WMG / Yellowjackets

Per policy Wild Mass Guessing pages contain unmarked spoilers. You Have Been Warned

1990s/Wilderness Theories

Coach Scott's death will be the turning point, after which things get really bad.

For starters, he's the only surviving adult. Once he recovers himself, even in his weakened state, he also makes a good effort to get the kids to mobilize and adapt, such as when he teaches them to fire the gun. Considering his injury and how he's attracted Misty's attentions, he's unlikely to make it through the winter. When this happens, the girls, having no more adult supervision or ties to civilization (not to mention their own physical and psychological duress), will start to become the feral pelt-clad cannibals we see in the show's first moments.

• Jossed, since Jackie and Laura Lee both die before the onset of winter, and tensions are already fairly high by that point. Meanwhile, Coach Scott is still alive as of the second season finale.

Shauna puts up with Mrs. Taylor's attitude because Jackie was one of the girls that was cannibalized and she was part of it.

It's implied that they all sit down together for these birthday brunches every year. Shauna could have told Mrs. Taylor to stuff it a long time ago, but how do you say something like that to the mother of someone whose flesh you ate? And theoretically, Jeff, not knowing the truth, doesn't have any reservations about speaking up.

• The theory appears to be Jossed in "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi". The two had a big fight, with Shauna saying that Jackie got everything that she wanted and everyone else being extras in the movie of her life. In return, Jackie called Shauna a sidekick who was so jealous she could barely breathe and Shauna said that she felt sorry for her. Jackie wanted Shauna to go outside because she couldn't bear to look at her, but Shauna said it was her problem and she should go outside instead. She did, spending the night outside, and it snowed, causing her to freeze to death.
  • But then, Season 2's "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" happens and confirms it. Shauna likely blames herself for driving out Jackie and not bothering to check on her during the night (not that anybody else did). She is horrified when Jackie's ear breaks off and puts it in her pocket. But later she eats it, making herself the first to give in to cannibalism and with Jackie, of all people. And she's not even starving to the point of desperation, so it not a case of No Party Like a Donner Party.

Javi will be one of the first to die.

Considering his status as innocent cutie, Travis' present day issues with substance abuse, the lack of anyone mentioning Javi in any form in 2021, and the fact that he is a child, it doesn't seem likely he'll make it through the entire 19 month ordeal. Given that his whereabouts in the present day are unclear and how he is missing as of the season one finale, it's entirely possible that he has already met his demise.

• Also, considering Luciano Leroux's likely age at the time of production for Season 1, he might get hit by the puberty stick and look too old to play a preteen when Season 2 starts filming.
• By the time Javi is killed in "It Chooses", he is preceded in death by survivors Laura Lee, Jackie, and Crystal. If only those Yellowjackets we see as adults get rescued, that would make him the fourth out of nine possible deaths. Whether that qualifies as "among the first" is YMMV.

Misty kills Coach Scott after telling him that she destroyed the black box.

She confesses this in an unguarded moment, thinking that he actually loves her and thinking of him as some sort of father confessor figure. He freaks out and says he's going to tell the others, so she kills him to keep her secret.

• Unlikely at this point, given that Misty now hates Coach Scott after learning that he's gay and doesn't seem to want anything to do with him anymore.
• Almost exactly confirmed as of Season 2, episode 5; this almost exactly happens, except that it's not Coach Scott. Misty tells Crystal this when she and Crystal are swapping secrets, and then kills her (accidentally) when Crystal is horrified and is freaking out, seeming about to tell the others.
  • In fact, this theory is jossed in Season 2, when Misty actually manages to save Coach's life and stop him from killing himself, when she could have just let him die or taken the opportunity and killed him. She saves him because she's so devastated about Crystal/Kristen's death, which went down exactly like this theory. Spooky!

"Yellowjacket #1" and "Yellowjacket #2" are the first two girls to get eaten.

These two are so unimportant that they don't even have names? Yeah, they're dinner.

• Although... Mya Lowe, the actress who played "Yellowjacket #1" is now credited as Gen. I say she got promoted from Red Shirt Army just so the audience suffers when she gets eaten.
• Jossed, the first girl to be eaten was Jackie.

Misty has joined Lottie’s Cult in the woods strictly to belong, and will end up quickly betraying them when it’s required to survive.

Normally, someone who seems to be as much of The Sociopath as her would gleefully become The Dragon to a Big Bad, but Misty survived and is still seen as useful by the other main protagonists while clearly being very cunning, if blatantly untrustworthy. She wants acceptance into the group, and as long as that is best served by serving Lottie, she will… but when the time for rescue finally arrives, Misty will end up on the opposite side with the larger group.

