[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Yellowjackets Season 3.]
Yellowjackets has been killing off its adult cast since the very first season, but they’ve kicked things up a notch in Season 3 with two major deaths in just three episodes. One of these written-out stars tells TV Insider that these bombshells are “the story they always planned to tell,” and after the game-changing Episode 6, fans will finally see the “payoff” of “questions that we’ve been planting since the beginning of the show.” What does this mean for the show’s future?
As of the time of publication, Yellowjackets has not been renewed for Season 4. But with the big burning questions starting to be answered — and with the final winter in the wilderness before the teens get saved just around the corner — the series is clearly at the beginning of the end. The question is just how long it needs to complete the story.
Here’s what we know about Yellowjackets‘ future.
When do the teens get rescued in Yellowjackets?
We’ve known since the early days that the teens were trapped in the Canadian wilderness for around 18 months after their plane crashed on the way to a soccer national championship in 1996. We also know that they live through two winters in the woods before they’re rescued, as the series’ wintery opening scene featuring the death of the still-unidentified “pit girl” did not come to pass in their first winter in Season 2. Season 3 Episode 6, which debuted on Paramount+ With Showtime on Friday, March 14 (catch it March 16 at 8/7c on the Showtime linear channel), initiated the rescue storyline in a major plot twist at the end of the episode.
Akilah’s trippy vision in Episode 5 declared that Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) would be their “bridge” \to salvation. That seemed to come true at the end of Episode 6 after Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) killed Ben in an act of mercy. After his guilty verdict in the Episode 4 trial, the teens cut his Achilles tendon on his left leg so he couldn’t escape his makeshift prison. He started a hunger strike in the hopes that he would die and begged Natalie to put him out of his misery. She eventually gave in, killing him in secret against the wishes of her teammates. She couldn’t stomach the thought of seeing him suffer any longer, and the increasingly bloodthirsty teens — now led by Shauna (Sophie Nélisse), the most brutal of them all — were going to make him suffer more.
Colin Bentley / Paramount+ with Showtime
As they performed their cannibalistic ritual after Ben’s murder, two new characters arrived in the series’ most shocking moment yet. Nelson Franklin and Ashley Sutton made their debuts in the episode’s final moments. They walked up to camp right next to Ben’s decapitated head that had been served up on a platter. Krueger told us that this is the “inflection point” and that Ben’s death “sets off the domino effect for really the rest of the series.”
How many episodes are in Yellowjackets Season 3?
There are 10 episodes total in the third season. The next four will come out uninterrupted every Friday for Paramount+ With Showtime subscribers and Sundays for Showtime channel subscribers through April 13.
Is Yellowjackets renewed?
Showtime has yet to confirm if the series is renewed for Season 4. The Season 2 renewal came halfway through Season 1 in 2021, and it was renewed for Season 3 in December 2022, several months before Season 2 premiered in March 2023. Season 3 premiered on February 14, 2025, following production delays caused by the Hollywood strikes of 2023.
The lack of an early renewal is abnormal for this show, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the death knell has rung for the drama.
How many seasons of Yellowjackets will there be?
Colin Bentley / Paramount+ with Showtime
Yellowjackets was created by showrunners Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson. They serve as executive producers and showrunners with Jonathan Lisco. Entertainment Tonight reported in 2022 that the team pitched a five-season plan to Showtime. Given that, it makes sense for the midway point of Season 3 to be a time of big change for the narrative.
The series is one of Showtime’s biggest titles and has a passionate fanbase on social media. Viewership, not social media reactions, is what secures more seasons for any TV show, of course. But Season 3 premiere did perform well for Paramount. According to Paramount Global, the Season 3 premiere reached just over 2 million viewers on Paramount+ and Showtime during its opening weekend. This was an increase from the just under 2 million viewers that tuned in for the Season 2 premiere, per Variety.
Paramount Global also shared that the Season 3 premiere generated more social media activity than the December 2024 debut of Dexter: Original Sin, making it Showtime’s most talked-about premiere ever. The company says that Yellowjackets‘ Season 3 return had 9 million social views and 1 million social engagements during premiere weekend, making for 545% and 1197% increases, respectively, from the second season.
We see a renewal in Yellowjackets‘ future, but stay tuned as we continue to report the latest developments.
Yellowjackets, Fridays, Paramount+ With Showtime, Sundays, 8/7c, Showtime