YELLOWJACKETS Completes Season as Second Most Viewed Showtime Series

The hit drama Yellowjackets on Sunday completed its first season on SHOWTIME as the second-most streamed series in network history, behind only the recently aired Dexter: New Blood.

Buoyed by its inclusion on nearly 50 year-end "Best of" television lists, a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes and snowballing buzz (yeah, we went there) on social media, Yellowjackets delivered one of the biggest SHOWTIME debut seasons ever. The series has averaged over 5 million weekly viewers across platforms - the highest for a freshman series on the network since BILLIONS in 2016.

Sunday's Yellowjackets season finale amassed 1.3 million viewers across platforms on Sunday alone, more than doubling its audience from the series premiere. Streaming viewership for Yellowjackets has quadrupled over the course of the season. Last week, the series received WGA Award nominations for Best Drama Series and Best New Series. In December, SHOWTIME renewed Yellowjackets for a second season.

Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson (Narcos), Yellowjackets stars Melanie Lynskey (Castle Rock), Oscar® and Emmy® nominee Juliette Lewis (Camping), Emmy nominee Christina Ricci (Z: The Beginning of Everything) and Tawny Cypress (Unforgettable). Both the series and Lynskey have received Critics' Choice nominations.

"We are thrilled, to say the least, at the phenomenon that is Yellowjackets," said Jana Winograde, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc. "The WILD success of the series in viewership and reviews has been exciting, but what's been most exciting is watching Yellowjackets explode in the collective zeitgeist - seeing the fans' unbridled passion for the characters, endless theories about the mystery and even their abundant fan art. This kind of show is magic in a bottle, and we want to thank and congratulate Ashley, Bart, Jonathan and the entire cast and crew for the role they played in its creation. It's a massive understatement to say that we can't wait for next season."

The Yellowjackets news comes on the heels of record ratings for DEXTER: NEW BLOOD, which became the most-watched series in SHOWTIME history by averaging over 8 million weekly viewers across all platforms. Led by those two series, SHOWTIME delivered the most signups in its history during the fourth quarter of 2021.

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 (un)lucky 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 one also stars Ella Purnell (Sweetbitter), Samantha Hanratty (SHAMELESS), Sophie Thatcher (Prospect), Jasmin Savoy Brown (The Leftovers), Sophie Nélisse (The Book Thief), Steven Krueger (The Originals) and Warren Kole (Shades of Blue).

Produced for SHOWTIME by studio Entertainment One (eOne), Yellowjackets is executive produced by Lyle, Nickerson and fellow showrunner Jonathan Lisco. Karyn Kusama also executive produced and directed the pilot. Drew Comins of Creative Engine also serves as executive producer.

Photo: Brendan Meadows/SHOWTIME

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