WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Yellowjackets' season 3 finale!Following the reveal of a rescue call finally being received in the season 3 finale, it looks like a bloodbath could be coming in the wilderness inYellowjackets’ season 4 premiere. Whileeight present-dayYellowjacketssurvivorshave been confirmed, it was established early on that the majority of those who lived through the plane crash wouldn’t make it back home. Following the crash, Laura Lee, Jackie, Crystal, Javi, Coach Ben, and Mari have all already died over the course of three seasons, butthere are still several more deaths to go before Shauna and the others return home.
After 19 months in the wilderness, it looks like rescue is finally coming after the veryend ofYellowjacketsseason 3. During the “pit girl” hunt for Mari, Natalie secretly treks through the mountains with a satellite phone, which she uses to successfully make a call to an unknown man who responds to her cries for help and rescue. While it’ll still take some time for the authorities to accurately locate the teens, the fallout of Natalie’s actions and the impending arrival of rescue crews will meanspeeding along some inevitable tragedies at the start ofYellowjacketsseason 4.
Yellowjackets' Season 4 Premiere Seemingly Has To Kill Off Several Characters In The Wilderness
It Won’t Be Long Until The Teens Are Rescued
Considering only eight teens were seen inYellowjacketsseason 2’s post-rescue scenes, it’s looking like there won’t be any more surprise survivors after Melissa. As such,everyone else who is still alive in the wilderness afterYellowjackets’ season 3 finale will seemingly die before the rescue crews arrive. There’s always the slim possibility that someone was accidentally left behind and survived in the wilderness all these years, but it’s far more likely that the eight survivors who have been introduced inYellowjackets’ present timeline are the only ones who lived to the time of rescue.
Therefore, a bloodbath will likely be coming inYellowjacketsseason 4 premiere, as it shouldn’t take long for therescue crews to pin Natalie’s locationfrom the satellite phone call. We know that Shauna, Tai, Natalie, Misty, Lottie, Van, Travis, and Melissa were rescued and brought back home, but several other characters are still alive inYellowjackets’ past timeline. As far as we’re aware inYellowjacketsseason 3’s final scene,Hannah, Gen, Akilah, Britt, and Robin are still alive heading into season 4, but it’s not expected that any are alive in the present day.
Status Unconfirmed Or Confirmed To Die
Van
Melissa
Considering all five of those characters seemingly have to die beforeYellowjackets’ teens are rescued, they’ll all likely be killed off within the first two episodes of season 4. There’s atheory that Lottie already killed Akilahin the season 3 finale, but even so, her death wouldn’t be shown until season 4. That would be a huge body count in just two episodes forYellowjackets, and would bethe biggest number of deaths sinceYellowjacketsseason 1, episode 2, when it was revealed that five people perished in the initial plane crash.
It Shouldn’t Take More Than A Few Days
Image via Paramount+
While Natalie’s phone call worked, itwill still take time for the person on the other line to pinpoint her location, and gather the resources to go help the survivors. Additionally, rescue crews will likely have to coordinate between Canada and the United States, and they will have to carefully navigate the snow-covered mountainous terrain. It won’t just be a few hours from the time Natalie’s call is heard to the time the authorities finally show up – the teens will have a dangerous gap before being faced with the full reality of returning home.
Yellowjackets’ plane crash and brutal survival tactics were partiallyinspired by the real-life 1972 Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 disasterin the Andes. If using the timeline of the Andes flight disaster’s rescue, thena helicopter could arrive to find the Yellowjackets about a day or two after the call is made. Of course, that depends on how soon the helicopter is actually able to find the teens’ wrecked plane and “village,” how many people can fit in the rescue helicopters, and how long the flights would take to get from the crash location back to civilization.
Yellowjackets Season 4’s Present Timeline Can’t Be Nearly As Deadly As Season 3
Yellowjackets Can’t Afford To Kill Off That Many More Survivors
While it looks like Shauna may go on a rampage to kill Hannah, Gen, Akilah, Britt, and Robin before the rescue crews arrive, that same level of carnage can’t be mirrored in the present timeline.Yellowjackets’ past timeline at leasthasthat many people it can kill off and still work narratively, but that’s not the case for the present timeline.Yellowjacketshas now killed off half of the confirmed present-day survivors over the first three seasons, with only four remaining.
Yellowjacketsseason 4 still has not officially been renewed by Showtime.
Season 3 already killed off Lottie and Van, so there’s little story to work with in season 4 if multiple characters die. ThoughShauna has dark plansto become the Antler Queen again and likely kill Tai, Misty, and Melissa to be “the only one left,” it’s unlikely she’ll accomplish that. While Melissa or just one character could reasonably be killed off in season 4,they need more than two survivors still alive to keep that present-day conflict interesting. Moreover, they can’t kill two or more survivors in season 4 ifYellowjacketsstill wants to proceed with its five-season plan.
