Image Credit: Lorenzo Agius/SHOWTIME
Yellowjackets is already in its third season, and viewers can’t get enough of its gritty plot and tough-as-nails characters. As the Showtime-backed series attracts more fans, some are wondering where its storyline was taken from. Many have even asked if Yellowjackets is based on a true story.
Yellowjackets co-creator Ashley Lyle previously told Deadline that she and husband Bart Nickerson didn’t want their series to be solely considered a young-adult (YA) genre creation.
“There’s a difference between shows that feature teenagers that are aimed at teenage viewers and shows that feature teenagers that are aimed at a more adult audience,” Ashley pointed out. “We always point to The Virgin Suicides, which is very much about teenage girls, but does not feel like YA. That being said, I think the networks are very aware of their brands and don’t tend to look at things that way. Shows about teenagers or that feature teenagers with ambitions to be something other than a classic YA show tend to frighten people a little bit. They aren’t something with a long track record. That is something we came up against when we were pitching it.”
Below, find out if Yellowjackets is based on a real story and more details about the hit TV series.
What Is Yellowjackets About?
The premise of Yellowjackets followed a 1996 New Jersey high school’s girls’ soccer team, who was traveling to a tournament when their plane crashed over a Canadian wilderness. The survivors were left stranded for more than a year while fighting to survive.
How to Watch Yellowjackets
Season 1 of Yellowjackets can be streamed on Netflix, but both seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Paramount+. Fans can watch new episodes of season 3 on Paramount+ with Showtime.
Yellowjackets Cast
Yellowjackets is led by a strong female cast. The teenage versions of the ensemble cast is led by Sophie Nélisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Samantha Hanratty, Liv Hewso and Courtney Eaton as a group of teenagers, while the adult versions of the characters are played by Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, Lauren Ambrose and Simone Kessell.
Is Yellowjackets Based on a True Story?
Yellowjackets is not based on one true story. However, it drew some aspects from real-life stories, including the 1972 tragedy of Flight 571 that carried an Uruguayan rugby team. The plane crashed in the Andes mountains and left 29 people stranded in the middle of nowhere. (A separate film titled Society of the Snow is based on the incident). Additionally, the show was loosely inspired by the 19th century Donner Party, which, like the survivors from Flight 571, involved resorting to cannibalism, per Forbes.
During a 2021 interview with The New York Times, co-creator Ashley recalled reading an article about a planned remake of the classic novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, in which a group of young girls would wind up stranded on an island rather than a group of boys.
