Yellowjackets season 3 ending explained: All your biggest questions answered about the season 3 finale

It's all over for Yellowjackets season 3, with the latest installment of the Showtime thriller coming to a climactic end this week. If you thought things might slow down as the new season reached its conclusion, think again: there are surprising plot twists, gruesome deaths, and shifting loyalties aplenty in episode 10.

It's a lot to take in, which is why we've recapped the dramatic season 3 finale and answered any burning questions you might have, including two of the show's biggest mysteries so far.

Warning: as you might expect, there are major Yellowjackets season 3 spoilers ahead, so turn back now if you're not up to date and don't want to know what happens!

Yellowjackets season 3 ending explained

After Nat finds Misty with the plane's black box, she realizes it's her fault they haven't been rescued yet and punches her. Later, though, it seems they've enlisted Van's help to try and fix the transponder. Meanwhile, Lottie is dreaming about the Antler Queen. She then appears in the morgue with her adult self, who wakes up gasping on the gurney. She then finds herself in the stairwell where she died, asking, "Are you there?"

In the present day, Shauna is driving Tai home. Tai picks a spot to bury Van in the woods and refuses to let Shauna help. When she's left alone with Van's body, she cuts out her heart and eats it. Elsewhere, Misty finds Callie at school and accuses her of killing Lottie: she found a photo of her on Lottie's phone wearing Jackie's necklace and realized Shauna's DNA found under Lottie's fingernails was actually hers. Callie tells Misty that Lottie took the tape from her when Shauna kicked her out of their house, so Callie went to find her in NYC, where she showed her the stairwell lined with candles. Callie told her that she was worried her mother didn't love her, and Lottie said Shauna can't love her because she's "the child of that place" and Shauna is jealous that the wilderness lives on in her. Callie was upset by this pushed her down the stairs, accidentally killing her.

After speaking to Misty, Callie goes home and comes clean to Jeff. When Shauna arrives home, she finds they've both disappeared, taking their stuff with them. She goes to confront Misty, who tells her that Callie killed Lottie.

In the wilderness, Akilah discovers that all the animals they've been keeping in captivity have suddenly died. Lottie says it's a sign that they have to do another hunt to please the wilderness, and Tai asks Van to rig the card deck so Hannah is chosen to be the one hunted. We later learn that Akilah poisoned the animals at Lottie's instruction. On the morning of the hunt, Shauna suspects something is up during the card draw and switches her place in the drawing order, which means Mari gets the Queen of Hearts instead of Hannah.

Mari gets a head start running through the woods, but Nat diverges from the others and takes the satellite telephone from its hiding spot. She realizes Hannah is following her, but she promises Nat that she just wants to survive and get out of the wilderness. After a long, tense chase through the forest, Mari falls into the concealed pit and dies, impaled on the spikes. Melissa attacks Shauna and tries to kill her, but she can't do it and Shauna says that she "knew you'd turn out to be boring."

Back in the present, Tai meets up with Misty. She blames Shauna for Van and Nat's deaths and says she was the worst of them in the wilderness, and asks Misty if she really wants Shauna to be the last one of them standing. Back at her house, Shauna finds Melissa's note where it's fallen under the fridge, and discovers that it wasn't at all antagonistic.

The episode ends with Lottie dressing Shauna up like the Antler Queen, complete with a robe decorated with Mari's hair. The other girls are still in their face-concealing hunting garb, and Shauna discovers Hannah has disguised herself as Nat, who is now missing. Nat, meanwhile, has run off to higher ground with the satellite phone in search of signal. Using the transponder, she desperately tries to make contact – and the season ends with a voice saying "hello" on the other end. Could rescue finally be on the cards in season 4?

Who is 'Pit Girl'?

Ever since the opening scene of the Yellowjackets pilot, which showed a dark-haired girl chased into a pit filled with spikes, fans have been theorizing about the identity of the so-called 'Pit Girl'. We never saw her face, but her dark hair led many to guess it was Mari. The season 3 finale finally gave us an answer: Pit Girl was Mari, after all.

Who killed Lottie?

The Yellowjackets season 3 finale also revealed who was responsible for Lottie's death, and it wasn't who we were expecting. Although several of the adult survivors had a motive for her murder, it was actually Shauna's daughter Callie who killed her: she pushed her down the stairs after Lottie told her that her mother wasn't able to love her.

Will there be Yellowjackets season 4?

Yellowjackets hasn't been renewed for season 4 yet, but the show's creators have previously said that they originally pitched five seasons. There's still a bonus episode on the way, too, which was meant to be released pre-season 3 but was subsequently delayed.

All episodes of Yellowjackets season 3 are streaming now on Paramount Plus. For more, check out our verdict in our Yellowjackets season 3 review, or fill out your watchlist with our guide to 2025's other best new TV shows.