Showtime mystery thriller series “Yellowjackets” is coming to Netflix on October 1 this year. The news has been confirmed by the streaming service’s own Twitter/X account, with a promise that “You won’t be hungry much longer.”
“Yellowjackets” is an appropriate Netflix acquisition to kick off this year’s spooky season. The show is split between two storylines: one that takes place in 1996, and the other in 2021. The first timeline follows a New Jersey girls’ soccer team whose flight crash lands in the middle of the wilderness. It’s clear, quite immediately, that they resorted to cannibalism and formed a strange cult around their brutal survivalism. What’s less clear is whether this descent is entirely of their own making, or whether there’s something supernatural at work in the wilderness.
25 years later, the survivors are now middle-aged and more or less readjusted to civilized society, but the scars remain. When the remaining Yellowjackets receive letters from someone claiming to know what they did, they’re drawn back together. The series’ mystery box plotting will keep you guessing as the stellar performances (by young and middle-aged cast alike) and rocking soundtrack hold your short-term interest. The first season of “Yellowjackets” has a rare 100{aa83d2d274e5cebe1bf02c48557a30262dc5b65c32a1a77feb451c1419135e41} score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 170 reviews.
“Yellowjackets” originally aired on Showtime and streamed on Paramount+ (the Showtime streaming service was merged with Paramount+ in April 2024). The show making its Netflix debut is sure to expand the antler queen clan ahead of season 3’s arrival in (presumably) 2025 — and that may be part of Showtime parent company Paramount’s shifting streaming strategy.
Why is Paramount+ sending one of its buzziest shows to Netflix?
Paramount licensing the blockbuster TV hit “Yellowstone” to Peacock was generally regarded as a mistake. The success of that show only diverted subscribers away from Paramount+, which prompted a shift in strategy away from licensing big money makers out. However, recently-ousted Paramount CEO Bob Bakish had said in May 2023 during the company’s shareholders meeting that, “We see content licensing as producing enduring value for this company and therefore we remain focused on it.”
“Yellowjackets” going to Netflix suggests Bakish’s strategy has endured even with his departure. (Paramount, currently merging with Skydance Media, is undergoing a leadership shake-up.) This doesn’t necessarily suggest Paramount+ is dead in the water — in fact, this could be a smart play. Netflix reportedly has about 270 million subscribers, almost 4 times as Paramount+’s 71 million. “Yellowjackets” season 1 streaming on Netflix opens it up to a wider audience, but if that audience wants to see the second season and eventually the third, they’ll have to subscribe to Paramount+ or Showtime (if they still have cable).
AMC’s “Interview with the Vampire” season 1 also recently made its Netflix debut. Perhaps the smaller, legacy name-brand streaming services like Paramount+ and AMC+ can boost their business by opening up their best offerings on Netflix.
“Yellowjackets” season 1 arrives on Netflix on October 1, 2024, and the entire series is currently streaming on Paramount+. The third season of “Yellowjackets” is currently filming.
