Yellowjackets sued for allegedly stealing their stranded soccer team conceit

In a lawsuit filed on Thursday, the team behind 2015 survival thriller Eden is alleging that the Yellowjackets weren’t the first soccer team to succumb to the wilderness. In the filing, which was reviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, the production company behind the Shyam Madiraju-directed feature is claiming that the popular 2021 Showtime series contains “strikingly similar elements” to the film. 

On paper, that does seem to be true. Both follow a soccer team that crash lands in a deserted place and is forced to work together (poorly) in an attempt to survive. Both see their survivors initially band together before splitting into warring factions, at least one led by a charismatic, cult-like leader. In both, some of those survivors eventually die off due to starvation and the elements, while others resort to in-fighting and even murder.

But the suit goes so far as to claim that “most substantive elements” of Yellowjackets were “copied” directly from the Nate Parker and Ethan Peck-led film. “In both works, the survivors, which include various players and the coach, among others, must fight for their lives against the harsh elements, starvation through dwindling resources, and the psychological toll of isolation in the form of growing darkness within themselves,” the filing reads. “As they struggle to survive, tensions rise, alliances form, dark secrets emerge, and moral boundaries are pushed to their limits—blurring the line between good and evil.” 

Apparently, the suit specifically focuses on the coach characters, who, according to THR, “suffer a series of similar traumatic events, including murder, cannibalism and death.” It’s unclear which of Yellowjackets‘ coaches the suit is referring to, but considering that one died immediately upon impact and the other is still very much alive at this point in the series, that seems like a pretty wide-ranging comparison. The suit also brings the show’s pacing into question, alleging that both are “methodical, focusing on the characters’ struggles and their evolving relationships,” which “allows the audience to empathize with the characters and fully appreciate the deteriorating circumstances.” So, just good writing then. 

This writer obviously isn’t a copyright lawyer, but this does seem like one of the goofier suits to hit the courts in a while. If Eden does win, which it won’t, the real-life survivors of the Uruguayan rugby team whose flight crashed in the Andes might as well sue all of these shows for ripping them off. (Not to mention the recent film about the disaster, Society Of The Snow, which also fits every single one of the above descriptions.) Hell, Lost could sue or even the William Golding estate over all of these shows “ripping off” Lord Of The Flies. The point is, for better or worse, plane crashes aren’t exactly proprietary. Now if Eden included a dream ballet-style musical number sung by Elijah Wood and a bird named Caligula, that would be a different story.