'Yellowjackets' Season 2 Premiere Breaks Record

By Allison Schonter

Yellowjackets may only be two episodes into its current season, but Showtime's popular survival mystery series is already making plenty of noise. Returning to the network on Sunday, March 26 (it premiered on the Showtime streaming service on Friday, March 24), Yellowjackets broke a new record with its Season 2 premiere. Titled "Friends, Romans, Countrymen," the episode reached nearly 2 million viewers across all platforms, according to Showtime, making it the best Season 2 premiere for the network in more than 10 years.
 
Yellowjackets Season 2 broke a record previously held by fellow Showtime original Dexter: New Blood. The Season 2 opener also marked a 110% rise in viewership from the series premiere in November 2021 and 40% jump from the Yellowjackets Season 1 finale in cross-platform viewing. Viewership data for the Season 1 premiere isn't available, but the Yellowjackets Season 1 finale drew 1.3 million viewers. Season 1, which earned a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes and received seven Emmy nominations, also averaged more than 5 million weekly viewers across platforms, which was the highest for a freshman series on the network in almost six years, and was also the second-most streamed series in Showtime history.
 
"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," Chris McCarthy, President/CEO, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios & Paramount Media Networks, said in a press release. "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, Yellowjackets follows a group of plane crash survivors across two different timelines. Set in 1996, the past timeline follows a group of high school soccer players after they survive a plane crash in Canada during a flight from New Jersey to Seattle for a tournament. Their lives are thrown into complete chaos, with some adapting to the wilderness better than others. In the present timeline, set in 2021, the now adult survivors continue to deal with the tragedy and learn that the past can still shape the present. Yellowjackets stars Melanie Lynskey,  Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, Tawny Cypress, Sophie Nèlisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Samantha Hanratty, Pearl Amanda Dickson, Ella Purnell, Courtney Eaton, and more.
 
New episodes of Yellowjackets Season 2 drop on the Showtime streaming app on Fridays. Episodes then air on the Showtime network on Sundays.

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