Everything We Know About ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 (So Far)
The showrunners have meticulously planned a 5-season arc for the series.
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Yellowjackets is a psychological thriller series masterminded by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson. They have meticulously planned a 5-season arc for the series, ensuring a captivating storyline. While the fate of seasons four and five falls on ratings and viewership, season three is currently in the works. Season two dropped several curveballs at the end, leaving fans eager to know what happens next. The writing process for season three had already commenced, despited being briefly interrupted due to the WGA strike. Fortunately, with the strike now over, the team is hopeful to resume their work and get the next installment of the story ready for streaming soon.
As of now, there isn’t any official announcement regarding the return date of Yellowjackets. However, Ashley Lyle shared that the team is deeply engrossed in the writing process. “We’re deep in the writing,” Lyle told Variety. “Everybody came back so incredibly enthusiastic, raring to go, and creatively invigorated.”
For those who haven’t yet watched this survival series, the first two seasons provide an excellent opportunity to dive into the chilling narrative during the cold winter season. And thankfully, you probably don’t have to do it isolated in a remote cabin after a plane crash. Due to the duel timeline format, there are several main characters, including Shauna, whom Melanie Lynskey plays as an adult, and Sophie Nélisse, who portrays Shauna’s teen self.
The show follows a team of soccer players and their coach who embark on a journey to Seattle for a national tournament. Their plane crashes deep in the wilderness of Canada, and the survivors must find a way to stay alive during the harsh Canadian winter. One timeline is set in 1996, immediately after the crash, and the other 25 years later, focusing on the survivors’ lives as adults. Plenty of drama unfolds in both the past and the present. As children, they face bear attacks, resort to cannibalism, and encounter an eerie presence they call “the wilderness” that seemingly decides who lives and who dies. As adults, they grapple with the trauma of their 19-month survival long after they’re rescued. Their lives are shaken up when a mysterious person begins sending threats, forcing the survivors to reunite.
Where We Left Off in Season Two
(Warning: full season two spoilers ahead)
A lot went down at the end of the second season, allowing plenty of speculation among fans. In the present-day timeline, all the major players converge at Lottie’s compound as Detective Kevyn Tan and his partner Matt close in on Shauna, Misty, Taissa, and Natalie, determined to catch them for the murder of Shauna’s former lover Adam and subsequent cover-up of the crime. Walter shows up just in time to help Misty and her friends escape. He poisons Kevyn with phenobarbital and eventually lures Matt back to Kevyn’s car, where he has hidden Kevyn’s body in the trunk, along with his phone. When Matt unlocks the trunk and discovers his partner’s body, Walter grabs his gun and fires it several times into the trunk. He explains how he created a narrative that would either implicate him or his partner, Kevyn, as Adam’s murderer (among other things) and to make a choice.
In the past timeline, after the tragic death of Javi, Lottie selects Natalie to become the group’s leader. The girls and Travis all swear allegiance to Natalie, literally bowing down to her after Lottie does the same, thus confirming that Natalie is the Antler Queen in the wilderness era.
Meanwhile, in the present, the plane crash survivors draw playing cards, with the idea that whoever draws the Queen of Hearts will be sacrificed to spare the others. Although Shauna drew the notorious card, Natalie dies instead, with her death reported as a drug overdose. This tragic end to her story in the present contrasts with her new role as the leader in the past. The question now is whether Natalie will be the last person to hold the Antler Queen title, as the group has already drawn cards to choose who to sacrifice. This could potentially lead to a shift in leadership and responsibility for the growing number of deaths.
The ending scene returns to 1996 and shows Shauna writing in her journal when she frantically watches as smoke begins filling the house. It was implied that Coach Ben set the building ablaze when he saw what monsters the teens had become. Everyone else was locked in, but with Taissa’s handy axe work, they managed to escape, watching their only shelter burn to the ground.
With so many unexpected developments in the plot and several unanswered questions, it’s hard to say where season 3 will go. We’ll have to wait to find out what the survivors did to continue living despite losing their shelter in the freezing wilderness. As for the present-day characters, Shauna would become the new leader if history repeats itself since she was chosen yet managed to escape death, similarly to Natalie in the past. With their adult versions sinking deeper into Lottie’s beliefs, it’s hard to imagine what the group will be capable of moving forward.
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