Showtime's Yellowjackets Season Two Adds Elijah Wood to Cast
Fresh off the reveal of who will be playing the adult versions of Lottie and Van in the hit Showtime series Yellowjackets, the network has now confirmed another new cast member with The Lord of the Rings trilogy star Elijah Wood set to star in the Emmy-nominated series. Wood's casting marks the first new addition to season two that is an all-new character, with Showtime announcing that he will play Walter, described as "a dedicated Citizen Detective who will challenge Misty (Christina Ricci) in ways she won't see coming." Production begins on season two this month in Vancouver.
Wood joins a cast best known for its female leads including Emmy nominee and Critics Choice Award winner Melanie Lynskey (Castle Rock), Oscar and Emmy nominee Juliette Lewis (Camping), Emmy nominee Christina Ricci (Z: The Beginning of Everything) and Tawny Cypress (Unforgettable). Other newcomers for season two include Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under, Servant) and Simone Kessell (Obi-Wan Kenobi), who both join in series regular roles. Wood's part in season two will be a season long guest arc.
With production not beginning until this month, fans will sadly have to wait until next year before finding out what happens next in the series .Speaking in an interview with TheWrap, series showrunner and co-creator Ashley Lyle confirmed that an early 2023 premiere seemed the most likely for the series.
"We're looking into the first quarter of 2023," Lyle told the trade. "We are on a very similar production track in terms of time as we were last season, although of course, we have to shoot an additional episode because we had already shot the pilot the last time. I believe that we are going to finish shooting in about February and we'll be airing sometime shortly after that....Nobody wanted to get back on the air quickly more than we did. But we really rolled directly from finishing up Season 1 into Season 2. It's a deeply serialized story, and we wanted to make sure we didn't rush it, and that we got it right. And so this was the earliest we could accomplish that.".
Yellowjackets earned itself an early season two renewal from Showtime, netting the premium cable network a slew of new subscribers as fans sought to catch up on the show ahead of its finale last year. It was previously reported that series creators have a five season plan for the show, meaning we're only 20% of the way through the story.