Based on previews, someone will have a bad reaction to the cannibalism, possibly rabies.

Note the scene in the Season 2 trailer of someone (Gen or Mari) attacking someone else from a first-person POV. Perhaps after the group eats Jackie's corpse one of them has a bad reaction that the others use as justification to kill and eat them too.

• The scene is revealed to be the starving Coach hallucinating Gen foaming at the mouth and saying she is still hungry ("Digestif")

The high school plot will be important in Season 2.

One of the new characters is described as a junior varsity girl who makes the dubious decision to befriend Misty. Therefore, since we haven't seen this character in the woods, they must be part of the high school, which means we're going to see something having to do with that plot which ultimately has importance to the greater story.

• Jossed: This character is Crystal, who is apparently just one of the characters who was previously seen it the background (albeit portrayed by a different actress) and they decided to just give a name and lines to in Season 2.

Natalie and Travis's pact in the wilderness is about more than just them not committing suicide.

Natalie tells her former sponsor Suzie in the first season that she knows Travis wouldn't kill himself because they made a pact not to do that and she knows he keeps his word. But there was more to it than this. After what happened with Javi, and them being the two best hunters in the wilderness, they swore that they would never just allow themselves to be killed. After all, we've seen now with both Natalie/Javi and the Pit Girl that there can be a chase, and with Natalie/Javi that if someone else dies, then they say that's who the wilderness "chose."

Lottie refused the rescue group that retrieved the other survivors, and made the trek back to civilization herself after everyone assumed she was dead.

…Because it would allow the other survivors to think they only had to keep silent with each other, and not worry about her or her Cult ruining everything. Her survival and residency would also serve as a terrifying example of unfinished business haunting them years later.

• Jossed in "Friends, Romans, Countrymen'''. Lottie is seen returning.

Lottie had some role in Callie's birth.

All the Yellowjackets seem invested in Callie, which makes sense now that we know Shauna's first baby died in front of them in the cabin. Also, none of the other Yellowjackets appear to have given birth (with Taissa being the only person who might have, but equally, Simone could have given birth to Sammy, or he could be adopted.) Something in the wilderness has stopped them from conceiving, but with Lottie's help, Shauna was able to have Callie.

Natalie will use Travis to rig the deck

Travis is established to know sleight of hand in season one, now that Natalie is the Antler Queen the next time they draw cards for a hunt Nat could dictate that Travis be the one to shuffle and offer out the deck with secret instructions on who to protect and who to condemn.

The Antler Queen is whoever holds the group's grief in the moment.

As the rules of the hunt become more refined and systematic, the need for any one person to be the Antler Queen at all times will diminish, especially if you take in the idea that whoever is the Antler Queen at the time doesn't have draw a card, thus keeping one person from being immune at all times. In the pilot we first see the Antler Queen standing over the pit trap with the veil covering her face. We can interpret the trap as being essentially the Pit Girl's grave and the Antler Queen coming to pay her last respects, covering her face with a veil as a form of mourning. Later when Misty presents the meat, the others wait for the Queen's approval to start eating. Thus we can view the Antler Queen as the person who mourns the death and makes it permissible for the group to commit cannibalism.

With Jackie, it is Shauna who is the most overcome with grief and it is Shauna who allows for the group to eat her remains, both when she said the idea out loud and then again when everyone cautiously waited for her first bite before they began ravenously eating. When Javi died, it was Travis who was the most affected by his death and when it came time to cook, the Yellowjackets waited until Travis took the first bite to add the meat to the fire. In both instances so far, it has been the person most in mourning who gave the others permission to eat.

• Following this pattern, Natalie will be the one to permit the consumption of Coach Ben

With the shelter gone, once spring comes the Yellowjackets will become more nomadic

Natalie could convince the group that they should move south so that there will be more game and more to forage in the warmer months. Taissa keeps saying how they wouldn't be here without Natalie so her keeping the group moving could have put them steadily towards rescue.

Travis is heavily injured at time of rescue

In the 1998 timeline when the girls are getting onto the plane at Seattle, Travis is conspicuously absent despite the audience knowing he survives the wilderness. In season 2 Lottie reveals that Travis was trying to get close to death but not actually die as a way of reaching out to "it" and sited a near death experience he had as the catalyst. So far in the '96 timeline we haven't seen Travis have a near death experience so we know one is coming. If something happened to him shortly before rescue that would explain his absence in the '98 as he would presumably still be hospitalized and unable to travel. Even if it was severe, Natalie's role as the Antler Queen could have protected him from from being killed for food.

