Yellowjackets: What Happened to the “Bonus” Season 2 Episode?

Last week, Yellowjackets fans got good news when it was announced that Season 3 of the hit Showtime series will arrive in February, but that announcement also came with a very big question. While fans are eager to see what happens next in both the past timeline and the present-day timeline as both left off on cliffhangers promising major developments as the story continues, they also want to know what is going on with a “bonus” episode of the series — and unfortunately, the answer to that question isn’t a good one. According to TVLine, doesn’t appear to be happening.

In a recent edition of “Matt’s Inside Line”, a viewer asked if the bonus episode was a “dead thought” and Matt Webb Mitovich responded “You are 100% correct” before noting that the press release about Season 3’s premiere contained no mention of the so-called bonus episode of the series. Additionally, there has been no separate announcement about a special episode being scheduled.

So, what’s going on? First, let’s take it back to June 2023. At that time, series co-creator Ashley Lyle replied to a fan on X/Twitter about the possibility of a bonus episode, writing at the time “There will be a bonus episode between seasons, but I love you guys and I don’t want y’all to lose sleep thinking it’s tonight.” Lyle didn’t elaborate on what the bonus episode might entail, but fans have had some ideas. The biggest fan theory about the bonus episode involves Jason Ritter, series star Melanie Lynskey’s husband.

[RELATED: Yellowjackets: Everything We Know About Season 3]

Ritter was first announced to guest star in Season 2 of Yellowjackets back in December 2022, but when the episode came and went, Ritter was not seen. With some of the cast previously confirming that Season 2 ultimately had some scenes that didn’t appear in the finished version as well as longer scenes that were trimmed down, fans have come to believe that Ritter’s role may have been a part of that and, thus, would end up as part of the bonus episode. Fans even have a theory about who he might be playing — “Dead Cabin Guy”, aka the hunter whose cabin and plane the survivors found (they also found his remains in the cabin). This particular theory would be especially interesting considering that the Season 2 finale saw the cabin burn down.

With it looking unlikely that the bonus episode will become a reality, it is still possible that whatever that episode was supposed to feature will still make its way into Yellowjackets. Since the episode was meant to air between Seasons 2 and 3, there is the potential for Yellowjackets to merely incorporate it into Season 3 proper — it and it would make some sense for that to be the case. Season 3 of Yellowjackets, like so many television series, was delayed due to 2023’s Hollywood strikes. Incorporating what would have been the bonus episode into Season 3 proper might have helped Yellowjackets’ production avoid additional delays when everyone got back to work as it was pre-existing content. — a why work harder when you can work smarter type of situation.

Even with no clear direction about the status of the bonus episode or if it is being incorporated into the new season, we do have some things we do know about Season 3.  The new season will premiere on Friday, February 14, 2025. The new season will see Sara Desjardins, who plays Callie, in a series regular role and will also see the additions of The Next Karate Kid star Hilary Swank as well as Community and Stargirl’s Joel McHale. In terms of plot and tone, series star Christina Ricci has previously teased that the new season will be “brutal”.

“This season is going to be even more shocking and surprising than the previous seasons,” Ricci said previously. “It’s definitely going to be brutal. But they also put a lot of comedy into it. So, I think it’s just going to be… extremely Yellowjackets-y.”

Yellowjackets is now streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime. Season 1 of the series is also currently streaming on Netflix.