The impressive cast of Yellowjackets Season 2 just got even more impressive.
It’s hard to believe that’s even possible at this stage, but the show is pulling out all the stops for the second season.
Showtime announced Friday that Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) is joining the red hot drama for a season-long guest-starring role.
Wood will play Walter, a dedicated Citizen Detective who will challenge Misty in ways she won’t see coming.
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).
Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under, Servant) and Simone Kessell (Obi-Wan Kenobi) were recently announced to join in series regular roles for season two.
Ambrose is set to play the present-day Van, while Kessell is set to play the present-day Lottie, both characters we met in the first season.
However, they were never seen in the present, leading to questions about what happened to them.
Yellowjackets Season 2 will go into production later this month in Vancouver.
Wood is best known for starring as the beloved hobbit Frodo Baggins in the iconic trilogy of films The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and Return of the King, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings.
He will next be seen starring in the upcoming films L.A. Rush and The Toxic Avenger, a superhero comedy horror film.
He was most recently seen in No Man of God, which he also produced, and debuted at the 2021 at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Yellowjackets is nominated for seven Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actress for Melanie Lynskey and Outstanding Supporting Actress for Christina Ricci.
The series was also nominated for two writing Emmys and earned additional noms for Directing and Casting.
Yellowjackets Season 1 averaged over 5 million weekly viewers across platforms and was the second-most streamed series in Showtime history.
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).
Liv Hewson (Santa Clarita Diet) and Courtney Eaton (Mad Max: Fury Road) have been upped to series regulars in season two.
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.