Is Yellowjackets Based on a True Story?

Showtime’s electrifying thriller sequence “Yellowjackets” is again for extra homicide and mayhem in season two. The present follows a highschool lady’s soccer crew — the titular Yellowjackets — destined for the nationwide championship when all hell breaks free. On the way in which to the championship, their non-public aircraft crashes within the woods and the group is compelled to do no matter it takes to outlive. Meanwhile, within the current day, the surviving Yellowjackets, now adults, are coping with the repercussions of what they needed to do to outlive and go to extremes to maintain the secrets and techniques of their time within the woods hidden.

Fans may surprise if “Yellowjackets” relies in actuality. While it isn’t a very true story, it does have real-life inspirations. Here’s what we all know.

Is “Yellowjackets” Based on a True Story?

The present is not completely based mostly on a real story, however it does resemble the real-life Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 catastrophe. On Oct. 13, 1972, the flight was certain for Santiago, Chile, from Montevideo, Uruguay, when poor climate situations brought on the aircraft to crash into the Andes Mountains. Flight 571 carried 45 whole passengers, 19 of whom had been members of the Old Christians Club rugby union crew, however upon impression, solely 34 survived. Unfortunately, the frigid temperatures of the mountains, together with a scarcity of provides and extreme accidents, brought on a number of extra fatalities, leaving the rest of the survivors stranded. For 72 days, the survivors took no matter measures essential to survive, even resorting to cannibalism.

“Yellowjackets” appears to attract inspiration from the tragic catastrophe, because the group of sports activities gamers, the aircraft crash, the chilly local weather, and violent, cannibalistic actions are all paralleled within the sequence. One main distinction that ratchets up the drama, nevertheless, is that in “Yellowjackets” the soccer crew is stranded for even longer than the actual survivors had been: 19 months.

What Inspired “Yellowjackets”?

Show creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson have famous that “Yellowjackets” is influenced by William Golding’s 1954 novel “Lord of the Flies,” which is a few group of boys stranded on an island. Lyle elaborated on this on The Hollywood Reporter‘s “TV’s Top Five” podcast in November 2021, saying, “‘Lord of the Flies’ is about how socialization falls away and the way society is a facade. We thought, who’s extra socialized than ladies? As ladies, you be taught early on learn how to make individuals such as you and what the social hierarchies are.”

Furthermore, Lyle highlighted how the sequence explores gender roles and efficiency in even essentially the most excessive of conditions, noting, “It’s a extra fascinating method of getting issues fall away. The masks is even thicker. It’s a extra layered quantity of preconceived notions of learn how to behave and act.”

In a November 2021 interview with the New York Times, Lyle added that she needed to counter the concepts that ladies cannot be savage and can all the time work collectively. “There was a lady in my highschool who poisoned one other lady’s meals for enjoyable,” she stated. “Only displaying ladies getting alongside just isn’t portray a full image.” At the identical time, she needed to honor the significance of relationships between ladies, calling a few of her highschool relationships “in all probability an important in my life.”

In a March 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lyle revealed one other supply of inspiration for her sequence: iconic mobster Tony Soprano. “Tony Soprano is an absolute monster — however, as a result of he is so properly drawn, you perceive him,” she defined. “That’s what we’re aiming for. We have conversations about what might be too far, however it’s much less about likability for the characters and extra about the kind of story. We by no means wish to be surprising and salacious for the sheer pleasure of it.”

“Yellowjackets” season two begins streaming on March 24 and airs on Showtime on Sundays.