Season 3 of Yellowjackets is set to return to Paramount+ with Showtime sometime in early 2025 and now, we’re getting our first look at the cast of the series in a new series of photos that pairs the teen and adult versions of the show’s characters — though one set of portraits serves as a devastating reminder of just how different Season 3 will be. Shared by Vanity Fair on Thursday, we get haunting looks at Shauna, Lottie, Misty, Van, Taissa, and Natalie from both timelines, though when it comes to Natalie’s portrait, it’s just young Natalie — played by Sophie Thatcher — alone after the shocking death of adult Natalie (Juliette Lewis) in the Season 2 finale.
The end of Season 2 saw two interesting developments when comes to Natalie as a character. In the wilderness in the past timeline, teen Natalie ends up being named the new leader of the group — the “Antler Queen” — after she’s “chosen” by the wilderness while in the present timeline, adult Natalie accidentally dies when Misty (Christina Ricci) injects her with phenobarbital after Natalie stepped in to protect Lisa (Nicole Maines). The death of adult Natalie was a huge shock for fans, but according to series co-creator Ashley Lyle, young Nat still has a lot of story to tell.
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“There’s an isolation and a heartbreaking loneliness to these photographs. But in thinking about it, and this is maybe going to sound very dark, but that’s all of us, isn’t it? We all have a future self who has died, and we don’t know how that happened and we don’t know why it happened — we don’t know when it’s going to happen. But that doesn’t make who we are now any less vital,” Lyle told Vanity Fair. “In our minds, that is also Natalie’s story. She has a lot of life to live and a lot of story to tell. And the fact that there is a future self that met a tragic end is really the most universal thing that we could probably do on a television show.”
Lyle continued, “In approaching her character this season, we never once thought or had a conversation, ‘Is it going to affect the way that we write or view Nat’s character?’ The answer was just universally, no. We love her character. She has a huge part to play in the 25 years that we haven’t seen. But there’s something really emotionally and philosophically heartbreaking about the position she’s in. It speaks to me of an existential dread that we are all alone, awaiting our fates.”
What Can We Expect from Season 3 of Yellowjackets?
In addition to what happens next in the wilderness — Season 2 ended with the girls’ only shelter, the cabin, mysteriously burning to the ground leaving them exposed to the elements once again — Season 3 also see more of the mystery of what happened out there unfold and a continuation of the present-day storyline after Natalie’s tragic death. Lyle also says that Season 3 will answer some big questions the series has posed.
“There are at least two very big questions with very clear answers,” Lyle said.
What are those questions? That’s anyone’s guess, though some of the biggest fan questions involve what happened in the wilderness that the adult versions of the characters don’t want to get out in the present and what the deal with Taissa is — particularly the whole man with no eyes situation. Whatever mysteries do get addressed series star Christina Ricci has previously teased that Season 3 will be brutal.
“This season is going to be even more shocking and surprising than the previous seasons,” she said. “It’s definitely going to be brutal. But they also put a lot of comedy into it. So, I think it’s just going to be… extremely Yellowjackets-y.”
Yellowjackets Season 3 is expected to debut early 2025 on Paramount+ with Showtime.