Warning! This article contains spoilers for Yellowjackets Season 3.
Season 3 of Yellowjackets pushed the boundaries of survival, sanity, and sisterhood like never before. As the wilderness continued to tighten its grip on the stranded teens, the adult versions of the characters reckoned with the trauma they thought they’d left behind — only to find it’s been lurking in the shadows all along. With power shifting in both timelines and long-standing secrets coming to light, the stakes have never been higher.
In a season packed with emotional gut punches, cryptic visions, and brutal sacrifices, the finale delivered answers to some of the show’s biggest mysteries — and raised even more. From the reveal of the long-speculated Pit Girl to shocking betrayals and haunting declarations, the final hour left the Yellowjackets forever changed.
Here’s everything that went down in the Yellowjackets Season 3 finale.
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The Antler Queen
All season long, there has been a power struggle among the Yellowjackets stuck in the wilderness. Nat (Sophie Thatcher) was installed as the Antler Queen at the end of last season. She struggled to maintain that power, especially as Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) tried to take control. Nat is dragged out of her shelter for a bed check, and when Misty (Sammi Hanratty) goes to check on her, Nat gives her the cold shoulder. She now knows that Misty broke the transponder and prevented them from being saved months ago.
Shauna now seems to be firmly in control and she has many people following orders, including Hannah (Ashley Sutton). But no one is more attuned to The Wilderness than Lottie (Courtney Eaton) who is having visions of The Antler Queen. She mimics her movements and screams at her. She then appears to adult Lottie (Simone Kessel), calming her and telling her “it’s time to meet her”. Adult Lottie then wakes up in the stairwell where she died and asks, “Are you there?”
Meanwhile, Van (Liv Hewson) and Misty secretly meet to discuss the radio. Van thinks it’s starting to work, and Misty thinks they can figure it out together.
Mourning Van
Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) and Tai (Tawny Cypress) drive out to bury Van (Lauren Ambrose). As she does so, Tai tells Van that she will “remember all of it.” She proceeds to cut out Van’s heart and eat it.
Misty confronts Callie
Citizen detective Misty (Christina Ricci) has finally put all the pieces together. She knows Callie (Sarah Desjardins) killed Lottie. There’s a photo of Callie on Lottie’s phone, and while on its own, it doesn’t prove anything. But when you pair it with the DNA evidence, Misty knows that she’s a killer. Callie admits it. She knew they (aka the Yellowjackets) were keeping secrets from them. The tape she got in the mail disappeared, and she figured Lottie took it. It all ends with Callie shoving Lottie down the stairs after a confrontation about Callie being like her mom, but more.
Later, Callie tells Jeff (Warren Kohl). Despite her assertion that she’s just like her mom, Jeff consoles her. He’s just sorry he didn’t protect Callie from Shauna. Shauna gets home to find that Jeff and Callie have left.
Back home, Shauna goes to visit Misty. “What did you do to my family?” she asks Misty. It’s revealed that Callie killed Lottie. “It’s almost as if she’s been lacking strong examples in friendship,” Misty says sarcastically. Misty orders Shauna to leave.
Another hunt is on
Akilah (Nia Sondaya) cries over the loss of the dead animals. The Yellowjackets assert that The Wilderness let this happen because they hadn’t provided a real sacrifice. The people they’ve killed — Coach Ben (Steven Krueger), Kodi (Joel McHale), Edwin (Nelson Franklin) — they were enemies, not friends. Lottie suggests another hunt, and Shauna agrees. “We have to show The Wilderness our respect,” Shauna adds.
Tai (Jasmin Savoy Brown) tells Van that while The Wilderness decides, they have to protect each other. She tells Van to purposely pick the cards. While Van suggests she can’t do it, Tai says they are not all their teammates. They can pick Hannah.
As the group begins to pick cards, Shauna notices something is up. She steps in between Tai and Mari (Alexa Barajas) to disrupt the order Van had created. It’s not Hannah who pulls the Queen of Hearts, but Gen. “Tough break, Mar,” Shauna tells her. The heart necklace is placed around her neck, and Shauna begins counting. The hunt is on.
Travis (Kevin Alves), having had a lot to drink, tells Shauna that none of this is real. “Don’t you ever wonder whose reality we’re in?” he asks. He suggests that some of his thoughts are Javi’s thoughts. Tai and Lottie step in to diffuse the situation.
Tai and Shauna are on the hunt for Mari. Shauna gets a weird vibe and suggests they stick together. Mari, meanwhile, changes out of her brightly colored jacket and pants as a misdirect. Shauna thinks that Tai is letting Mari get away — she tried to rig the cards. Tai doesn’t back down from Shauna. Gen (Vanessa Prasad) tells Tai that Van is hurt, but Shauna doesn’t believe it. She lets the two of them go without her. This is later revealed to have been a ruse by Gen to give Mari time to run.
Nat gets the satellite phone, and Hannah follows her. When Nat grabs her, Hannah insists she’s on her side. She came out here to study, but her boyfriend was murdered, and she stabbed their guide. She wants to go home. Nat believes her.
Akilah finds Lottie praying in the caves. It is revealed that Akilah killed the animals to trigger the hunt. Lottie tells her it was a hard thing to do, but they are all connected to It. “Even if we go home, it will come with us,” Lottie tells her.
As Mari is on the run, Shauna is knocked over by Melissa (Jenna Burgess). She begins choking her with a stick. They hear the horn blow, meaning the hunt is over but Melissa isn’t done. She eventually relents, letting Shauna live. “I knew you’d turn out to be boring,” Shauna tells her.
Related: ‘Yellowjackets’ Star Steven Krueger Weighs in on Whether Coach Ben Burned Down the Cabin (Exclusive)
Tai vows revenge
Tai tells Misty that Shauna is not only responsible for all the things that have happened but that Shauna thrived on what happened out there. She got Van and Lottie killed, but that’s just the beginning of everything that happened. They can’t let her be the last one alive. Walter (Elijah Wood) watches on from his car.
Back home, Shauna finds the letter written by Melissa (Hilary Swank). She was telling the truth. Melissa had sent the tape as some form of closure. Shauna burns the letter andpensone of her own.
“I’m finally starting to realize that we can’t remember [what happened] because at some point we became so alive in that place that we lost our capacity for self-reflection,” she writes. “I think we can’t or won’t remember it clearly because we recognize deep down that we were having so much fun. That’s the terrible truth we left out there buried, along with the people we called our friends.” Is that true for all the Yellowjackets or just Shauna?
“I was a f–king Queen,” she adds.
Pit Girl revealed
Mari continues to run but winds up falling into the pit. It’s just like in Season 1, Episode 1. She is impaled and dies. Mari is Pit Girl, after all. Mari’s body is dragged back to camp, hung up and butchered. We finally learn more about the scene from the first episode as Shauna lords over the group as The Antler Queen while they eat Mari.
Help is on the way?
The next morning, Shauna goes to confront Natalie, only to realize it’s Hannah. Nat is on the mountaintop, using the satellite radio to make a call. She finally gets a signal. Is this how they get home? We’ll have to wait and see.
All three seasons of Yellowjackets are available to stream on Paramount+ with Showtime.
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