Yellowjackets season 2 theories: A guide to what could be going on in the mystery horror, ahead of the season 2 premiere

Addictive, absorbing, and intriguing to the point of infuriating, Yellowjackets was a 2021 must-see. Now its back for a second season, and we can't wait for it.

When Yellowjackets premiered on Showtime in November 2021, it became an instant smash hit. Now season 2 is set to premiere on March 24, and excitement levels are high. Following a  New Jersey high school girls’ soccer team in 1996 as they fly to Seattle for a national tournament, their plane crashes into a wilderness while flying over Canada. Stranded for nineteen months, the girls fight to stay alive in the midst of declining mental health and some terrible secrets. In the present day, the adult survivors of the crash have gone their separate ways, but sinister events force them back together. But what lengths did the girls go to for survival in 1996 and why won't they speak of it? Who is stalking them in the present day? Read on for all the theories the internet has to offer, about what Yellowjackets series 2 could reveal. 

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Yellowjackets season 2 theories

What could have happened to Shauna's baby, and is Misty a psychopath?

Adam's tattoo remains an ongoing mystery, along with who has abducted Natalie? Focusing on what we do know, it's confirmed that Lottie is the Antler Queen, and the adult version of her character will play a bigger part in season 2. Also, for those hoping Jackie freezing to death in the snow was another red herring and she might miraculously pop back up at some point - she is sadly definitely dead. Without further ado, lets look at the theories flying around about our favourite soccer-playing likely cannibals. 

Lottie has a cult, and Taissa is part of it

When Tai sacrifices her dog to the Antler Queen, the Antler Queen is presumed to be Lottie, who now has her own cult. 

The theory stands that Tai is knowingly part of the cult, to further her political career. In an interview with Variety, Yellowjackets writer and producer Jonathan Lisco added his thoughts about his theory. He said "I will tell you that my interpretation - and frankly, the way I see it is - for the first time possibly, the fact of her alter ego and its actions is actually bubbling consciously to the surface."

He continued "And what’s so terrifying in that moment, especially since she’s about to be a legislator, is: ‘Wow, for many, many years, I’ve been suppressing this knowledge of my alter ego. If not repressing it, and yet now, holy cow, I have a feeling that there could be advantages to what I’ve kind of subconsciously known all along - that I’m a bifurcated personality. And should I or should I not capitalise on the advantages of that dark power moving forward?'" This sounds a lot like support for this theory. 

Van is working for Taissa and is part of Lottie's cult

As we don't see an adult Van in the 2021 timeline, most speculation focussed on how she'd die in the wilderness - as if nearly being burned alive twice and fer face being ripped apart weren't enough.

However, the adult Van and teen Taissa's girlfriend, shows up in the season 2 trailer. Fans believe Van has been doing all the weird voodoo things, and setting up the altar in Tai's house. One Reddit user said "My theory about the altar is that adult Van has followed Tai around in the periphery of her life doing rituals to help her, either for years or just recently, and the altar is hers/theirs. Bad Tai may have only recently started surfacing again due to the stress of being more politically visible."

The opening scene takes place in 2021 instead of 1996

Think back to The Pit Girl scene that opened the show in 2021 - there's the instant assumption the girl being caught in the pit is being trapped by desperate and hungry girls stuck in the 1996 wilderness.

However, there's a theory that this scene is actually Lottie's cult in the present day, and the deranged woman is offering a sacrifice. Going one step further, there has even been speculation that the unfortunate girl being caught in the pit is Callie - Shauna's daughter (her daughter from the present timeline with her husband, not the baby she might give birth to in the wilderness - more on that later). 

Shauna's baby gets eaten

Yes, ewww. But this remains a strong theory, especially as the child is never mentioned by anyone in the 2021 timeline. 

This is not to say Shauna decided feeding the girls her child would be preferable to motherhood, anything could have happened to the baby beforehand. With dwindling supplies, the baby could have perished from cold, developed a medical condition the girls had no chance of curing, and a number of reasons it wouldn't have thrived in freezing conditions. 

The season 2 trailer sees the team - albeit a briefly - landing on home turf after being rescued. There is no sign of Shauna's baby, and with heavy hints about the cannibalism that might've taken place, there's no wonder fan's minds went to the potential fate of Jackie and the baby's bodies... 

Shauna wrote Jackie's diary

In another blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, a look at Jackie’s diary reveals references that stretch beyond the plane crash timeline. 

An entry titled "Movie Character I Would Be", Jackie has written the answer Rose Dawson in Titanic, which wasn't released until the end of 1997. She also says she'd be Torrance Shipman in Bring It On, which didn’t come out until 2000. While some believed this meant Jackie was alive, her death has been confirmed by the show's creators. Shauna - or somebody - had filled in the diary for another reason, that will hopefully be revealed in season 2.

Misty is working with Adam, and could be a serial killer

There's no doubt that Misty is disturbed, with the way she shamelessly stalks the other girls, and the terrible way she treats some of her patients.

Teenage Misty was also enjoying wilderness life so much, she destroyed the plane's black box in an attempt to delay rescue. However, eagle-eyed viewers spotted the number plate on Adam’s truck is identical to the one on Misty's car. This could be an error of props, but with the Easter eggs are dropped throughout the series, this coincidence doesn't appear to be any accident. 

She also appears so at ease with death, she could easily be bumping off patients or anyone else for that matter - she seemed quite excited when greeted with Adam's body, and didn't bat an eyelid at drugging a cigarette with fentanyl. According to Stylist, Ricci said in an interview "She casually murders somebody, and she has a bunker ready for kidnap victims. I mean, that bunker was ready to go, pretty much. I would say that she has probably done it before, but I don’t know."

Adam is actually Javi

Alas, this popular theory has already been debunked. When Shauna had a revenge affair with Adam, many immediately assumed he was a grown-up Javi - Travis’ brother. 

Javi's death is never actually confirmed, with the last time he appears seeing him high and alone in the forest. However, in an interview with Variety, show creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson confirmed Adam is not Javi. They admitted they'd toyed with this idea, but ultimately didn't run with it. They said "We did entertain the notion that Adam was basically Javi coming back to torment Shauna in a way, or torment the Yellowjackets."

They continued "We fairly early on dispensed with that idea. It did not feel organically right to us. It didn’t feel to deliver on the promise of what we actually wanted to dramatise with her affair and their marriage. We chose not to, but some people called it and were, I think, eager to see it happen. Then it creates the scenario where, ‘Well, did we disappoint those people or did we delight them?'" 

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