Season 2 of Yellowjackets went out with a bang that left viewers buzzing.
The psychological survivalist thriller operates on multiple timelines: The primary one follows a high school girls’ soccer team — the Yellowjackets — after their plane crashes in the woods in 1996. They become stranded in the wilderness for 18 months, struggling to survive. The second timeline begins in 2021, showing which of the Yellowjackets made it out alive and how they continue to be impacted by the accident.
In the Yellowjacket’s season 2 finale, the high schoolers had a falling out with each other, which kicked off a hunting ritual to determine who would be killed and eaten to survive the winter in the 1990s. Fast-forward to the present timeline, and the now-grown women are still reeling from the experience, admitting that the thrill of the chase consumed them in different ways.
“It felt really natural to us that we were going to bring all of our characters together,” series co-creator Ashley Lyle said in Behind the Buzz. “We knew we wanted to parallel the first hunt with the finale in the present day.”
So how did Yellowjacket‘s season 2 end? Here’s everything to know about the deadly, fiery finale before chomping into season 3.
Warning: Yellowjacket season 2 spoilers ahead!
How did the ‘90s timeline in Yellowjackets season 2 end?
In season 2’s penultimate episode, a young Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) draws the queen card when the Yellowjackets play a deadly game to figure out who will be killed and turned into sustenance.
She runs for her life as Javi (Luciano Leroux) helps her. But when he falls into the river, Natalie makes a heart-wrenching decision to “accept the wilderness’s choice” and watches him drown.
After Natalie survives the hunt, Lottie (Courtney Eaton) claims that the wilderness protected her, and she anoints Natalie as the Antler Queen to lead the group. Not all the girls are thrilled as Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) writes in her journal that she should have been named the leader.
However, Yellowjackets director Karyn Kusama alluded to Misty (Samantha Hanratty) also being jealous of Natalie’s crown and title. She even included a Shakespearean reference to how Misty sometimes deceives others to improve her own standing and discussed how there may be jealousy amongst the rest of the group as well.
“When we talk about Misty, we often talk about Iago to Othello,” Kusama said in Behind the Buzz. “Because Misty is a frustrated leader and so seeing Natalie being crowned, it’s an interesting direction because all of these girls might have an opportunity to be queen.”
Who burned down the girls’ cabin?
During the final scene of season 2, the Yellowjackets face a rude awakening when the cabin they have been staying in goes up in flames. Notably, coach Ben (Steven Krueger) is nowhere to be found as the girls watch their place burn down.
Earlier in the season, he became mortified after watching the teens eat the previously deceased Jackie (Ella Purnell). Upon his return to the cabin, Ben finds that Javi is dead and believes he’s next.
He tells Natalie that she should come to his shelter so they can survive because she’s not like the other girls. Natalie tells Ben he’s a good person who’s better off without them, saying that she doesn’t deserve to go because she let Javi die in her place and is about to indulge in his remains as Ben leaves.
“You begin to see Coach Ben realize if he’s going to survive this, he has to, at a certain point, abandon any feelings of responsibility for taking care of these girls. If he’s stuck to those feelings, those girls will quickly turn on him,” Krueger told Men’s Health.
She continued, “There’s a cool element to explore where Coach starts looking out for himself more than anybody else. That may end up pitting him against some of these girls. The consequences may be catastrophic.”
So while viewers saw Ben take a box of matches from the cabin before going off on his own, there aren’t initial clues about who started the fire and no one is held accountable — yet.
How did the present-day timeline in Yellowjackets season 2 end?
Things aren’t going too well for the now-grown women in the present day with Van’s (Lauren Ambrose) cancer diagnosis and Tai’s (Tawny Cypress) family falling apart. Meanwhile, Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) and Misty (Christina Ricci) face potential murder charges as Natalie (Juliette Lewis) and Lottie’s (Simone Kessell) mental states decline.
