'Yellowjackets' Season 4: Everything We Know
The next installment of the Showtime hit will finally show how the girls made it out of the wilderness.
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.
Everything We Know About 'Yellowjackets' Season 4
We'll see the Yellowjackets return home and try to readjust to their regular lives in season 4.
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' 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 that 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).
There are still many mysteries from the wilderness to unfold in season 4.
When will 'Yellowjackets' season 4 come out?
Buzz buzz! Yellowjackets' fourth and final season will officially premiere Friday, November 20 on Paramount+. The streamer announced the news via an August press release and a date-announcement teaser. The ominous clip features old TV sets airing news reports about the surviving Yellowjackets being found, as well as vintage footage of the team making their way home. The show has been leading up to this moment—and even by that eerie teaser alone, it looks like it's going to deliver! November can't come soon enough!
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) will also return to the present timeline.
A first look at Tai (Tawny Cypress), Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), and Misty (Christina Ricci) in season 4.
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. As fans may recall, even in season 3, she came more into the fold. She had poisoned all 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—although Paramount+ has yet to confirm. Season 3's other major addition, Oscar-winner Hilary Swank (adult Melissa), however, will be back, according to a press release.
Hilary Swank will return to reprise her role as Melissa, while Jaylee Hamidi joins the cast as Alex.
Who are the new cast members in 'Yellowjackets' season 4?
Did you really think Yellowjackets wouldn't cast more icons for its final season? In late February 2026, Deadline reported two exciting new additions for season 4: comedy legend June Squibb and former Brat Pack star Molly Ringwald. Ringwald's casting very much aligns with the show's flair for booking former '80s and '90s icons.
While the Eleanor the Great star's role is under wraps, aside from her character name, Geraldine, we do know who the Breakfast Club actress is playing. According to Deadline, she'll recur as "Van's mom, Vicky, a recently recovered alcoholic trying her best to course correct her past."
Plus, first-look photos unveiled several other previously unannounced newcomers: Wet Hot American Summer and The Other Two alum Ken Marino, Psych star Dulé Hill, rising actress Jaylee Hamidi, and Crew Girl star Samuel Braun. Based on the shots, we really only know their character names—and a few other details. Marino and Hamidi play Russell and Alex, respectively—seemingly connected to Swank's Melissa in the present-day timeline—while Hill is a cop known as Detective Rollins. But whether he's investigating crimes in the past or present remains unclear. Braun's character is rather familiar, though: He's playing the '90s version of Jeff.
June Squibb is among the new cast members in season 4.
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."
Is there a trailer for 'Yellowjackets' fourth and final season?
If you had any doubts the final season would deliver, the trailer should put them to rest. Paramount+ dropped a teaser just over a month before the final season's premiere date and it looks like the show is going out with a bang. The clip previews the girls' final, dark days in the wild—and just how harrowing it is going home, too. From the struggles of easing back into daily life, to grilling interviews in which they're asked if there is anyone still out there, to the wilderness seemingly haunting them, it seems more horrors are still to come. "Everything that we saw, everything that we did. we weren’t supposed to leave," Van's voiceover says, as if the clip wasn't already ominous enough.
