Content Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the show Yellowjackets, as well as discussions of suicide, drugs and cannibalism.Every mystery solved in Yellowjackets rewards you with several more questions. Teenagers stranded in the wilderness is already a complex situation, but Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson have created a show that twists this familiar tale in wildly unexpected directions. The story’s three timelines weave strands of anticipation, dread, and revelation together with perfect pacing. The resulting tapestry poignantly illustrates the cost of surviving trauma and the challenge of living when it passes.

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The series opens with masked cannibals hunting an unidentifiable girl followed by questions about what exactly happened out there during the 17 months our core cast was stranded in the woods. Each episode broadens your view of this tragedy while only really clarifying that it’s not as simple as you first assumed. The expected threat of winter’s approach is coupled with the unexpected threat of something dark and supernatural. The finale feels like it has merely set the stage for what’s coming and left plenty of questions unanswered ahead of season 2.

Updated on February 7th, 2023, by Hannah Saab:

With Yellowjackets season 2 premiering on Friday, March 24 on streaming and airing on network television Sunday, March 26, it's the perfect time to rewatch the riveting first season that left so many burning questions to think about.

1 What About The Other People Left Out In The Snow?

Ella Purnell as Jackie in Yellowjackets
Image via Showtime

Yellowjackets has no shortage of deaths, with most of them being far more brutal than Jackie’s (Ella Purnell) demise. But that lack of visual shock is more than replaced by the shocking futility of season 1’s final loss. It’s a death you can see coming from the first episode, but unlike Laura Lee’s (Jane Widdop) explosive exit from Yellowjackets, Jackie goes quietly in the falling snow.

That futility stays with you as you reflect on how nearly all the girls could have changed this outcome. As the grief-stricken girls find Jackie’s body by her failed campfire, you can easily overlook that she isn’t the only one who never made it back to the cabin. Travis (Kevin Alves) and Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) were out looking for Javi (Luciano Leroux) who had already been missing for a full day. Travis and Natalie definitely survived, but how? And was Javi as fortunate as they were?

2 Is Something Supernatural Truly Happening?

Girls have a seance by candlelight in Yellowjackets.

Asking whether spooky occurrences are real or merely figments of a stressed protagonist’s imagination is a well-worn trope of psychological horror. However, Yellowjackets uses this trope particularly well. The characters are a mix of skeptics and believers looking at either unbelievable coincidences or something beyond material reality, with plenty of evidence to argue either way. Meanwhile, their collective trauma, malnutrition, and accidental trip on shrooms cast doubts on their reliability.

Travis doesn’t believe at all. Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) goes through the motions for the sake of her relationship with Van (Liv Hewson), who believes completely. Misty (Samantha Hanratty) seems to feign belief to obtain power in the group. In spite of that, they all witness a possession, prophecies fulfilled, and Lottie (Courtney Eaton) miraculously obtaining food. Were these events the byproduct of imagination and coincidence? Did Jackie and Van witness a real entity or merely a near-death hallucination? Did the bad one’s sacrifice actually turn the tide of adult Taissa’s (Tawny Cypress) election?

3 What Exactly Has Lottie Been Doing?

One of Lottie's cultists in Yellowjackets.

The show’s final reveal opened the door to the most questions. Not only did Lottie survive, but the spiritual practices she started in the woods have continued in a cult. Just as adult Natalie (Juliette Lewis) is about to die by suicide, Lottie’s cultists burst in wearing matching outfits and the mysterious symbol and drag her away screaming.

Lottie did not create the symbol, so did she create the cult or merely join it? Yellowjackets’ creators have referred to her cult as a well-intentioned wellness group. Was Natalie’s rehab part of the group’s activities? If so, what does this say about Taissa’s connection to Lottie?

4 Is Lottie Responsible For the Postcards And Travis’s Death?

Natalie (Juliette Lewis) shows Misty (Christina Ricci) a postcard with the mysterious symbol in Yellowjackets
Image via Showtime

Lottie seems like the obvious answer to who sent the postcards and had a candlelit ritual at Travis’s death. After all, she drained his bank account the next day. But the obvious answer has not often been correct in Yellowjackets.

Once the girls fall into warring factions in the forest, other forces may come into play. The answer to this question may rely on the answer to another: What was Natalie right about?

