Why HBO Executives Rejected Yellowjackets

Networks pass on shows that go on to become huge hits all the time. HBO, for example, has a pretty bad track record with this sort of thing; over the years, they've famously passed on enormous projects like "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" (both of which ultimately put AMC on the prestige TV map) and, more recently, they said no to "Yellowstone," which became one of the biggest Paramount shows of all time. Apparently, they also said no to "Yellowjackets," which eventually found a home on Showtime ... but according to showrunners and creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson (who are also married), the premium network had one very specific reason when they said no to "Yellowjackets."

In a 2022 interview with Deadline, Lyle told writer Lynette Rice that the pitching process was grueling and they did get significant offers as a result — but HBO was blunt about why they passed. As Lyle explained:

"I think we had pitched to 16 or 17 different networks. We ended up getting offers from five of them. HBO, as an example, was very honest after the pitch. They said they really liked it, but they already had 'Euphoria' in development. And they were like, we're probably not gonna develop two projects with teenage protagonists. So even though that wasn't a place where we sold it, we were getting positive feedback and that's always helpful as you're going through the absolute grind."

While Lyle and Nickerson were probably grateful for the honest feedback, this does seem a little weird. Not only are "Yellowjackets" and "Euphoria" absolutely nothing alike but "Yellowjackets" splits its timelines between the main characters as teenagers and adults. So how did Lyle and Nickerson contend with that feedback?

As loyal fans of "Yellowjackets" know, we see the characters in two different timelines. In 1996, the soccer team known as the Yellowjackets — including Shauna Shipman (Sophie Nélisse), Taissa Turner (Jasmin Savoy Brown), Misty Quigley (Sammi Hanratty), Nat Scatorccio (Sophie Thatcher), and Lottie Matthews (Courtney Eaton), just to name a few — struggle to survive in the wilderness after a plane crash, and after 25 years, they're all grown up (and played by Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, and Simone Kessell, respectively) and trying to grapple with what happened in those woods. Again, I should say that this bears absolutely zero resemblance to "Euphoria," and as Ashley Lyle pointed out to Lynette Rice, the show is a shared effort between the two sets of performers.

"We saw it as a very even-handed show," Lyle remarked. "There's a difference between shows that feature teenagers that are aimed at teenage viewers and shows that feature teenagers that are aimed at a more adult audience. We always point to 'The Virgin Suicides', which is very much about teenage girls, but does not feel like [young adult]."

Still, Lyle said that she thinks everything happened for the best based on the way that networks judged the project. "That being said, I think the networks are very aware of their brands and don't tend to look at things that way," she continued. "Shows about teenagers or that feature teenagers with ambitions to be something other than a classic [young adult] show tend to frighten people a little bit. They aren't something with a long track record." She continued, "That is something we came up against when we were pitching it. The flip side of that was how there were a couple of places that very much saw it as a [young adult] show and that wasn't our intention. So we ultimately felt like those networks were not the best fit."

With season 3 of "Euphoria" still nowhere in sight (though it might come into being eventually, apparently) and the third season of "Yellowjackets" creating considerable ... buzz, HBO might be regretting that hasty decision. Since that's pure speculation on my part, let's go back to season 3 of "Yellowjackets," which kicked off on February 14 and has been giving audiences more to chew on as the show's central mystery unfolds. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter on the day that season 3 dropped its first two episodes, Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson promised that, as the season unfolds, viewers will get more answers about this intriguing, creepy mystery box show.

Speaking to the fact that fans of "Yellowjackets" are always trying to figure out the show's next move, Lyle revealed, "One thing I will say — and I'm not going to elaborate at all — is that there were a few things that people really latched onto in the trailer that I find interesting and a few things we thought they were going to latch onto that they haven't." So is there anything else? "Another thing I think I can elaborate on slightly without being too spoilery is that one of the big, primary, macro, over-arching questions that people have is: What did they do out there?" Lyle continued. "That's something raised in the very first episode of the show, and I think I can say with a lot of confidence that we learn a lot more about what they did out there this season.

There is one thing we know about the ongoing third season of "Yellowjackets," though — the episode titles aren't clues. "I can say this without it being a spoiler — because we didn't do it — but we had a lot of arguments in the room: We were actually going to use the episode titles to rickroll a big thing in this season, but then we didn't do it," Lyle said. "This audience is so on top of things we were like, 'They might actually get that.'"

"Yellowjackets," which is on Showtime and not HBO, drops new episodes on Paramount+ every Friday and on Showtime on Sundays at 9 P.M. EST.