Showtime’s drama pilot Yellowjackets is firming up its cast, with Juliette Lewis and Christina Ricci signing on for key roles.
The two will be series regulars on the project, which follows the survivors of a plane crash both in the immediate aftermath of the disaster and decades later. Ella Purnell, Sammi Hanratty, Sophie Thatcher, Sophie Nélisse, Steven Krueger and Amy Okuda will also be series regulars.
The eight actors join the previously cast Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress and Jasmin Savoy Brown in the pilot.
Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson (Narcos: Mexico, The Originals), Yellowjackets tells the story of talented female high school soccer players who survive a plane crash deep in the Ontario wilderness. The potential series would chronicle their descent from a complicated but thriving team to cannibalistic, warring factions, while also following the lives they’ve attempted to reassemble 25 years later.
Lewis (Camping, I Know This Much Is True) and Thatcher (Prospect, Chicago Med) will play the respective adult and teen versions of Natalie. Despite her natural talent, Natalie’s punk-rock spirit and habit of finding trouble make her the unlikeliest member of the team. As an adult, she struggles to quiet the demons that haunt her from her time in the wilderness.
Ricci (Z: The Beginning of Everything, 50 States of Fright) and Hanratty (Shameless) will play the respective adult and teen Misty, the Yellowjackets’ equipment manager. Eager to please and easy to overlook, Misty’s team spirit hides a dark side.
Purnell (Sweetbitter) will play Jackie, the team’s charismatic, effortlessly popular and occasionally entitled captain. Nélisse (The Book Thief) will portray the teen version of Lynskey’s character, Shauna. Krueger (The Originals) will play Ben Scott, the team’s assistant coach and object of many an unrequited crush, and Okuda (Atypical) will play Cat Wheeler, a history teacher recruited to bolster the female presence on the coaching staff despite having little knowledge of soccer.
Lyle and Nickerson will serve as showrunners and executive produce with director Karyn Kusama (Halt and Catch Fire, Destroyer) and Drew Comins of Creative Engine. The pilot will be produced for Showtime by Entertainment One.
Yellowjackets is part of a Showtime development slate that includes fellow dramas Hombre and The President Is Missing and the comedies Big Deal, starring Vanessa Bayer; the Lena Headey-led Rita; and How to Make Love to a Black Woman.
