Yellowjackets season 3 wraps up with a dramatic and game-changing moment, especially for Natalie Scattorcio (played by Sophie Thatcher). In the final episode, Natalie makes a bold choice that paves the way for season 4. She uncovers a major secret: Misty Quigley (Samantha Hanratty) had possession of the plane’s black box transponder the entire time they were stranded in the wilderness. That means Misty may have sabotaged their chances of being rescued.
Interestingly, Natalie chooses not to tell the others about this shocking discovery. Instead, she decides to work with Misty and Van Palmer (Liv Hewson) to repair a broken satellite phone left behind by the scientists, hinting that her priorities may be shifting.
In the present-day timeline, adult Misty (Christina Ricci) has her own mystery to solve. She finally pieces together who killed Lottie Matthews (Simone Kessell) and decides to confront them head-on. Meanwhile, Taissa Turner (Tawny Cypress) is shattered by the death of her longtime love, Van (Lauren Ambrose), who is killed by Melissa (played by Hilary Swank). Taissa gives Van a heartfelt burial and quietly vows revenge against the person she believes is responsible.
These events bring season 3 to a close, while also planting seeds for the chaos, vengeance, and secrets sure to unfold in season 4.
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Yellowjackets season 3 ending explained: Natalie’s phone call explained
As the stranded Yellowjackets prepare Mari’s body for eating—and go through with it, Natalie slips away from the group and climbs to higher ground, hoping to get a signal on the satellite phone. The others still think she’s with them, but it’s actually Hannah Finch (Ashley Sutton) who’s quietly taken her place to cover for her. Natalie’s on a mission.
Once she reaches a high enough point, she manages to get the satellite phone working and starts calling out for help. For a while, no one answers, and she’s left pleading into the static. But finally, a voice comes through. A man says, “I can hear you.”
That simple sentence changes everything.
This moment hints that a rescue could finally happen in season 4, even though the show’s creators have said they’re aiming for five seasons total. Now that Natalie’s made contact with someone on the outside, there’s a real shot at the authorities figuring out where they are. It’s just a matter of time.
Still, even if they’re rescued, there’s no shortage of drama left in the 1990s timeline. The show has dropped plenty of hints, like what we saw in season 2’s premiere and what adult Melissa told Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), that there’s way more darkness left to explore even after they leave the wilderness.
What was Adult Shauna’s letter “Taking It Back” about?
After destroying a letter left by Melissa and collapsing in tears, Shauna writes a letter to herself, a raw, emotional attempt to regain some sense of power. In it, she tells herself, “It’s time to start taking it back.” With her husband Jeff and daughter Callie gone, Van now dead, and Melissa on the run, Shauna’s life is spiraling. She feels completely out of control.
And in her mind, the only way to regain that control is to reconnect with the version of herself she was in the wilderness, the fierce warrior, the Antler Queen, the girl who once held power through sheer survival. But here’s the catch: she’s romanticizing that version of herself. Despite the violence and darkness of their time stranded, Shauna remembers the feeling of being alive with disturbing fondness.
That idealized past could send her down an even more dangerous path in season 4.
Interestingly, Melissa’s original note didn’t vanish—it just slipped under the Sadecki family refrigerator. So even though Shauna thought she destroyed that part of her past, it’s still lurking, literally just out of sight. That’s some symbolic stuff right there.
Why Taissa and Misty are teaming up against Shauna
Shauna’s descent is exactly why adult Taissa and Misty are now turning against her. After Van’s death, killed by Melissa, Taissa is devastated, and in her grief, she places the blame squarely on Shauna. To Taissa, Shauna is the thread connecting everything that’s gone wrong since their return from the wilderness:
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She wrote journals Jeff got hold of, endangering everyone
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She killed Adam Martin, leading to police heat
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She mutilated Melissa
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She might have played a role in Natalie’s death
Plus, Taissa remembers just how eager Shauna was during their darkest wilderness days. She’s not about to let her old friend be the last one standing.
Misty, meanwhile, has her own reasons for joining forces with Taissa. She doesn’t trust Shauna—and hasn’t forgiven her for crossing a personal line earlier in season 3. For Misty, this is about self-preservation and payback.
Together, they’re a dangerous duo—calculated, strategic, and very familiar with Shauna’s weaknesses.
Yellowstone survivors (confirmed so far)
| Character | Teen Actor | Adult Actor |
|---|---|---|
| Shauna | Sophie Nélisse | Melanie Lynskey |
| Natalie | Sophie Thatcher | Juliette Lewis |
| Taissa | Jasmin Savoy Brown | Tawny Cypress |
| Misty | Samantha Hanratty | Christina Ricci |
| Lottie | Courtney Eaton | Simone Kessell |
| Van | Liv Hewson | Lauren Ambrose |
| Travis | Kevin Alves | Andrés Soto |
| Melissa | Jenna Burgess | Hilary Swank |
With Shauna slipping deeper into her past persona, Misty and Taissa plotting against her, and Melissa still out there… season 4 is going to be chaos.
Yellowjackets season 3 ending explained: How Mari and Shauna became The Pit Girl and Antler Queen
Since episode 1, viewers have been dying to know who Pit Girl is—the girl who runs through the snow barefoot, falls into a spike pit, and is later shown roasted and eaten in that infamous tribal feast. Welp, season 3 puts that mystery to rest: Pit Girl is Mari.
It all goes down when Van, trying to manipulate fate, subtly rigs the card draw so Hannah (Ashley Sutton) will be chosen for the next ritual hunt. But Shaun, ever perceptive and suspicious, catches on. She swaps the draw order, and as a result, Mari pulls the queen of hearts.
The moment that seals the deal? Shauna puts Jackie’s gold heart necklace on Mari, which we saw on Pit Girl way back in the pilot. That little detail retroactively confirms the connection and adds a poetic cruelty to the moment, Jackie’s keepsake marking another girl for death.