The girls will kill Ben for the hollow

They lost their shelter in the middle of winter and unless they found an alternative soon they all would have died in another few days. Plus the plane is uninsulated and likely half buried by snow. Once Ben's hiding place gets found out the girls could kill him either directly, out of revenge/for food, or indirectly by forcing him out of the shelter. Lastly to add to this theory, where do real yellowjackets nest in the wild? Underground.

• Not to mention, since Ben did not expect the team to survive, it is likely he did not cover his tracks. Figuratively or literally.

Help arrives after Natalie hikes out of the mountains to find it

There are several things about their rescue that stick out as interesting: in the hunt shown in the pilot, the figure at the end with the visible eyes seems to be Natalie so she can’t be the Antler Queen depicted in the scene; whoever came to rescue them did not find evidence of cannibalism; and as noted above Travis not being in the rescue scene despite his survival being revealed all the way back in season 1. Taissa also keeps bailing Natalie out of things because she feels indebted to her, suggesting that Natalie is the reason why they got rescued.

Queens in a real yellowjacket hive only live for about a year, a new queen taking over the hive every winter; and we see in their first winter Lottie abdicating the role of Antler Queen to Natalie. By next winter someone, potentially Shauna given how upset she was that she wasn’t selected to be AQ, will take the title from Nat. Getting dethroned will be the moment that makes Natalie realize how depraved they all have become and how they likely won’t survive another winter given how few of them there are left and so she decides to make trek to get out no matter the risk. Travis, being loyal to Natalie, goes with her.

At some point on their journey, something happens to Travis—this being that near-death experience he referenced to Lottie in the 2021 timeline. But rather than turn back and return to the group like Tai did for Van, Natalie pushes on with the journey anyway. Because of her refusal to go back, she succeeds in finding some form of rescue in the form of either a town or an outpost. She leaves the gravely injured Travis with them to get medical attention, and thus he was either still in the hospital or already back in New Jersey during the Seattle scene, and goes back for the rest of the group with aid and help following behind. Natalie gets back to the girls before rescue arrives, informs them that they are going to be saved soon, giving the girls some time to hide the evidence and figure out their story.

The girls are suffering from some kind of metal poisoning.

The red river is a pretty good indicator that there is a lot of metal in the ground and Taissa and Misty even say that it's likely because of iron ore turning the water red. The symbol that keeps showing up looks like it could be based on alchemist symbols (circle means gold, triangle means fire, hook means iron) and Canada is known for having abandoned mining operations throughout its wilderness. Metals in the ground could bleed into their water and the meats that they're eating causing the survivors to steadily feel the psychological effects of metal poisoning. It could also give a reason as to why the bear walked up to Lottie and basically let her kill it- it was affected by environmental poisoning.

Crystal/Kristen saves Misty's life.

Crystal/Kristen's death, and the disappearance of her body, seems kind of jarring. But maybe it's because Misty pulls the queen card at some point (probably soon, as in Season 3), and this time, she manages to outrun the group long enough to find or recover Crystal/Kristen's body from the newly melting snow. Like with Javi's death, the discovery of her body is taken as a sign to spare Misty, but enough of the group remains suspicious of how Crystal/Kristen ended up there to explain their animosity towards Misty.

Every death the wilderness allows them about another month of protection

The plane left some time in May and they don't start fearing starvation until autumn. Akilah states that it's about homecoming which is usually in October in America so that means they have been in the wilderness for about five months. Five people died in the plane crash. Laura Lee and Jackie likely died relatively close together timeline wise and there's a two month time skip between season one and two. If this is true then Crystal and Javi's deaths might have appeased the wilderness enough to ensure they survive through winter without the cabin.

All the survivors survive a hunt.

The girls will choose to eat one of their own despite having other options

At some point when spring has set in and wild game has returned to the area a girl will die for reasons unrelated to the hunt and the others will have a moment where they realize that even though they have animal meat again that it would be wasteful to not eat her remains

Present Theories

Adam and Javi are one and the same.

Adam is played by a half-Mexican actor, and he is mentioned to be thirty-six (which Javi would be if he was eleven during the crash) so his age and ethnicity are consistent with Javi. If he was going by a different name and Shauna had not seen him for multiple decades, it's highly unlikely that she would recognize him, so it's entirely possible that, for some unknown reason (perhaps a crush, as hinted in episode seven) he's decided to pursue Shauna in the present day.

• Also, Adam's alleged last name is Martin. Javi's last name? Martinez.
  • Jossed by the Season 1 finale. Adam is just an artist called Adam Martin. Though the possibility still remains that he wasn't quite who he appeared to be, he wasn't Javi.