5 Are There Any Other Surprise Survivors?

Lottie with the antler crown next to Shauna.
Image via Showtime

At no point in the first season did the show definitively tell you that Natalie, Travis, Taissa, Shauna (Melanie Lynsky) and Misty (Christina Ricci) were the only survivors. Nonetheless, the sole focus on them gave that impression. Lottie’s reveal means others may have survived.

Perhaps those who were wholly devoted to Lottie’s belief system are still in the cult. Perhaps there is another group altogether that will come into play. Only future episodes will tell precisely how many actually survived the hellish events out in the wild, and exactly who among them are friend or foe.

6 What Will Divide The Girls?

Misty in her fur mask in Yellowjackets.

The pilot episode shows at least two factions will form. These factions will fight, kill, and eat each other. This isn’t just speculation; the press release for the show says, “The series chronicles their descent from a complicated but thriving team to warring, cannibalistic clans.”

The team has endured much stress, but what will finally split them up? It could be one group becoming desperate enough to engage in cannibalism before the others can accept it. It could be a divide over Lottie’s spiritual practices. Or it could be something else entirely.

7 Who Will Spill First Blood?

An unidentifiable person in a fur costume in Yellowjackets.

The conflicts and stresses leading up to winter have piled up like kindling, but what spark will set the war ablaze? Misty has shown a fascination with the pain of others and has danced dangerously close to killing already.

Natalie and Travis have both had conflicts with multiple people. Taissa’s sleepwalking spells have produced disturbing behavior and indirectly nearly caused one death. People on the verge of starvation cannibalizing their dead is one thing, but what drives them to actively hunt each other?

8 What Sleepwalking Incident Haunts Taissa?

Taissa wakes in the middle of sleepwalking covered in dirt in Yellowjackets.

Lottie’s vision of Taissa eating dirt outside at night turned out to be a literal occurrence. It escalated when she nodded off while keeping watch, and she awoke in a tree while her friends were attacked by wolves. After returning from the wilderness, these incidents stopped, but the stress of the campaign and the blackmail caused them to resurface. She frightens her own son, Sammy (Aiden Stoxx), who calls the sleepwalking Taissa the “bad one.”

These behaviors are troubling enough. But the normally strong Taissa’s tearful terror at what she could do to her wife (Rukiya Bernard) and son alludes to something far worse happening out in those woods. Fans now know that the bad one is capable of using the family pet’s head and a heart for a blood sacrifice. What exactly did she do when she was stranded with her team?

9 Will Shauna Get Away With Murder?

Melanie Lynskey resting her chin on her hand while smiling in Yellowjackets.
Image via Showtime

Thanks to what may be the most terrible misunderstanding in television couple history, Shauna murdered her boyfriend, Adam (Peter Gadiot). She believed he was the blackmailer and killed him to protect herself, only to find out that it was her husband, Jeff (Warren Kole). What Shauna had misunderstood as a secret affair was actually Jeff hiding his foolish money dealings with the mob.

There are still red flags about Adam that may lead to revelations of a nefarious purpose. For now, he’s an unlucky scapegoat for Jeff so that the other Yellowjackets don’t come after him while their money gets the mob out of the picture. Unfortunately, Shauna’s daughter, Callie (Sarah Desjardins) saw Adam at their house and knows Shauna’s connection to the missing man on the news. The Yellowjackets might have executed a perfect murder cleanup, but will Callie lead the police to Shauna or the Yellowjackets to Jeff?

10 Is Misty A Serial Killer?

yellowjackets-christina-ricci-social-featured
Image via Showtime

There are a lot of Yellowjackets fan theories, but this one has an abundance of evidence. Teen Misty was skilled in first-aid, but she was almost overeager to get her hands on an injury. When Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) spurns her advances, she punishes him with some light poisoning. Her outcast status almost makes you sympathetic, but her manipulation of others is still disturbing.

All of this behavior intensifies in her adult life, culminating in holding Jessica (Rekha Sharma) hostage in a basement room before poisoning her. The basement room seems to be designed for this particular purpose. Although all the girls had some of Misty’s skills, she doesn’t appear to be rusty from years away from hurting people. Is she a serial killer? And was her date that Natalie scared off supposed to be her next victim?

NEXT: 'Yellowjackets' Season 1 Finale Ending Explained