Spoilers below for anyone who isn’t fully up to date on Yellowjackets’ third season by streaming with a Paramount+ subscription, so be warned!
One of the deadliest shows on the current TV schedule has to be Showtime’s cannibalism-infused horror drama Yellowjackets, whose ever-growing body count is strewn across two completely separate timelines and locations. Fans (and Misty) are still getting over losing Juliette Lewis’ Natalie in the hectic Season 2 finale, and while Season 3 hasn’t exactly been littered with shallow graves, two victims have shows up so far: the diligent waiter and Lottie, whose death technically hasn’t been confirmed yet.
But it’s not as if any viewers are sitting at home feeling very confident that their favorite characters will 100% survive the rest of the third season’s installments. And co-star Sophie Nélisse told EW that more harrowing exits are definitely on the way, saying:
As we go, there's obviously more characters that have to leave us, and the ones that we care about the most are the ones that have to go. I've always said this to people that die. I'm like, 'It's actually a testament to how good of an actor you are because we won't kill you off if we don't care about you [because] the audience won't care either.'
If that's the case, then fans may very well expect every single main character on the show to die, since they're all magnificent and beloved. (Even you, scruffy-ass Coach Ben.) But let's take a look at the characters I think are mostly likely to get killed off before this season is over. Early R.I.P., y'all.
Robin
Don't feel weird about scratching your head and wondering who Robin is, since Anisa Harris' character was only added into Season 3 as one of the remaining background survivors. And she admittedly hasn't made a gigantic impact on any scenes thus far.
However, I'd pointed out in Episode 4 that she appeared several times on screen looking as emotionally bereft as one could be without having any meaningful dialogue to back it up. Which likely served as a stepping stone to Robin being given something worthwhile to do in an upcoming episode. But because we barely know anything about her, I think her official introduction will weave in just enough details to have fans hopeful for her survival before she meets a doomed fate.
Coach Ben
I can't believe the trial at the heart of "12 Angry Girls And 1 Drunk Travis" somehow succeeded in watering down my suspicion that Coach was responsible for burning the cabin down at the end of Season 2. And yet it did. But the guilty verdict didn't exactly give me much faith about his survival chances.
Though Nat and Misty still clearly want to keep him alive, even if he's exiled to live alone, the harsh way that Shauna strong-armed others into taking her side does not imply peace talks and happy times ahead for the one-legged beardo.
Tai
Far be it for me to rain on the parade of anyone celebrating Tai and Van’s relationship going as well as it has, but this is a show where happiness is fleeting and temporary. Tawny Cypress' version of the character seems to be in a dark spot that she can't easily escape from, and has already been partly responsible for someone else's death. And we're still not even clear on how Tai being haunted by No-Eyes Man connects with any of the Wilderness survival plotting.
If Van truly is in remission and no longer in danger of succumbing to cancer-related issues, then it only makes TV-logical sense for Tai to be the part of this couple to say farewell. Though we still need more answers before that can happen.
Walter
In Season 2, Elijah Wood's Walter was a spectrum-y breath of fresh air as the ever-prepared and proper knight in crime-hiding armor who gave Misty the attention and friendship she needed most. But here in Season 3, Misty has sadly lost all interest in Walter, and generally lost whatever couth she may have harbored in how she treats him, based on her misguided belief that the other Yellowjackets survivors genuinely like her.
So even though Walter is technically in guardian angel mode right now, inspiring her to leave the house and saving her drunk ass, he's more expendable than he's ever been, and unless he starts selling furniture with Jeff really soon, I think Misty is going to free herself from his doting in a most permanent way.
Mari
With Mari, I think Yellowjackets' creative team could be applying the age-old narrative trick of "Make audiences worry about someone until they see that character is undeniably safe, and then kill them." That's probably not an exact term, but close enough.
Mari's temporary stay in Coach's pit may not have cemented her as the mystery Pit Girl, but having a broken leg isn't going to be much help for the teen if she's being chased or has to escape a dangerous situation quickly, such as passing out in a cave filled with noxious fumes. Of course, if Shauna ends up being the person who does the deed, Mari could have seven legs and still never outrun her foe's fury.
Jeff
While it's unclear how much of Shauna's pre-Wilderness life could be classified as "traumatic," she's faced nothing but horrifying circumstances since that fateful plane crash, from losing (and then ingesting) her best friend to losing (and certainly not ingesting) her stillborn baby. And more ugliness is no doubt yet to come.
But by and large, Melanie Lynskey's grown-up Shauna hasn't faced anything quite as harrowing as her former self, at least where it isn't. her fault entirely. And I don't think the show would go so far as to kill off Sarah Desjardins' Callie. And now that Jeff and Shauna are closer than ever with a bond reforged by heinous criminal acts, his death would serve as the easiest way to break Shauna's heart.
Van
Considering Yellowjackets viewers never actually witnessed Van's doctor telling her the glorious news about her cancer remission, I have my suspicions about whether or not that message was actually given to her. Not that I want to believe all of her recent happiness has been a front to cover up what was actually a much more dour update on her health.
Of course, this could also play out the way I suggested for Mari, where viewers are made to believe that Van is now safe from cancer dangers, only for her to get hit by a car or struck by lightning in some freak accident, with or without the Wilderness' influence involved. It might be more powerful a plot twist for Van and Tai go get killed off together, but I really hope that's not the case.
Find out whose number will be up next when Yellowjackets streams new episodes on Fridays on Paramount+, with Showtime airing the eps on Sunday nights at 8:00 p.m.
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