‘Yellowjackets’ Season 2 Premiere Draws Nearly 2M Viewers, Breaks Showtime Streaming Record

‘Yellowjackets’ Season 2 Premiere Draws Nearly 2M Viewers, Breaks Showtime Streaming Record

The Season 2 premiere of Yellowjackets delivered Showtime‘s best debut for a second installment that the network has seen in more than 10 years.

Sunday’s episode raked in nearly 2M viewers across all platforms, according to Showtime. The network didn’t provide a specific viewing number. It’s difficult to compare the first and second season launches, because similar data isn’t available for the Season 1 debut. The Season 1 finale drew 1.3M viewers.

Season 1, which earned a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes and received seven Emmy nominations, averaged more than 5M weekly viewers across platforms, the highest for a freshman series on the network in almost six years, since Billions in early 2016. It was the second-most streamed series in Showtime history.

With the debut of Season 2, Yellowjackets now holds the title for the No. 1 season debut for Showtime on digital platforms, beating out Dexter: New Blood for the honor.

Yellowjackets broke records as the most streamed Showtime debut ever thanks to Ashley, Bart, Jonathan and our extraordinary ensemble cast who brought season two to even greater heights,” said Chris McCarthy, President/CEO, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios & Paramount Media Networks. “By tapping into our proven strategy of promoting series across our full portfolio of brands at Paramount Media Networks, we successfully broadened the reach and brought new viewers into this incredible series that deftly combines psychological horror, dark comedy and coming-of-age drama.”

Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson (Narcos), Yellowjackets stars Melanie Lynskey (Castle Rock), Juliette Lewis (Camping), Christina Ricci (Z: The Beginning of Everything) and Tawny Cypress (Unforgettable). Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under, Servant) and Simone Kessell (Obi-Wan Kenobi) have also joined the second season as series regulars, along with Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) in a season long guest arc.  

Equal parts survival epic, psychological horror story and coming-of-age drama, Yellowjackets is the saga of a team of wildly talented high school girls soccer players who become the unlucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the remote northern wilderness. The series chronicles their descent from a complicated but thriving team to savage clans, while also tracking the lives they’ve attempted to piece back together nearly 25 years later, proving that the past is never really past and what began out in the wilderness is far from over.

Season 2 also stars Sophie Nélisse (The Book Thief), Jasmin Savoy Brown (The Leftovers), Sophie Thatcher (Prospect),  Samantha Hanratty (SHAMELESS), Courtney Eaton (Mad Max: Fury Road), Liv Hewson (Santa Clarita Diet), Steven Krueger (The Originals), Warren Kole (Shades of Blue) and Kevin Alves. 

Yellowjackets is executive produced by Lyle, Nickerson and fellow showrunner Jonathan Lisco. Drew Comins of Creative Engine also serves as executive producer. Karyn Kusama directed the pilot.