Yellowjackets' Original Pitch Would Have Completely Changed The Show's Vibe

Pitch decks serve as a creative way of presenting shows to networks that may potentially pick them up, and "Yellowjackets" has one of the coolest out there. The pitch deck was shared on X in September 2024, and it has co-creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson laying out their ideas for "Yellowjackets" in a clever, retro yearbook style. 

The pitch deck sets the plane crash in 1975, rather than 1996. This is significant because, as the yearbook reads, "[T]hree years after President Nixon signed Title IX into law, the Dearborn High Yellowjackets became the first team in state history to qualify for the Girls' US Soccer Championship Series in Manchester, NH. They never got a chance to compete." This adds a dark irony to what happens to the all-girl soccer team, suggesting they are unable to fulfill the promises of second-wave feminism when they get stranded. 

The adult timeline, which takes place on the show in 2021 and in the pitch deck in 2001, was originally envisioned in an entirely different format. It was supposed to be filmed with talking-head interviews, as the five surviving adults agreed to participate in a documentary about the tragedy for the 25th anniversary of their rescue.

The documentary framework for the adult timeline is definitely imaginative and would smartly comment on society's infatuation with tragedies for entertainment. The concept certainly worked for "American Horror Story: Roanoke." But there is also so much we'd lose. Without a traditional narrative style, the story would spend too much time reflecting on what happened and not enough moving forward. The audience would miss out on all the shenanigans the adult Yellowjackets get into, as well as Shauna's psychological unraveling. Would adult Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) really be so willing to admit her yearning for the hunt and former reign as the Antler Queen (revealed in the season 3 finale) to a documentary interviewer? 

Having the plane crash take place in 1975 doesn't feel necessary to establish "Yellowjackets" as engaging with feminist themes. It's enough that the show gives us complex and messy — even sociopathic — female characters. Bumping up the timeline to 1996 was smart because Y2K nostalgia is very popular right now. This allows the show to be appealing to both Generation X-ers and millennials, who lived during that time, and Gen Z or even younger audiences who are romanticizing the era. The 1990s soundtrack is more fitting, with needle drops like "Lightning Crashes" by Live, "Zombie" by the Cranberries, and "Cornflake Girl" by Tori Amos, which have a more grungy, raw sound that easily taps into the characters' feminine rage. 

Also, modern technology has played a significant role in the story, fueling Misty's Reddit obsession and complicating the Yellowjackets' attempts to cover their tracks when they commit crimes. As "Yellowjackets" continues into its fourth and final season, it will keep proving that straying so far from the original pitch was for the best.