets” earned three Emmy nominations in 2023. The show is in the running for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Lynskey, and Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series. Due to the dual strikes that put everything in Hollywood on pause, the awards ceremony was pushed from September 2023 to Jan. 15, 2024. It will air on FOX at 8 p.m. ET.

Season 1 of “Yellowjackets” scored six Emmy nods, but lost in each category.

We’ll update this page as more information on “Yellowjackets” Season 3 becomes available. In the meantime, stream both seasons of “Yellowjackets” on Paramount+ with Showtime.