The Yellowjackets are finally home, but they’re not out of the woods just yet. Paramount+ released the official trailer for the Emmy-nominated survival drama’s fourth and final season on Thursday, ahead of its Nov. 20 premiere exclusively on Paramount+.
Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the series follows a team of wildly talented high school soccer players who become the (un)lucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the remote northern wilderness. It tracks their descent from a complicated but thriving team to savage clans, along with the lives they’ve attempted to piece back together nearly 25 years later.
Here’s everything to know before the premiere.
Watch the trailer
The trailer opens with Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic” playing over a montage as teen Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) addresses the school at a gym assembly. “It’s surreal to be here,” she says. “Feels like going back to a different life.”
Then the music turns haunting. “You kids are heroes. Bigger than that. You’re survivors,” they’re told. Melissa’s wife Alex (Jaylee Hamidi) warns, “This history you have with each other — it’s terrifying.”
The rest is a rapid-fire run of what’s ahead this season: terror, tears, fights, and Melanie Lynskey’s Shauna toting a gun. As the trailer puts it, “homecoming is savage.”
Why is Season 4 the final season?
Lyle and Nickerson announced last October that Season 4 would be the end of the road.
“After three incredible seasons, and great consideration, we’re excited to announce that we will be bringing the story of Yellowjackets to its twisted conclusion in this fourth and final season,” they said in a statement. “We’ve always known there would come a point when the story would tell us it wants to end, and it’s our belief that our job — our responsibility — is to listen.”
They closed with a message to the fans: “We can’t wait to share the final chapter with you and hope you find it… delicious.”
How did Season 3 end?
In the wilderness, teen Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) took her throne as the Antler Queen, and the Yellowjackets decided it was time for another hunt. Mari (Alexa Barajas) drew the queen of hearts. While trying to flee, she fell into the pit trap, died, and was strung up for another feast. Meanwhile, Hannah (Ashley Sutton) tricked Shauna by dressing in Natalie’s winter gear, while teen Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) snuck off with the refurbished radio transponder. The season ended with Natalie on a mountaintop, calling for help.
In the present day, the season said goodbye to adult Van (Lauren Ambrose) and Lottie (Simone Kessell), and the finale revealed Shauna’s daughter, Callie (Sarah Desjardins), as Lottie’s killer. After Callie and Shauna’s husband, Jeff (Warren Kole), left to spend time away from her, adult Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) sulked in her empty house before pledging to become the “warrior” she was in the wilderness. Meanwhile, Taissa (Tawny Cypress) and Misty (Christina Ricci) teamed up to stop Shauna from wreaking more havoc on their lives.
When Nélisse spoke to Gold Derby after the Season 3 finale, she said she was most excited to explore life outside the wilderness: “Just their rehabilitation into society. How are they going to cope with the public eye, the judgments from people at school, this newfound sense of normalcy? Their emotions were so heightened. There’s going to be so much to unpack. I can’t even fathom all the events that would go into the post-rescue world. It’s going to be a lot.”
When does Yellowjackets Season 4 premiere?
Season 4 premieres Nov. 20 on Paramount+ with the Premium Plan, with subsequent episodes arriving weekly on Fridays. There will be 10 episodes total. The first three seasons are streaming there now if you need to catch up.
What happens in Season 4?
Here’s the official logline from Paramount+: “As the survivors race to bury their sins before rescue arrives and an old flame roars back into town with plans of her own, turns out not every homecoming is a joyous one, and this one’s going to sting.”
Who’s in the cast?
Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci lead the adult cast as Shauna and Misty. They’re joined by Tawny Cypress as Taissa and two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank, who joined last season as the adult Melissa. Warren Kole and Sarah Desjardins are also back as Shauna’s husband, Jeff, and daughter, Callie.
In the ’90s timeline, Sophie Nélisse plays teen Shauna. Jasmin Savoy Brown plays Taissa, Sophie Thatcher plays Natalie, Samantha Hanratty plays Misty, Courtney Eaton plays Lottie, Liv Hewson plays Van, Kevin Alves plays Travis, Nia Sondaya plays Akilah, and Jenna Burgess plays Melissa.
Oscar nominee June Squibb (Nebraska) and Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club) also join the final season.
Watch the first teaser
Paramount+ released the initial teaser for the final season in August, billing it as “The Final Reckoning.” The teaser plays out on a TV set showing breaking news coverage from several outlets, including MTV’s Kurt Loder, reporting that search and rescue teams in Canada have found the Yellowjackets. Watch it below.
How has Yellowjackets done at the Emmys?
Yellowjackets has earned 10 Primetime Emmy nominations but hasn’t won yet. The first season brought in its biggest haul, with seven nominations at the 2022 ceremony, including Best Drama Series and acting bids for Lynskey and Ricci.
Season 2 returned to the Best Drama Series race in 2023. Lynskey earned her second straight nomination, and the casting team of Junie Lowry Johnson, Libby Goldstein, Corinne Clark, and Jennifer Page was nominated again. Season 3 came up empty in 2025.
Beyond the Emmys, Lynskey won a Critics Choice Award in 2022, and the show earned three WGA nominations: Best Drama Series in 2022 and 2023, and Best New Series in 2022.
The Nov. 20 premiere puts the final season in the eligibility window for the 2027 Emmys.