Lottie is convinced the wilderness wants another sacrifice from them, and she attempts to convince the others to play their deadly card game to pick who will be hunted. After going back and forth about what to do, the group succumbs to Lottie’s wish.
With that, the Yellowjackets pinpoint Shauna as their target. They instruct her to run or submit to being killed. Just then, Shauna’s teenage daughter Callie (Sarah Desjardins) shows up and shoots Lottie in the shoulder to break them out of their trance-like state.
Afterward, when the group gets its bearings back, Natalie’s new friend Lisa (Nicole Maines) — whom Natalie told to leave the compound and thanked for trying to teach her about forgiveness — shows up with a gun to stop them from potentially harming one another.
A frightful Misty rushes toward Lisa with a lethal injection in an attempt to save Natalie’s life, but Natalie sacrifices herself to save Lisa as Misty accidentally kills her closest friend.
“Everyone’s gone through so much, but Natalie doesn’t know how to cope, and her story’s just so tragic. And her death was unexpected,” Thatcher told Entertainment Weekly. “She’s actually doing something very honorable. It was her trying to save Lisa and seeing herself in Lisa and seeing more of a future for her.”
As Natalie dies, she is shown sitting on a plane, speaking with Javi, her younger self and Lottie, who tells her not to be afraid of dying.
“There’s that line I say to her in the plane, like, ‘We’ve been here for years,’ I think that just means you lost yourself in the Wilderness. There’s no going back,” Thatcher shared. “There’s so much heaviness and guilt inside of her. She was giving her life to Lisa.”
Where did Misty and Walter leave off at the end of Yellowjackets season 2?
Misty and Walter (Elijah Wood) share a love of musicals, solving crimes, knowing how to murder with sneaky precision and being mutually eccentric. However, Misty breaks up with Walter after learning he knows more about her than she expected, including her involvement in covering up Adam Martin’s (Peter Gadiot) murder.
“It’s a really fun storyline,” Ricci tells Entertainment Weekly. “Misty’s been so desperate for a connection and a best friend … so it’s interesting to see her reaction to someone who is interested in her, probably for the first time. I can’t imagine this has happened to her before.”
After Misty breaks up with Walter, he proves his loyalty by returning to Lottie’s compound to help save her and her friends from getting caught for Adam’s murder. Walter kills cop Kevyn Tan (Alex Wyndham), and he also blackmails detective Matt Saracusa (John Reynolds) to drop the case.
As season 2’s present day storyline ends, Walter tells Misty he took care of Adam’s murder investigation. In response, Misty confesses that she accidentally killed Natalie, and Walter embraces her.
What will happen in Yellowjackets season 3?
In the present day, Lottie tells the Yellowjackets that the wilderness is pleased with them for Natalie’s sacrifice, and they’ll see how their lives improve. Notably, she looks at Van, implying her cancer will be cured.
While saying this, Shauna is seemingly vindicated from being a prime suspect in Adam’s murder, and Misty’s relationship with Walter seems to be on the upswing.
However, series co-creators Lyle and Bart Nickerson teased that the group isn’t out of the woods as their immense trauma continues to haunt them, especially after Natalie’s death.
“As upsetting as it always is to lose a character who is as important to our story as Natalie, the fact is that the stakes of the world are life and death,” Lyle told The Hollywood Reporter. “The ritual itself awakens something in them that had been dormant for a really long time.”
Nickerson added of the tragic consequences, “What we’re trying to do with the present-day story is to show that that force is not one that ends when they get rescued.”
In the 1990s timeline, the girls may have anointed Natalie as Antler Queen, but with the amount of jealousy and moving parts, the crown will likely change heads. Lyle also told The Wrap that the snow will melt as springtime blossoms, indicating a return to the feeling of season 1 compared to season 2’s cold winter.
“I will say we see Season 3 as a little bit of a return to Season 1 in terms of the vibe, though. All I will say is that the girls have been out there for a while and they’re thriving,” Lyle shared.
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