Earlier this year, viewers of the popular Showtime series “Yellowjackets” were greeted with a third season beginning on Valentine’s Day. Since then, viewers were left in the dark for months, all until May 20th, when the show was finally renewed for a fourth season.
For those not familiar with the series, “Yellowjackets” surrounds a high school women’s soccer team from New Jersey who have just made it to nationals. On the way, their plane crashes in the Canadian Rockies and the team is left stranded in the wilderness for the next nineteen months. While having a developing and exciting teen plotline, there is also an adult plotline that focuses on the now-adult survivors of the plane crash. This adult plotline showcases actresses such as Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, and Juliette Lewis, just to name a few. The initial plane crash happens in 1996, while the adult plotline takes place in present day, 2021, at the time of the first season’s release. So far, viewers have seen the girls adapting to the wilderness after finding a river and an abandoned cabin, where they continue to reside for the rest of the show. In the teen plotline, the girls need to figure out how to survive in terms of gathering food and water, gathering necessities, and staying warm in the winter.
This show is not a boring wilderness survival story. It is filled with the chilling realities of the girls’ experiences. For example, the girls become in tune with the wilderness, almost resembling a cult. Taissa, one of the team members, eventually starts to sleepwalk which introduces a horrific figure called “The Man with No Eyes”, that has since not been explained. The girls also must resort to means that would ruin their lives post-rescue. I’m talking about hosting hunts to see WHO will become their next meal.
When the show was first announced, it was pitched with a five-season run. Considering the events of season 3, what exactly can we expect from this fourth season? Now, this is your time, if you have not watched the third season, or the show at all for that matter and are planning to, there will be spoilers ahead. That is your warning!
Season 3 was filled with twists and turns that left fans speechless. Additionally, there were some interesting guest stars that joined the “Yellowjackets” cast this season. One of them being Oscar Award-Winning actress Hilary Swank, and Joel McHale, best known for the television series “Community”. Ella Purnell, who plays Jackie Taylor, has also guest starred for two seasons after her character left the show at the end of the first season. The ending of season 3 set the stage perfectly for potential guest stars in season 4. Natalie, played by Sophie Thatcher, contacts the outside world at the tail end of season 3, leaving fans speechless. It could be unlikely that guest stars would play members of a rescue team, however, this does leave room for guest stars in the girls’ lives post-rescue. That is of course, if the girls get rescued in season 4. There were also some unexpected new characters in season 3, specifically a research team that is also in the wilderness with the girls. Once the girls catch wind of this, they are on the path to getting rescued and potentially inviting new members into their cult-like lifestyle.
Now, is there a possibility of the girls getting rescued this season? And the answer is, a big maybe. From what we know about the timeline so far, the girls spend nineteen months braving the wilderness. From the end of season 1 and the events of season 2, we know that the girls experience their first winter. Emphasis on “first.” Season 2 concludes with the girls watching their cabin burn down in the middle of winter, and the third season takes place over the course of spring and summer; so quite a bit of time has passed. At the end of season 3, the girls are met with their second winter, which would set the stage for a potential rescue in season 4. There could be a chance that the fourth, or even fifth season, of the show would highlight the teen plotline adjusting to everyday life since being rescued from the wilderness.
Speaking of, what are the girls’ families up to since they’ve been missing? At the beginning of season 1, the girls are pictured in their daily lives right before they board the plane to nationals that will change their lives forever. Fans would love to see how their families have been holding up considering a part of their family has gone missing.
There are just so many questions that have been left unanswered so far. And it is important to note that these questions will all eventually be answered, but it is a matter of how. This series constantly has fans on their toes, as it’s nearly impossible to predict the events of the show. All that’s left to say is that this anticipated season will almost certainly blow fans away, and the excitement will continue to build up until its release, hopefully towards the end of 2026 or early 2027. Filming is rumored to begin in February of 2026, and the series is known for having quite a quick turnaround. Seasons 2 and 3 were both released less than a year after filming concluded, and hopefully we can expect the same for season 4.