Deadline reports that Ashley Lyle (Narcos, Dispatches from Elsewhere) and Bart Nickerson (The Originals,The Vampire Diaries) have struck gold by receiving a deal with Paramount Television Studios, after a deal with Showtime was signed in 2022. The pair are the showrunners and creators of Yellowjackets, which streams on Paramount+. The couple will develop more scripts after the psychological thriller’s fourth and final season later this year.
According to Deadline, Lyle and Nickerson’s move from Showtime to Paramount was a calculated idea because Yellowjackets is ending along side the show The Chi, which ends with its eighth season. Only two Showtime original series remain: an adaptation of the French’s The Agency, which was renewed for a second season in 2024, and Dexter: Resurrection, which was renewed in October.
Deadline reports that the creators were prime for a deal extension from the streamer’s parent company, Paramount Global, once their show was renewed in October. Paramount Television Studios has also offered deals with their other series’ creators, including Taylor Sheridan, the brain behind oil tycoon drama Landman and the midwest mobster series, Tulsa King. They also produce Prime Video’s Reacher and Cross.
“We’re elated to continue our relationship with Paramount, a home that deeply and genuinely supports original, outside-the-box, narrative-driven storytelling. Reuniting with Matt Thunell, one of the very first executives we ever worked with, is especially meaningful to us, and we can’t wait to dig into developing our next passion projects while supporting a new generation of oddball creators through this partnership,” said Lyle and Nickerson to Deadline.
“We are thrilled to expand our long-standing creative partnership with Ashley and Bart, who are singular, fearless, and groundbreaking storytellers. We look forward to supporting them making many epic stories to come,” said Matt Thunell, President, Paramount Television Studios in an interview to Deadline.
Yellowjackets is a twisted Lord of the Flies-esque drama that follows a group of women who survived being stranded in the wilderness as teens. The series splits its narrative between the bleak months lost in the woods, and present-day, where their trauma shows up in violent and disturbing ways.