Spoiler Warning: Yellowjackets Seasons 1-3Yellowjacketsfans love a good twist, so much so that there are whole message boards dedicated to theorizing about Showtime’s hottest puzzle-box series. Premiering in 2021,Yellowjacketshas kept viewers engaged with compelling characters andbizarre mysteries from the first episode. The show is set between two timelines. The first begins in 1996, when a plane crash leaves a girls' high school soccer team from New Jersey stranded in the Canadian wilderness. The second timeline picks up 25 years later, when the survivors of that crash will do anything to keep their secrets hidden.
With ritualistic ceremonies, cannibalism, a potentially supernatural wilderness, and a classic 1990s soundtrack,Yellowjacketsis nostalgic and unpredictable. As a result, dedicated fans have been guessing from the very beginning what might happen next. A lot of the time, fan theories go nowhere, with the show taking a sharp left turn to shock audiences. Occasionally, however, fans are spot on, predicting some of the show’s wildest twists.
Shauna’s Husband Blackmailed the Yellowjackets
The first season ofYellowjacketsbrings the adult survivors together when it becomes clear that someone is trying to blackmail them about thethings they did in the wilderness. Initially, they suspect one another, but the show goes out of its way to make everyone think the blackmailer is a man named Adam (Peter Gadiot). Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) meets Adam early in the season when they get into a fender-bender. After some flirtation, they begin having an affair. His sudden appearance in Shauna’s life does coincide with the blackmail, but it turns out that Adam is just a red herring.
How a Critic Figured It Out
In “Doomcoming” (Season 1, Episode 9), Shauna finds out that her husband, Jeff (Warren Kole), is the one who has been blackmailing them. This twist served as a surprise for most fans, but not forVulture TV Critic Roxana Hadadi, who saw it coming.“By the end of the episode [seven], with Jeff coming home late and immediately taking a shower, the blackmailer is pretty clearly him, right,” wrote Hadadi. “We already know he’s lying about furniture deliveries, and there is no way fixing an inventory database takes that long.” Hadadi was right. Jeff needed cash, and he thought blackmailing Shauna’s friends was the fastest way to get it.
Reddit Thought Javi Went Underground
The youngest survivor of the plane crash is Travis’s (Kevin Alves) younger brother, Javi (Luciano Leroux). Javi spends a lot of time on the periphery of the team’s decisions before disappearing into the woods following the drug-fueled events of “Doomcoming.” Travis spends months searching for his brother, but with winter upon them, Javi’s survival seems unlikely. Then, afan theory emerged on Redditin 2023 suggesting otherwise. A user suggested that Javi was likely living underground, perhaps in some old mining tunnels.
Javi’s Devastating Fate on the Ice
This theory was corroborated during the show’s second season when Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Van (Liv Hewson) find Javi alone in the woods. Eventually, Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) follows Javi’s drawings to the cave in which he had been hiding during the harsh winter. Unfortunately, it is the existence of this cave that ultimately leads to Javi’s death. When the starving Yellowjackets mark Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) as a sacrifice to the wilderness, Javi tries to save Natalie by telling her about a place where she can hide. He is in the process of leading her to that cave when he falls through the ice and drowns.
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Reddit Saw Lottie’s Death Coming
Adult Natalie’s (Juliette Lewis) death at the end of Season 2 proved that these writers aren’t afraid to kill off major characters, begging the question of who would be next. On a show that has seen a lot of death, no one feels particularly safe. However, it stands to reason that newer additions to the cast (such as adult versions of the teens) might be around for a bit longer. Alas, this was not the case for adult Lottie (Simone Kessell).
Is Lottie’s Death an Accident or Murder?
“So silly but i think the next yj to die in the present timeline will be Lottie,” wrote u/maximumdrive19 on athread where fans share some of their wildest theories. The idea that Lottie might be next was posed on Aug 11, 2025. Three days later, “12 Angry Girls and 1 Drunk Travis” (Season 3, episode 4) aired with a twist ending that showed adult Lottie dead at the bottom of a staircase. The Reddit user was right that Kessell’s Lottie was next. While initially her fall is thought to be an accident, it is quickly believed thatLottie was murdered.
