‘Yellowjackets’ Season 2 Ending Explained: Who Died? And Who Is The New Antler Queen?

The Yellowjackets Season 2 finale just totally changed the DNA of the hit Showtime series forever. In the present day timeline, one of the core surviving Yellowjackets dies, meaning a key cast member has now been killed off the show. Meanwhile, in the past, we learn that Lottie (Courtney Eaton) relinquished her title of Antler Queen to another: Natalie (Sophie Thatcher). Not only that, but the girls and Travis (Kevin Alves) have a new foe in the wilderness in Coach Ben (Steven Krueger). The final shot of Yellowjackets Season 2 Episode 9 “Storytelling” is of the surviving teens watching their cabin go up in flames, thanks to Coach Ben’s desperate act of arson.

Of course, that’s probably not what Yellowjackets fans will be buzzing the most about after watching the Season 2 finale. After adult Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) suggests to adult Lottie (Simone Kessell) that they give the Wilderness a hunt, things escalate to a horrific detente in the woods. Shauna is saved by her daughter Callie (Sarah Desjardins), but when Lottie’s acolyte Lisa (Nicole Maines) stumbles upon the group’s depraved game, Natalie (Juliette Lewis) sacrifices herself for her young friend.

The Yellowjackets Season 2 finale ends with the show bidding farewell to one of the show’s main stars, all while setting up new leaders, alliances, and villains for Season 3. Still confused by how it all went down? Refusing to believe that Juliette Lewis is off the hit Showtime show? Here’s everything you need to know about the Yellowjackets Season 2 finale…

Yellowjackets Season 2 Ending Explained: Did Natalie Die? Is Juliette Lewis Leaving Yellowjackets?

Alas, the Wilderness finally claimed the life of it’s “favorite,” Natalie Scatorccio in the Yellowjackets Season 2 finale. Adult Natalie died, meaning Juliette Lewis sure appears to be leaving Yellowjackets.

While Shauna suggested a hunt to buy her and Misty (Christina Ricci) time to call a crisis team to commit Lottie, Van (Lauren Ambrose) convinced Taissa (Tawny Cypress) to cancel the call and let the hunt happen. The girls convene in the woods, where it takes several rounds for one of them — Shauna — to draw the Queen of Hearts. Shauna is stunned to discover that her former teammates eagerly embrace the feral trappings of the hunt and goes on the run.

What Shauna doesn’t know is that Jeff (Warren Kole) and Callie have driven to the compound and that Callie has the gun Shauna took off of that early season carjacker. While Jeff teams up with Walter (Elijah Wood) to take care of the detectives trailing Shauna for Adam’s murder, Callie finds herself in the woods right in the nick of time. She shoots Lottie, grazing her arm, and brings the hunt to a halt. Shauna learns that Van canceled the crisis call and Lottie hears the Wilderness again. She even creepily claims that Callie is “so powerful.”

Lisa is the next interloper on the hunt and is horrified to overhear talk of killing and murder. She thinks the gang is trying to hurt Lottie and threatens them with the commune’s shotgun. While Natalie tries to talk Lisa down, Misty readies a syringe. When Natalie sees Misty lunging towards Lisa, she pushes her young friend out of the way, taking the fatal blow.

What follows is a dream sequence where adult Natalie finds herself on a plane heading towards death. She’s terrified, but young Javi (Luciano Leroux), young Natalie, and young Lottie all assure her it’s her time. Natalie dies.

Meanwhile, Walter has taken care of the gang’s Season 1 murders by framing Kevyn Tan (Alex Wyndham) for the crimes, killing him, and blackmailing the crooked cop Matt Saracusa (John Reynolds) into embracing this narrative. Natalie’s death? Chocked up to a drug overdose. Thus, clearing the adult timeline for a new mystery main storyline in Season 3.

The teen timeline, however, seems set up for a very tense and twisted Season 3…with a new Antler Queen.

Is Young Natalie the New Antler Queen on Yellowjackets?

Well, well, well…looks like Lottie might not have been the Antler Queen we watched preside over a cannibalistic ritual in the original Yellowjackets cold open after all. It’s looking more and more like Natalie was the Antler Queen all around.

While Lottie was the first to let the Wilderness in, communing with the mysterious symbol on trees and hearing “Its” wishes, all of the surviving Yellowjackets can now hear It. And as Lottie feels more and more detached from leadership, it’s becoming more and more clear that the Wilderness has a chosen Queen: Natalie.

According to Lottie, Javi died in Natalie’s place because she is the Wilderness’s favorite and always has been. In a strange way, this tracks with the girls’ backstories and what we know of their chemistry in the future. Young Natalie came from a house of abuse and saw her father’s violent, accidental death before the plane crash. The Wilderness was already arguably in her. Furthermore, Natalie being the main Antler Queen sheds light on why Misty, the Queen’s natural lieutenant, is so adamant they are best friends in the future timeline.

The passing of the Antler Queen crown shouldn’t be too shocking for hardcore Yellowjackets fans. As co-showrunner Jonathan Lisco told Decider after the Season 1 finale: “I’m not necessarily committing to the fact that the Antler Queen ultimately is Lottie. Those two things may diverge. But the idea of someone being very involved in the cult — or transfixed by the cult in the present day — and who that Antler Queen is, that may be a surprise to the audience ultimately.”

So as early as Season 1, the Yellowjackets writers were flirting with someone other than Lottie ultimately wearing the crown. Hence, Natalie.

Yellowjackets Season 2 ends with all of the surviving teens pledging themselves to Natalie in different ways. Coach Ben, who has decamped to the private cave in horror after learning the girls ate Javi, witnesses Natalie’s coronation whilst trying to steal matches and an axe from his former charges. His solution to this problem? Lock them in the cabin and burn it down.

The teenagers survive Coach Ben’s plot thanks to Shauna’s late night journaling. She sniffs out the smoke and wakes everyone up and they escape. Of course, Coach Ben’s act now means that he’s made this tribe of fine young cannibals even more desperate to survive the harsh winter. What are they going to do when they are hungry, freezing, and willing to do anything to survive? Coach Ben just made his former ally Nat is mortal enemy.

Will There Be a Yellowjackets Season 3 on Showtime?

Yes! Showtime has already ordered a third season of the hit series. The scuttle is a writers’ room had just started working on the new season of Yellowjackets right as the WGA Writers’ Strike began.

While Juliette Lewis is probably done with Yellowjackets (outside a flashback or dream sequence), expect Season 2 cast additions Elijah Wood and John Reynolds to return to the show, as Misty’s love interest and the group’s antagonist, respectively. It’s unclear if Simone Kessell will have as big a role in Season 3, but we do know that Van and Tai have promised to visit her “soon” in whatever psych treatment center she winds up in.

Of course, what Yellowjackets fans probably can’t wait to see is the Nat/Ben face off. So how long will we have to wait for that?

When Will Yellowjackets Season 3 Premiere on Showtime?

It took a little over a year – 14 months – from the Yellowjackets Season 1 finale for Yellowjackets Season 2 to premiere on Showtime. That means we could normally expect a summer or fall 2024 premiere date for Yellowjackets Season 3.

However the WGA writers’ strike for fare wages has suspended all pre-production on Yellowjackets Season 3. Writing on the new season can’t start until the strike is resolved.