Yellowjackets season 2 is buzzing back on screens this week! Get ready with our guide on the things you need to know before watching Yellowjackets season 2.
After premiering in November 2021, Yellowjackets slowly developed into a breakout hit for Showtime. The show is set in two points in time: 1996 and the present day. In 1996, a high school women's soccer team is flying to a national tournament when their private plane crashes deep in the Canadian wilderness. They remained there for 19 months. In the present, the adult survivors continue to grapple with the secrets of what happened in the woods and what they had to do to stay alive.
The end of the first season revealed a shocking death in the past and the potential presence of an additional survivor previously unmentioned in the present day.
Here's everything we know so far about Yellowjackets season 2.
Yellowjackets season 2 release date
Showtime has set the Yellowjackets season 2 release date for March 24, when it will be available on-demand and on streaming. And if you want to start the new season for free, you can with the Paramount Plus 30-day free trial.
Episodes will also air on the Showtime linear channel on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT, starting March 26.
Yellowjackets season 2 trailers
The full-length trailer for Yellowjackets season 2 begins with Van telling the story of the wilderness: "It was beautiful, but it was also violent and misunderstood."
The darkness that the teens found there was brought back with the survivors. And it still haunts them in the present day:
The first teaser trailer for Yellowjackets season 2 seems to show adult Natalie being hypnotized into remembering the past. When asked what she sees, Nat ominously says, "Darkness. We brought it back with us." Chills!
The rest of the teaser trailer shows flashes of adult and teen Misty crying, full-on winter in the wilderness and rituals around a bonfire.
Yellowjackets season 2 cast
Most of the Yellowjackets cast will return for season 2. That includes the actors in the present-day timeline:
- Melanie Lynskey as adult Shauna, a stay-at-home mom
- Tawny Cypress as adult Taissa, a politician
- Juliette Lewis as adult Natalie, a struggling addict
- Christina Ricci as adult Misty, a nurse
- Warren Kole as adult Jeff, Shauna's husband
- Sarah Desjardins as Callie, Jeff and Shauna's daughter
- Rukiya Bernard as Simone, Taissa's wife
- Aiden Stoxx as Sammy, Taissa's son
- Alex Wyndham as Kevyn, Natalie's former best friend and a police officer
- Tonya Cornelisse as adult Allie, a former team member who wasn't on the plane
- Jeff Holman as adult Randy, Jeff's best friend
Plus, the cast members in the 1996 timeline:
- Sophie Nélisse as teen Shauna
- Jasmin Savoy Brown as teen Taissa
- Sophie Thatcher as teen Natalie
- Sammi Hanratty as teen Misty
- Steven Krueger as Ben Scott, the team's assistant coach
- Kevin Alves as Travis, the head coach's elder son
- Courtney Eaton as Lottie
- Liv Hewson as Van
- Nia Sondaya as Akilah (recast)
- Alexa Barajas as Mari
- Luciano Leroux as Javi, the head coach's younger son
While Jackie died in the finale, it's possible we'll see Ella Purnell as the team captain again. She has appeared in adult Shauna's visions/hallucinations in the present timeline.
Much less likely to appear in season 2 is Peter Gadiot as Adam, the artist who has an affair with Shauna. She killed him and dismembered his body. Then again, she could also hallucinate him, too.
Yellowjackets season 2 is also adding some new faces. Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under, Servant) will play adult Van, while Simone Kessell is adult Lottie.
Elijah Wood is joining the cast in a recurring role as Walter, a citizen detective. And Melanie Lynskey's husband, Jason Ritter, is making an appearance.
Yellowjackets season 2 theories
Talking about Yellowjacket theories is almost as good as watching the show itself! Reddit is a good place to fall into the rabbit role.
Here are some of the biggest and most outlandish theories we've seen going into season 2.
Pit girl is Allie: In the very first scene in the pilot, a girl runs through the snowy woods and falls to her death in a pit. A group of people, led by the Antler Queen, seem to chop her up into a meal. Some fans think that the scene may not be a flashback to 1996, but could be set in the present day — and that the girl is Allie, Shauna and Jeff's daughter.
Lottie's cult is active: The Antler Queen appears to be Lottie (or at least she was for a time in the past). As the pit girl scene shows, she has at least six members in her cult. But it looks like the cult moved to the outside world beyond the woods. In the present, Natalie's sponsor finds out that Lottie withdrew money from Travis' bank account after he died. Perhaps she's using the cash to fund her cult. Members of that cult seemingly kidnapped Natalie from her hotel room right before she was about to shoot herself.
Adult Taissa is in the cult: The finale also revealed that Taissa has a sacrificial altar in the basement of her house. Her wife, Simone, finds their missing dog's severed head and what appears to be a human heart (perhaps Adam's?). Simone's discovery is intercut with Taissa learning she won the state senate race. Is Tai still a member of the cult? Did she make the sacrifice believing it would help her win?
The symbol: There are a lot of theories about the mysterious symbol throughout the show. Some fans think it depicts a woman hanging upside down from a hook, like the pit girl. Others believe it has do with alchemy. And one Redditor believes it's a trigonometry problem that points to an escape.
The man with no eyes: This absolutely terrifying figure has appeared several times to Taissa as a child, as a teen and as an adult. He may just be a specter of death that is entirely in her mind. Some fans think he's the ghost of the hunter whose cabin the teens are living in. Others think it's a demon/monster that influences Lottie and the cult members to become cannibals.
