‘Yellowjackets’ to Air Bonus Episode Before Season 3 Premiere

Judging by Yellowjackets’s previous hiatus, the Showtime drama won’t return for Season 3 until mid-to-late 2024 — and probably later, given the ongoing writers’ strike. But Ashley Lyle, the show’s co-creator and executive producer, says fans will get a bonus episode in the meantime.

Lyle confirmed speculation of a bonus episode on Thursday, June 1, after a fan vowed to stay up late in hopes of a bonus episode that night. (During Season 2, Showtime streamed new episodes on Fridays at 3a/2c, but no new episode materialized in the early-morning hours of Friday, June 2.)

“Listen, I watched a livestream of a burning candle and the freakin’ Super Bowl on the blind hope of a trailer,” that fan tweeted. “Staying up a couple hours late on the off chance of a bonus episode? Walk in the park.”

Lyle replied: “Noooo. Go to bed! Get some rest! There will be a bonus episode between seasons, but I love you guys, and I don’t want y’all to lose sleep thinking it’s tonight.”

Noooo. Go to bed! Get some rest! There will be a bonus episode between seasons, but I love you guys and I don’t want y’all to lose sleep thinking it’s tonight.

— Ashley Lyle (@ashannlyle) June 2, 2023

Yellowjackets acolytes had speculated that another episode was in the works after Showtime followed the 10-episode first season with a nine-episode second season.

One fan noticed a listing for Yellowjackets “Episode #2.10” in April on IMDb. A week later, another viewer spotted a possible slip in a Digital Spy video, in which Yellowjackets costume designer Amy Parris describes the character’s roughed-up appearance in “[episodes] nine and ten.” (“Or, sorry, in nine,” Parris added, correcting herself.)

Lyle herself stoked the speculation back in March, tweeting there’d be “nine main episodes in S2.”

“‘Main’?” another Twitter user replied.

“Never say never to bonus eps,” Lyle responded.

Kailey Schwerman/Showtime

The existence of a bonus episode might also explain why viewers didn’t see Jason Ritter’s much-hyped cameo in Season 2’s nine “main” episodes.

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Yellowjackets follows the members of a high school soccer team who survived a plane crash in the wilderness, with the story toggling between the immediate aftermath of the crash and a timeframe decades later, after some of the survivors have returned to civilization.

Season 1 earned seven Emmy nominations, including nods for Outstanding Drama Series for cast members Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci. Season 2 premiered on March 26 — with that second-season premiere becoming the most-streamed season debut in Showtime history — and wrapped up on May 28.