Everyone Believed the Girls Would Eat Coach Ben
As the plane crash’s only adult survivor, it’s actually surprising that Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) made it as long as he did. Ben was gravely injured in the crash, but teen Misty (Samantha Hanratty) was able to cut his leg off below the knee and cauterize the wound to prevent infection. At first, Ben’s presence among the surviving teenagers seemed to provide a sense of order and comfort. He teaches them how to hunt for food and even gives Travis condoms when it looks like things might be getting serious between Travis and Natalie. Over time, however,Ben’s authority over the teenagers wanesas their cult-like behavior intensifies.
The Parallels to Greek Mythology
Some fans argue that Ben’s demise was inevitable. In oneReddit thread from 2024, theorists compare the soccer team’s experience in the woods to Greek mythology, likening the wilderness to the underworld. In this explanation, Ben is viewed as a stand-in for King Pentheus, a character from the Greek playThe Bacchaeby Euripides. King Pentheus bans the worship of Dionysus, god of wine, vegetation, and fertility. Pentheus is subsequently driven mad and murdered by the women of Thebes.
Yellowjacketsfans theorized prior to the start of Season 3 that Ben was Pentheus refusing the power of the wilderness (Dionysus) and so the soccer team (like the women of Thebes) would capture and kill him. The team does capture him. They do kill him, even if Natalie is trying to grant him mercy. It is also worth noting that Ben never took part in cannibalism, which viewers believe is an indicator that the wilderness would not allow him to live.
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Dark Fan Theory Predicted Hiker’s Fate
There is atheory on Reddit from 2023that is partially correct, with the first half of it being disproven in the Season 3 finale. In this theory, u/womencool666 posits that “pit girl” might not be one of the Yellowjackets at all. While the identity of “pit girl” is revealed to be Mari (Alexa Barajas) at the end of Season 3, this user does go on to suggest that perhaps hikers come across the stranded teens and are subsequently murdered. “It seems unlikely but i keep trying to think of reasons why no one is willing to tell the story of what happened [before they were rescued]” writes the theorist, “and killing an innocent outsider seems pretty bad.”
The Hikers Were Studying Frogs
Sure enough, life in the wilderness takes a shocking turn in “Croak” (Season 3, Episode 7) when teenage Lottie (Courtney Eaton) kills one of the frog scientists who stumble upon their campsite during a ritualistic feast. In the aftermath, the Yellowjackets take the remaining scientist and her wilderness guide as prisoners. The girls are divided on what to do next, with some concerned about the impact Lottie’s actions will have once they are rescued.
Hilary Swank Would Play Adult Melissa
One of the thingsYellowjacketsdoes so well is cast beloved 1990s and early 2000s stars to play adult versions of the teenagers. WhenLauren Ambrose came onboard as adult Van in Season 2, fans were buzzing. So, when it was announced in 2024 that Oscar-winner Hilary Swank would be joining the show for Season 3, viewers immediately started theorizing about who she would play. By the end of Season 2, there were only a handful of characters in the wilderness timeline whose fates had yet to be determined.
The Twist Behind Melissa’s Return
Even before the romantic relationship between teen Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) and teen Melissa (Jenna Burgess) emerged as a major storyline in Season 3,fans were speculating on Reddit that Swankwould play the adult version of Melissa. This theory was confirmed in “A Normal, Boring Life” (Season 3, Episode 8).
It turns out that the frog scientist the girl captured in the wilderness had a daughter named Alex. When adult Shauna sneaks into Alex’s home, she comesface to face with adult Melissa. It turns out that Melissa faked her own death once they were rescued, changing her name to Kelly and moving out of town. She went to find Hannah’s (Ashley Sutton) daughter and accidentally fell in love with her. While some viewers are still unconvinced that Melissa is telling the truth about who she is and where she’s been, guessing that Swank would be stepping into her shoes before the season even started was an impressive prediction.
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