One or more of the Yellowjackets that we haven't yet seen as an adult is alive as an adult and is possibly the blackmailer.

In publicity materials, Showtime invariably refers to the teen characters as "Teen X," even if we haven't seen that character as an adult, i.e. "Ella Purnell as Teen Jackie," "Keeya King as Teen Akilah," "Liv Hewson as Teen Van," etc. Why so careful to refer to them as "Teen" when we've never seen them as adults?

• Van and Coach Scott are good candidates for this because their injuries will make it immediately obvious who they are, even with a different actor.

• Jossed, at least as far as one of them being the blackmailer, unless Jeff's statement that it's him isn't true, or he had a co-conspirator.
  • Also Jossed in that characters being referenced as "Teen X" is apparently not meant to reflect their survival - Jackie dies in the wilderness and so never survives to adulthood, but is still credited that way.
• However, also probably confirmed as far as "someone we haven't seen yet is alive", with the revelation that Lottie and Van are still alive into adulthood.

Lottie is dead.

The current cult leader is using her name, either out of reverence, or to throw people off the scent, or to unnerve people who hear the name and think Lottie has returned somehow, or some combination of the above.

That would leave a number of suspects for who is really behind the cult: Taissa’s alternate personality (who we know is still performing sacrifices at least); Misty (one of the original cult members, definitely still an insane murderer); Van (another one of the original cult members, fate unknown); and really, any one of the crash survivors who haven’t suffered an onscreen death yet.

• Jossed. So far, Lottie seems to have actually returned.

The casting of the three iconic 90s stars was intentional

Christina Ricci is perhaps best-known for the Addams Family, Melanie Lynskey for Heavenly Creatures, and Juliette Lewis for Cape Fear. All of these films were in the 90s. Coincidence?

• Also, Lauren Ambrose.

Van is the "lady in the tree".

With or without Taissa's knowledge, Van drew the message on her wall to rejig her campaign following the setback. She's also stalking Simone and Sammy to keep tabs on them for the cult.

• For reference, see recap of Episode "F Sharp" (bold added for emphasis). Taissa finds that Sammy has covered up his window with:
  "...drawings of scary eyes, a red-haired person and other things that do not alarm parents at all. Sammy explains he did that so that "the lady in the tree" who watches him at night can't see him. Yikes."
  • Seems highly unlikely, given that we now know that Van has been living in a video store nearly a full state away and also has cancer. Given that we know know for sure that Taissa sleepwalks and kills the dog, she was most likely the lady in the tree.

Walter is a cannibal, and he wants Misty to revert with him.

Of the survivors, only Misty and Shauna still eat meat after the wilderness. Walter clearly knows a lot about Misty, he has a Hannibal mask in his house, and he loves Sweeney Todd. While nominally investigating Adam's disappearance, Walter has no problem with getting sidetracked to find Natalie, because the real appeal is to be closer to Misty. Despite owning stakes in Taco Bell, he's never eaten there, because he doesn't care for that kind of meat. He's either trying to get Misty to come with him or she's going to be his next meal.

• And it wouldn't be the first time Elijah Wood has played a cannibalistic serial killer.

Lisa will stop the Yellowjackets from going through with their suicide lottery plan.

Lisa's arc throughout the season has been helping Natalie to see value in her life and Natalie helping her to see the same in return. She will somehow catch wind of what they are intending to do and convince Natalie not to go through with it because of this, Lottie because her community helped her to see it in the first place, and the others by extension.

• Jossed, and almost inverted in "Storytelling". The Lottery of Doom has taken place, with Shauna drawing the losing card and getting hunted down. Callie shoots Lottie, stopping the hunt. While Misty treats Lottie's wound, she is in full Mad Prophet mode. Lisa doesn't get there, gun in hand, until Natalie gets fed up with Lottie and is about to stab her. It all ends with Misty attempting to kill Lisa via syringe and Natalie putting herself in between, sacrificing herself to save Lisa.

Kevyn wasn't Walter's first victim.

When Kevyn encounters Walter, the latter is singing while preparing the phenobarbital-laced cocoa, is completely calm and chatty when offering it to Kevyn, and as soon as he drops dead, Walter greets Jeff with a cheerful "Hi, I'm Walter Tattersall!" This isn't exactly typical behaviour for someone who just killed a guy for the first time.

All of the survivors will be dead by the end of the series

Travis and Natalie have already died, Van's terminal, and the group is falling back into old habits. In a way, all of them could have been living on borrowed time ever since they survived the crash.

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