Showtime’s hit show Yellowjackets provides a great replacement for fans of a Netflix mystery show from 2019 that was canceled under complicated circumstances. With Yellowjackets season 3 on the horizon as it aims for a 2025 release date, the show has endured substantial success as one of the biggest teen/adult-centered mystery series on TV. The concept of stranded individuals beginning a new society while trapped in a deadly situation has been done long before Yellowjackets, but the Showtime series has crafted an exceptional story that uniquely balances dual timelines for teens and adults with plenty of supernatural mysteries to solve.

When Yellowjackets premiered in 2021, the show was compared to similar mystery series like Lost, The Stand, Wayward Pines, The Leftovers, and The Wilds. The latter show bears the biggest resemblance to Yellowjackets’ premise, but The Wilds was canceled by Amazon Prime Video after only two seasons. Interestingly, The Wilds was already seen as a replacement for a different Netflix mystery show that had been canceled in 2020, with Yellowjackets’ continued success and popularity thus establishing it as the perfect show to watch after those shows’ cancelations.

Yellowjackets Is A Great Replacement For Netflix’s The Society

The Society ended before it could solve its compelling mysteries

While Netflix has often received criticism for canceling shows after just one season, among the series with the biggest outrage about its cancelation was The Society. The teen drama mystery show premiered on Netflix in 2019, following high schoolers who become trapped in a town identical to their own after leaving for a field trip. When they return home, everyone – including their parents – is gone, leading them to try to piece together the mystery of where they really are while also forming a new society.

Though the mystery series received positive reviews from critics and audiences, Netflix canceled The Society season 2 in 2020 after originally renewing it. The Society’s cancelation was due to complications with production and budgeting from the COVID-19 pandemic, so the show’s early ending (or lack thereof) was under extremely complex circumstances. While the showrunner has given hope about the potential for The Society season 2 to still happen somehow, the lack of more episodes and compelling mysteries with these characters over the past five years has been disappointing.

Even if The Society season 2 never happens, there are still similar ongoing TV shows that can scratch the teen mystery drama itch from the Netflix series. High among these is Yellowjackets, with the teenage timeline’s premise, mysteries, and themes being similar to those explored in The Society. Of course, Yellowjackets’ survival storyline and aftermath are quite a bit more intense than The Society in terms of the show’s plane crash, numerous murder plots, and cannibalism.

Yellowjackets & The Society Are Both Lord Of The Flies-Like Teen Shows With Supernatural Mysteries

Yellowjackets carries on The Society’s themes & survival premise

When The Society and Yellowjackets premiered, both shows were described as being similar to Lord of the Flies. In Yellowjackets, teens crash into the wilderness and must fend for themselves with no food, shelter, or form of communication. In The Society, teens are stranded alone in an adult-less, rule-less town that leads them to essentially split up into different groups based on how they wish to conduct themselves as a society. Considering the Lord of the Flies novel was first published in 1954, it’s incredible that these themes and premises continue to be so popular 70 years later in various formats.

Of course, The Society and Yellowjackets are also set apart based on the supernatural mysteries that pervade their teen plots. In The Society, the teens have no idea how they came to be in a town identical to their own, where everyone who disappeared went, why the “smell” from their town disappeared, and each exit out of town is blocked. Sadly, it’s getting more and more likely that the answers to these questions won’t be revealed on screen. However, Yellowjackets has plenty of supernatural mysteries with the symbol, Taissa’s sleepwalking, and the powers of the “wilderness” that are shaping up to all receive satisfying solutions.

Yellowjackets Already Has A Major Leg Up On The Society

Watching Yellowjackets won’t be met with The Society’s frustration

While it may still be disappointing for fans of The Society that season 2 never happened and those mysteries remain unsolved, rest assured that Yellowjackets won’t be plagued with the same issue. Yellowjackets is already in its third season and has begun piecing together more of the wider supernatural puzzle while resolving big questions from season 1. It’s unclear how long Yellowjackets will continue, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the show reach at least five seasons before completely wrapping up its dual-timeline storylines. At least with Yellowjackets, the mysteries set up in the first season have a chance to reveal their answers on screen.