‘Yellowjackets’ Season 2 Trailer Ushers in the Darkness Following That Tragic Finale
The Yellowjackets have brought back the darkness.
The trailer for the highly anticipated second season of Showtime’s hit survival drama Yellowjackets features the adult characters having a realization: There was something dark out there in the wilderness — and they brought it home and are still dealing with it 25 years later.
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In its first season, Yellowjackets followed two timelines: the past, when a plane crash left the high school soccer team, called the Yellowjackets, stranded in the wilderness for 19 months in 1996; and the present, to show how the survivors — played by Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Tawny Cypress and Christina Ricci — are doing 25 years later.
The trailer shows how the second season will push forward in both timelines. But this season, the show will also pop into the new timeline of 19 months after the crash, when the young characters are saved and begin to unpack the trauma from their time in the woods. The first season ended in heartbreaking tragedy, with (spoiler alert!) the death of star player Jackie (Ella Purnell), who froze out in the wilderness. And the ending hinted at much more trauma to come, as cannibalism has been looming over the young survivors since the opening minutes of the show.
“I feel like shit’s going to get a lot worse out here,” says young Van (Liv Hewson), as the final moments of the trailer build up to that promise launched by the series.
The official first look also reveals more about the new characters played by Simone Kessell, as older Lottie (Courtney Eaton plays the younger version); Lauren Ambrose as older Van; and Elijah Wood as a new character named Walter, a citizen detective who links up with present-day Misty (Ricci).
The big hook in the trailer is that the adult characters find out Lottie’s whereabouts (after she was committed to a mental institution in Switzerland following the crash, shares Misty) and several of them appear to want to find her to help deal with the darkness that has risen up once again.
The footage confirms that Natalie (Lewis) does indeed survive her abduction, which took place in the final minutes of the finale. And there is also a brief moment showing the very anticipated reunion between adult Taissa (Cypress) and adult Van (Ambrose) — after Taissa shares, “I’m losing my mind.” Meanwhile, adult Shauna (Lynskey) worries if she and husband Jeff (Warren Cole) will be caught for their season one murder of Adam (Peter Gadiot), and she is even confronted by her daughter (Callie Sadecki).
The official logline for season two reads: “Two months have passed since Shauna gave Jackie the cold shoulder— to disastrous results. In the face of their deepening hunger and fear, the tension among our Yellowjackets has only grown worse. The harsh conditions of winter are intensifying by the day, and the psyches of our survivors are deteriorating just as fast. Threatened by the darkness of the wilderness — and the haunting memories of it in the present — our former state champs will be forced to make impossible decisions. As they confront the horrible truth of what survival entails, the real nightmare for each of them will be to figure out who they are — and what they are willing to sacrifice in order to stay alive.”
Season two also stars Sophie Nélisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Samantha Hanratty, Steven Krueger and Kevin Alves.
The Emmy-nominated Showtime and Entertainment One series — which has a 100 percent freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes for season one — is part survival epic, psychological horror story and coming-of-age drama. The series is executive produced by married creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, along with fellow showrunner Jonathan Lisco. Drew Comins of Creative Engine executive produces with Ameni Rozsa, Sarah L. Thompson and Karyn Kusama, who directed the pilot.
The trailer also marks the release of Florence + The Machine’s exclusive new single “Just A Girl,” a cover of No Doubt’s iconic 1995 song, which is now available to download and stream. The single is produced by Florence Welch and Mark Bowen of IDLES.
“I’m such a huge fan of Yellowjackets and this era of music, and this song especially had a huge impact on me growing up, so I was thrilled to be asked to interpret it in a ‘deeply unsettling’ way for the show,” said Welch in a statement about the collaboration. “We tried to really add some horror elements to this iconic song to fit the tone of the show. And as someone who’s first musical love was pop punk and Gwen Stefani it was a dream job.”
Yellowjackets season two debuts on demand and on streaming March 24 for all Showtime subscribers, before making its on-air debut Sunday, March 26 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
