If you’ve ever wondered where the plot for “Yellowjackets” comes from, it’s loosely based on a real-life story.
Starring Christina Ricci, Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Tawny Cypress, and Juliette Lewis, among others, Showtime’s hit series follows a high school all-female soccer team whose plane crashes in the secluded Canadian wilderness in 1996.
There are several accident survivors. However, while being stranded for over a year, the remaining members of the team do whatever they can to stay alive — even if that means turning on each other.
The series flops from past to present tense, with Ricci, Lynskey, Lewis, Cypress and Lewis’ characters returning home after 19 months, but their survival tactics come back to haunt them when a mysterious blackmailer threatens to tell the world their secrets 25 years after the fact.
Here’s what to know about the influence behind the series.
Is “Yellowjackets” based on a true story?
“Yellowjackets” was partly inspired by the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which had the Uruguayan amateur rugby team onboard when it went down in the Andes mountains.
On Oct. 13, 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed with 40 passengers and five crew members. The plane was scheduled to take the team from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, for a game (similar to the “Yellowjackets” soccer team). After striking a mountain and losing both of its wings, the aircraft went down.
How many people died in the Flight 571 plane crash?
The accident took the lives of 12 people and left many injured. Within a week, all the provisions from the plane that the passengers used to survive ran out. The survivors turned to cannibalism, eating the corpses of those who had already perished.
Did any other Flight 571 passengers die while stranded?
Yes. Six people died from either lack of food and water or weather conditions. An avalanche killed eight others by burying them alive.
How did the Flight 571 crash victims get help?
Two of the brave male survivors made the dangerous journey to the village of Los Maitenes, Chile, for assistance. Once there, they called for help, promoting a helicopter to rescue the other survivors.
Did anyone from the Flight 571 crash make it home?
After surviving 72 days in the wilderness in unfathomable conditions, 16 passengers made it out alive and home to their loved ones.
Have the Flight 571 victims ever spoken out?
Survivor Roberto Canessa has been candid about what happened in the Andes Mountains, writing a book in 2016 titled “I Had to Survive: How a Plane Crash in the Andes Inspired My Calling to Save Lives.”
At the time of the crash, he was only 19 and was one of the men who made the trek that led to their rescue.
“It’s not how you survive but why you survive,” Canessa told People magazine in 2016, revealing his motivation for survival.
“My mother [once] told me, ‘If one of my children died, I couldn’t make it through life, I would die of sadness.’ So I had to go back and tell my mother, ‘Don’t cry anymore, I’m alive.’ So I think that was the driving force for me,” he shared.
Another survivor, Fernando Parrado, told The Post in 2022 that “some create their own histories.”
What have the “Yellowjackets” creators said about the Flight 571 crash?
The show’s creator, Ashley Lyle, who wrote “Yellowjackets” with her husband, Bart Nickerson, told NPR that she was “absolutely” inspired by the real-life plane crash and William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” when they came up with the idea to tell a similar tale from the women’s point of view.
“There was a girl in my high school who poisoned another girl’s food for fun,” Lyle told The New York Times in 2021 of a moment in her childhood that inspired her series. “Only showing girls getting along is not painting a full picture.”
How to watch “Yellowjackets”
The first two episodes of “Yellowjackets” Season 3 dropped on Valentine’s Day (Friday, Feb. 14) via Paramount+ with Showtime at 3 a.m. ET. New Season 3 episodes will be released on Sundays starting on Feb. 23.
Only Season 1 of the show is available to stream on Netflix.
