Yellowjackets has hit an all-time record at the end of season 3. The popular Showtime series, which follows the survivors of an airplane crash in two different timelines, features a star-studded ensemble cast that includes Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, Sophie Thatcher, Ella Purnell, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Courtney Eaton, Liv Hewson, Lauren Ambrose, Elijah Wood, and Hilary Swank. Although Yellowjackets season 4 has not yet been renewed, the newest season has had positive reviews that have earned it a Certified Fresh 84% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Paramount has now announced that the Yellowjackets season 3 finale has become the most-streamed episode of the series of all time, amassing 3 million global viewers in its first seven days. That number is a 19% increase from the viewership for the season 2 finale in 2023. Additionally, the season’s total viewership is up 3% over season 2, which makes it the most-watched season yet. The series as a whole has also now become the second most-streamed Showtime series behind Dexter: Original Sin, which was recently renewed for season 2.

What This Means For Yellowjackets

Season 4 Will Probably Be Renewed Soon

Although season 4 has not yet been confirmed, the record-breaking performance of the Yellowjackets season 3 finale will almost certainly result in the show continuing for further episodes. However, should season 4 be greenlit, it will mark the show’s latest renewal yet. Season 2 was renewed midway through the run of season 1 while season 3 was greenlit three months before season 2 even premiered. If the reason for holding off on a renewal was a lack of confidence in the show’s performance, those doubts will have almost certainly been proven wrong by this record.

However, the potential longevity of the show faces certain creative challenges. Given the limitations of Yellowjackets timelines (which feature overlapping characters during their teenage years in the mid-1990s and in the modern day), should it continue to run for many more seasons with similarly long hiatuses, the show will face issues both with its internal timeline and the ages of the cast playing the teenage characters. This may prevent the show from running for much longer, though continuing for season 4 seems well within the realm of possibility, even though it may be logical to make it the final season.

Our Take On The Yellowjackets Streaming Record

It’s Continuing A Paramount+ Trend

This record continues a positive trend for Paramount+ with Showtime, which has had several recent seasons perform extraordinarily well. In addition to season 3 of the Showtime thriller outdoing all previous seasons, the Paramount+ original teen drama School Spirits saw a major viewership leap in season 2 that led to it being renewed for season 3. When combined with the fact that Dexter: Original Sin is outpacing every other Showtime series, it seems that the streamer has been making the right renewal decisions over the past year, which could spell good news for Yellowjackets season 4.

Source: Paramount

Yellowjackets

7/10

Release Date

November 14, 2021

Network

Showtime, Paramount+ with Showtime

Showrunner

Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, Jonathan Lisco

Directors

Benjamin Semanoff, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Deepa Mehta, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Liz Garbus, Scott Winant, Eva Sørhaug, Jamie Travis

Writers

Liz Phang, Sarah L. Thompson, Ameni Rozsa