“Yellowjackets” has been renewed for Season 4, Paramount announced on Tuesday, touting the record-setting viewership of the Season 3 finale in April, which rose 19% from the Season 2 finale.
“‘Yellowjackets’ has become a cultural juggernaut, with Season 3 shattering all previous records – we are thrilled to announce its renewal for a Season 4 on Paramount+,”Chris McCarthy, co-CEO of Paramount Global and president of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, said.
He thanked co-creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson for how they “masterfully crafted an utterly singular, genre-defying phenomenon,” calling the series, “a perfect alchemy of psychological horror, survival thriller and coming-of-age drama that continues to captivate audiences worldwide.”
The Emmy-nominated drama is about an all-female girls soccer team’s descent into madness and cannibalism after their plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness, and how the adult survivors are still traumatized by their ordeal.
The Season 3 finale saw the teen survivors finally make contact with civilization: The previous two seasons never revealed exactly how they were rescued.
Co-showrunner Jonathan Lisco told TheWrap that even if the ’90s storyline is no longer literally set in the wilderness, “[We’ll still have] the metaphorical wilderness that they have to traverse to get from the teen characters reintegrating into ’90s society to the adult characters that we know.”
Lyle added, “There is a decent amount of story to tell in terms of what happens when they get back, how they are trying to desperately hold their secrets as close as possible. And in the present day, they are far less trusting of each other than they were before.”
“Yellowjackets” Season 3 starred Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, Tawny Cypress, Lauren Ambrose, Sophie Nélisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Samantha Hanratty, Courtney Eaton, Liv Hewson, Steven Krueger, Warren Kole, Kevin Alves, Sarah Desjardins and Simone Kessell, with Elijah Wood in a recurring role and Joel McHale guest starring.
Season 3 bid farewell to a number of regular cast members, including the unlucky teen who became the infamous “Pit Girl,” but left the door open for guest stars Hilary Swank and Ashley Sutton to return.
Swank, who talked to TheWrap before the official Season 4 renewal came through said she would be open to reprising her role as adult survivor Melissa. Sutton, who played Hannah, told TheWrap, “I’m not contracted technically, but if they’ll have me back, I’d be happy to go back.”
While a potential Season 5 is still up in the air, Lyle told TheWrap in April, “If the world was our storytelling oyster, and we got everything we ever wanted, it would be 5 [seasons].”
“Yellowjackets” Season 3 is executive produced by Lyle, Nickerson and Lisco. Drew Comins of Creative Engine also serves as executive producer along with Jeff W. Byrd, Sarah L. Thompson, Ameni Rozsa and Brad Van Arragon. The series is produced for Showtime by Lionsgate Television and distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.
Production details for Season 4 will be revealed at a later date.
All previous seasons of “Yellowjackets” are available to watch now on streaming and on demand on Paramount+ with Showtime.
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