Showtime announced today that two-time Emmy and Tony nominee Lauren Ambrose (Servant, Six Feet Under) is joining the highly-anticipated second season of Yellowjackets in a series regular role as the adult version of Van. In addition, Liv Hewson (Santa Clarita Diet), who plays the teen version of Van, has been upped to series regular in season two.
Yellowjackets has been nominated for seven Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actress for Melanie Lynskey, and Outstanding Supporting Actress for Christina Ricci.
Yellowjackets was also nominated for two writing Emmys and earned additional nominations for Directing and Casting. Season one averaged over five million weekly viewers across platforms and was the second-most streamed series in Showtime history.
Produced for Showtime by studio Entertainment One (eOne), the series will go into production in Vancouver later this month.
Lauren Ambrose starred for five seasons in the critically acclaimed drama Six Feet Under, which earned her two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. She can currently be seen in M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological thriller series Servant, for which she received a Critics Choice Award nomination.
Her additional television credits include The X-Files, Torchwood, Dig, and Law & Order. On stage, Ambrose garnered critical acclaim, winning the 2018 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical and receiving nominations at the Tony Awards and the Drama League Awards for her portrayal of the iconic Eliza Doolittle in the Lincoln Center Theater’s production of My Fair Lady.
She also shared in the production’s Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theater Album. Ambrose also appeared on stage in Broadway’s Exit the King and Awake and Sing!, along with The Public Theater’s productions of Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet.
On film, her credits include Where the Wild Things Are, Wanderlust, Think of Me, The Other Woman, A Dog Year, Cold Souls, Diggers, Can’t Hardly Wait, and In & Out.
Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson (Narcos), Yellowjackets stars 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).
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 starred 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).
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.
Mirko Parlevliet has been reporting on the entertainment industry since 1998 and founded Vital Thrills in 2018 to cover the latest news on streaming, movies, TV, and video games.