Mari, realizing her fate, tries to flee. She sheds her jacket and shoes to throw off her hunters, which finally explains why Pit Girl was barefoot and underdressed in the snow. Unfortunately, she runs straight into the very trap (the pit with stakes) that Travis had originally set for Lottie.
At the same time, another long-running mystery gets locked in: Shauna is the Antler Queen.
Lottie’s spiritual reign is all but over, and Shauna has stepped into the power vacuum like a born survivor. She’s ruthless, smart, and knows how to exploit belief systems even Lottie’s wilderness mythology to consolidate her control.
Her ceremonial gesture of placing Jackie’s necklace on Mari before the hunt isn’t just symbolism, it’s dominance. It’s tradition. It’s the act of a ruler. By the time Mari’s body is being prepared and consumed, Shauna has fully embraced the primal, queenly role she once hesitated to inhabit. She’s not just following the system they’re now following her.
This finale is a narrative masterstroke because it ties directly back to the pilot without any time loop gimmicks or fake-outs. Everything – the heart necklace, the snow chase, the pit, the feast gets proper context and teeth. It’s not just shock value anymore; it’s storytelling with consequences, with Shauna’s dark transformation at the center of it all.
With both the Pit Girl and Antler Queen mysteries solved, season 4 is poised to shift focus—maybe to their rescue (via Natalie’s satellite call), the fallout of Shauna’s rule, and the chaos waiting back in the present-day timeline.
Yellowjackets season 3 ending explained: Where did Jeff and Callie go and why did Akilah kill all the animals?
Jeff and Callie’s decision to leave Shauna is less of a dramatic exit and more of a self-preservation move. Jeff finally realizes that his loyalty to Shauna, especially after covering up Adam Martin’s murder, has placed him and especially Callie on a dangerously unstable path. After Callie kills Lottie, Jeff doesn’t blame her. He sees her as a victim of their trauma-heavy household and Shauna’s warped moral compass.
What makes this even more painful is that Shauna likely would focus more on covering up Callie’s tracks than giving her emotional support. It’s how she’s handled everything up to now: protect the family’s secrets at all costs, no matter the emotional fallout.
And while fans might speculate that Jeff and Callie ran to Randy Walsh (the most Randy move possible, honestly), it’s probably a red herring. Jeff knows Shauna too well—he’d never hide somewhere so obvious. Season 4 will likely build suspense around their whereabouts before Shauna finally catches up. And when she does? It’s not going to be a warm family reunion.
On the other hand, there is Akilah
Her vision of dead animals initially seemed like another supernatural warning from the Wilderness. But in a twisted reveal, Akilah actually poisoned the animals herself to force the group into another ritual hunt. Her logic? If the wilderness wants blood, let’s give it blood and maybe survive another day.
It’s a heartbreaking reflection of how far gone they are. Akilah, once the quiet and resourceful caretaker (RIP her pet mouse), is now engaging in mass animal sacrifice, all to maintain the illusion of divine order. But when she realizes she was manipulated that Lottie weaponized her visions to justify violence—the disillusionment hits hard.
This puts Akilah on shaky ground going into season 4. Her absence from the present-day timeline is already suspicious, and now with her rejecting Lottie’s faith and unraveling emotionally, things are looking bleak. Characters who lose their belief in the wilderness or challenge the system don’t usually last long. (Just ask Coach Ben.)
Why Taissa ate Van’s heart after her death
In the world of Yellowjackets, eating someone’s heart isn’t just about survival, it’s become a twisted way of paying tribute. Back when the girls were stranded in the wilderness, they started creating their own set of beliefs and rituals to cope with the horrors around them.
One of these deeply disturbing rituals involved eating the heart of someone who died, not out of cruelty, but because they believed it was a way to honor that person and show respect for the sacrifice they made. This idea first comes into play at the end of season 2, when the group eats the heart of Javi Martinez. It wasn’t just about food, it was about keeping a part of him with them, almost like a sacred gesture.
That same mindset carries over into the present-day storyline. After Van dies, Taissa makes the shocking choice to eat her heart. As horrific as that sounds, to her it’s a meaningful way of showing love and respect for Van, someone who meant so much to her and who gave up everything in the end. Taissa wants to make sure Van is remembered, not just emotionally but physically and spiritually, through this disturbing yet symbolically loaded act. It fits with what she’s said all along about not forgetting what they’ve been through and keeping those memories alive—no matter how dark or haunting they may be.
Yellowjackets season 3 ending explained: The real meaning of Yellowjackets Season 3’s ending and how it sets up season 4
In the past timeline, Shauna’s been acting like a ruthless leader, especially towards Natalie, and it finally bites her in the ass. Natalie escapes and contacts the outside world, which sets up the rescue but also causes more chaos among the group. People like Hannah, Akilah, and Gen probably won’t make it before help arrives. The group’s falling apart fast, and Shauna’s grip on power is slipping.
In the present, things are just as bad. Jeff and Callie have left Shauna because they can’t trust her anymore. Jeff doesn’t blame Callie for killing Lottie—he blames Shauna. Callie feels guilty and scared, and being around her mom would only make it worse. With her family gone and the rest of the survivors turning on her, Shauna’s totally alone now.
And because she’s got no one left, she’s even more dangerous than before. There’s a chance she might team up with Melissa, someone she didn’t exactly get along with, because both of them are isolated now.
Meanwhile, Natalie’s decision to reach out to the outside world is pushing things toward a rescue. But it’s going to split the group even more before it happens. In the present timeline, Taissa and Misty will probably go after Shauna together.
So yeah, Shauna’s spiraling, the group’s cracking, and all hell’s about to break loose.
