Series · Thriller, Drama, Horror · 2021 · TV-MA

Yellowjackets: parents' guide

17+our pick

Best for ages 17 and up. Rated TV-MA.

A gripping but very graphic survival thriller for older teens and adults. A 1996 high school girls' soccer team crashes in the wilderness and slides into ritual and cannibalism, while the adult survivors' secrets surface 25 years later. Expect lengthy sex scenes involving teen characters (played by adult actors), an adult masturbating, constant f-words, teen drinking and drug use, gory deaths, animal killings and a stillborn baby. A group of drugged teens tries to sexually assault a boy, and an apparent suicide and an addiction storyline run through the adult timeline. Showtime rates it TV-MA; we suggest 17.

What's in it

Violence

Strong

Graphic: a girl is impaled in a pit, then butchered and eaten in a ritual; a broken leg shows bone through skin; bodies are dismembered and cooked. Animals are killed and eaten. Drugged teens try to sexually assault a boy, and adults commit murder.

Language

Strong

Constant strong language: Plugged In counted more than 10 f-words in several episodes and over 27 in one season 3 episode, along with s-words, the c-word, crude sexual phrases and misuse of God's name.

Sex and nudity

Strong

Graphic sex scenes between high school characters, including one that lingers uncomfortably, plus adult sex, an affair and a woman masturbating. Teens lounge in bras and underwear, and there is talk of orgies and sex toys. A drugged group tries to rape a boy.

Drinking, drugs and smoking

Strong

Teens drink, smoke and take drugs at parties, and one girl secretly doses the group with hallucinogenic mushrooms, which leads to violence. An adult survivor is fresh out of rehab and fights relapse, and a fatal fentanyl injection is a plot point.

Scary or intense scenes

Strong

Deeply unsettling: ritual sacrifice, occult symbols, a hidden shrine holding a human heart and a dog's head, visions and hints of supernatural forces. Starvation, a stillborn baby and the girls' cruelty to one another sustain the dread.

Sensitive topics

  • Sexual assault
  • Suicide
  • Addiction
  • Overdose
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a parent
  • Animal death

Worth talking about

The show asks how far ordinary people will go to survive, and how trauma follows them into adulthood. Talk about how secrets and guilt shape the adult characters' choices.

Where to stream →

On our lists

Similar picks around 17+

Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Wikipedia. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.