Yellowjackets Director Teases Season 3’s ‘Re-Entry’ Plotline: ‘I’ve Been So Excited By This’
Yellowjackets’ Karyn Kusama hints at what fans can expect from the Showtime mystery-thriller series’ flashback timeline in Season 3.
Yellowjackets director and executive producer Karyn Kusama recently teased how the series’ previously foreshadowed “re-entry” plotline will play out in Season 3.
Kusama indicated that fans can expect to revisit the Yellowjackets’ return to civilization (already briefly glimpsed in Season 2) in an episode of Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast. “I’ve been so excited by this,” she said. “The concept of that immediate aftermath of re-entry into the world, to me, there’s a whole season worth of material there. And the fact that this is such a long game that each of these characters is facing, in terms of reorienting themselves to whatever normalcy is supposed to be. I’m sure we’re going to learn that their normal is a lot different than our normal… There’s a lot that needs to be figured out between Season 2 and Season 3.”
The “re-entry” plotline is part of Yellowjackets’ 1996 narrative, which is intercut with the mystery-thriller show’s present-day sequences. While both of these timelines contain graphic content, Yellowjackets’ flashbacks are notorious for tackling taboo subjects such as cannibalism. Co-showrunner Jonathan Lisco addressed the show’s controversial elements ahead of Season 2’s March 2023 release, warning fans that Yellowjackets will push even more boundaries as it goes on. “If we do our job right, the eating of a person will not be the most transgressive thing that these young women do in the wilderness,” Lisco said. “That’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
How The Sopranos Influenced Yellowjackets
Even so, Yellowjackets co-creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson remain adamant that the Showtime series is never “shocking and salacious for the sheer joy of it.” Lyle and Nickerson insisted that Yellowjackets’ more grisly material is always an offshoot of the story itself, while also acknowledging that the show’s writers are mindful of going too far in this regard. The pair also addressed the possible impact of Yellowjackets’ unflinching brutality on the likability of its characters, comparing them to The Sopranos’ titular protagonist. “Tony Soprano is an absolute monster — but, because he’s so well drawn, you understand him. That’s what we’re aiming for,” Lyle said
Fans can judge the likability of Yellowjackets’ ensemble for themselves when the series returns for a bonus episode sometime before Season 3’s release. Lyle confirmed that an extra Yellowjackets installment was on the way in June 2023, while also debunking speculation that it would drop that month.
