Warning: This story contains spoilers about the plot of Yellowjackets season 2.
The twists keep on coming. After introducing some major obstacles in the past and present timelines, Yellowjackets wrapped up season 2 with a shocking death.
In the 1996 timeline, Lottie (Courtney Eaton) steps down as the leader of the group and hands over the reigns to Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) because she thinks the wilderness chose her for a reason. Following the celebration — and a Javi-flavored meal — the girls are awoken by a fire started by Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) that burns down their cabin.
During the present-day timeline, however, things take a dark turn when Lottie (Simone Kessell) suggested that the group needs to sacrifice one of them for the darkness. Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) gets chosen after they choose cards and is hunted down before her daughter steps in and shoots Lottie. The cult leader tells the group that one of them needs to give up their life after all the death they caused since leaving the woods. Lisa (Nicole Maines), for her part, overhears and tries to defend Lottie from the others. As a result, Natalie (Juliette Lewis) steps in to save Lisa when Misty (Christina Ricci) tries to stop her and Natalie ends up dead.
Thatcher, 22, who plays teenage Natalie, addressed Lewis’ departure from the series after two seasons.
“It’s so heartbreaking, but then also creates more levels for younger Natalie, because the viewers will have that in mind,” she told Variety on Friday, May 26. “There’s another layer to watching younger Natalie I think now and going forward. But Juliette was my mentor, and she is so incredible. To lose her on the show felt really like losing a part of yourself. It was sad, but I think it’ll be interesting to see how it plays from here on out.”
Meanwhile, Ricci, 43, revealed that the cast was kept largely in the dark about the decision to kill off Natalie.
“I didn’t know until very shortly before we shot the episode. We all love Juliette. I love Juliette. We’ve all gone through so much on the show and gotten so close and fought and reconciled and love each other — and we’re like sisters,” the Wednesday star recalled. “I think we were all all very upset and sad that Natalie was dying. And it was tough to shoot. It was very emotional. We shot a lot more than ended up in the episode of me holding Juliette while she was dying and stuff. Those were really tough scenes, and really upsetting. I ran into Juliette the next day in the airport, and we both started crying again.”
The actress noted that Misty will struggle with being the reason Natalie accidentally died, adding, “It was a complete mistake. She made an impulsive choice — another characteristically immature, impulsive, selfish choice where she was going to kill the person who was going to hurt her friend. Not wanting her friends taken away, it’s about keeping what she wants. It was a disastrous decision.”
Scroll down to find out what questions were answered — and what Us still needs answers to — following the season 2 finale of Yellowjackets:
