Season 3 of Yellowjackets ended on April 11, 2025, wrapping up an installment of death, gore, and mind-blowing revelations. The third season of Showtime's mystery-thriller series about a feral soccer team stranded in the wilderness had the highest body count so far, as the survivors turned against each other in the present day and reconnected to the outside world for the first time in the past.
The season 3 finale wrapped up some series-long mysteries (and introduced an endgame for one of the show's timelines). But several cliffhangers and questions remain, so it's time to gather clues about what may be in store for the soccer team across both timelines. Read on for everything we know about a possible Yellowjackets season 4 so far.
Is 'Yellowjackets' renewed for season 4?
Yes! Paramount+ with Showtime announced the good news on May 20, 2025, about a month after the season 3 finale. With the renewal announcement came the official stats on the prior season; per the streamer, season 3 was Yellowjackets's most-watched season yet, and the finale is now the most-streamed episode in the show's history.
"Yellowjackets has become a cultural juggernaut; with season 3 shattering all previous records, we are thrilled to announce its renewal for a season four on Paramount+," said Chris McCarthy, co-CEO of Paramount Global and President of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios. "Ashley and Bart have masterfully crafted an utterly singular, genre-defying phenomenon: a perfect alchemy of psychological horror, survival thriller, and coming-of-age drama that continues to captivate audiences worldwide, brought to life by our extraordinarily talented and beloved cast."
Even before renewal, showrunners Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, and Jonathan Lisco expressed that they needed at least one more season to complete the series's story. While speaking to the Los Angeles Times after season 3, Nickerson told the outlet, "We are kind of banking on another season. So, sorry, if we do get cancelled; if we pulled a total My So-Called Life where we’re just ending. But there are worse things than to go down in history as another My So-Called Life."
Thankfully, we now know that the show hasn't been cancelled.
Is season 4 the last season of 'Yellowjackets?'
In October 2025, Showtime confirmed that season 4 will be the final season of Yellowjackets. Deadline reported the news, stating the upcoming installment was being written at the time, meaning the show will receive a proper ending.
The showrunners shared a joint statement on Instagram at the time. "After three incredible seasons, and great consideration, we’re excited to announce that we will be bringing the story of Yellowjackets to its twisted conclusion in this fourth and final season," they said. "We’ve always known there would come a point when the story would tell us it wants to end, and it’s our belief that our job—our responsibility—is to listen. Telling this emotional, wild, and deeply human story has been a profoundly meaningful experience and a true honor for us, and we’re so very grateful to the brilliant cast, crew, and writers who have bravely gone on the journey with us to bring it to life. Most of all, we want to thank the fans who have stuck with us through every moment, mystery, and meal—the Hive is nothing without you! We can’t wait to share the final chapter with you and hope you find it…delicious."
The decision comes after the series creators previously teased that they needed a five-season arc to tell the full story. Those plans can change, however, and they're clearly now committed to giving the hit drama a solid finale (before it potentially continues longer than necessary).
When will 'Yellowjackets' season 4 come out?
When it was reported that season 4 would be the last one of Yellowjackets, Deadline announced that Showtime was eyeing production to start sometime in 2026 and episodes to air late in the year. It seems the series should be on track to meet that schedule; if it films throughout the spring, we'd guess the show could return by November/December.
That's not unlike the previous production timelines on the series. For example, season 1 debuted in November 2021, and season 2 premiered in March 2023. Season 3 was delayed by the 2023 WGA and SAG strikes, which is why it didn't premiere until February 2025. So, a year and a half seems feasible for episodes to begin rolling out in the late fall.
Who in the 'Yellowjackets' cast will return for season 4?
After season 3's body count, the main cast members to return in season 4 include Melanie Lynskey (Shauna), Sophie Nélisse (teen Shauna), Sophie Thatcher (teen Natalie), Tawny Cypress (Taissa), Jasmin Savoy Brown (teen Taissa), Christina Ricci (Misty), Samantha Hanratty (teen Misty), Courtney Eaton (teen Lottie), Liv Hewson (teen Van), Jenna Burgess (teen Melissa), Kevin Alves (Travis), and Nia Sondaya (teen Akilah). Warren Cole (Jeff) and Sarah Desjardins (Callie) should also return to the present timeline.
Among the teenage survivors, we'll actually be seeing a bit more of one of them. In February 2026, Deadline reported that Nina Sondaya, who plays Akilah, has been upped to a series regular in season 4. As fans may recall, even in season 3, she came more into the fold. She had poisoned all of the livestock (which she cared deeply for), so Lottie could encourage another hunt. She also confronted Lottie in the cave, insisting that she no longer stood for her visions being weaponized. Akilah then disappeared—and while some fans theorized that Lottie must've killed her, she'll be back in a big way.
Aside from the long-running, core cast, one of season 3's new additions, Ashley Sutton (Hannah), is also expected to return after her cliffhanger fate in the season 3 finale. Though other new major cast member Hilary Swank (adult Melissa) is more up in the air, the Oscar winner has said she would be open to returning.
What will 'Yellowjackets' season 4 be about?
Season 3 already brought some major status quo shifts to the series, but Yellowjackets season 4 is poised to bring the younger cast out of the wilderness. The finale ends with Natalie making contact with civilization, thanks to the satellite phone from the frog researchers's campsite and the plane transponder Misty broke in the series premiere. In a Deadline interview published after season 3 aired, Nickerson confirmed that the girls are set to be rescued—but not in the season 4 premiere.
"Just to clarify, not to say that we’re gonna get there very soon," the co-creator said. "But we’ve always said that we do think that there is a portion of the story that wants to be told upon their return, we just don’t know when we’re gonna get there."
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Lyle added that the writers's plan was always to follow the girls through their difficult readjustment to the real world. "It’s something that we’ve talked about in the writers’s room and, from the very beginning, Bart and I knew that was a piece of the story we wanted to eventually explore," she told the outlet. "These girls have changed remarkably, for better or for worse, in their time out there, especially because of their age. They’re so malleable to begin with and they’ve become very different people. And to see those people readjust to a world that is almost—I wouldn’t say insignificant to them; it’s obviously very significant—foreign to them now in a way that we think would be really ripe for storytelling and to dig deeper into their characters."
