Who Gets Eaten in ‘Yellowjackets’? Our Best Theories so Far

From the pilot of Showtime’s series Yellowjackets, fans knew that cannibalism in the show would be inevitable. Yellowjackets has been compared to both Lord of the Flies and the Donner Party, meaning their race for survival would be remiss without some human barbecue. While Season 1 resulted in some dark twists and turns, the stranded soccer team has yet to cook anyone.

Some fans are still trying to discern the identity of the girl from the pilot, who falls into a trap set by the rest of the soccer team and dies, becoming dinner in the first ten minutes. But is that the first instance of cannibalism from the group? Who gets eaten in Yellowjackets? Here are our best theories ahead of Season 2.

Fans already know there are a handful of characters that return from the wilderness, ruling them out as victims: Shauna, Misty, Taissa, Natalie, and Travis. Then, more recently, two more Yellowjackets team members were named as survivors: Lottie and Van. Everyone else appears to be fair game, pardon the pun.

During Season 1, it’s revealed that Shauna is pregnant with her best friend’s boyfriend’s baby. Fans were immediately on high alert, with many theorizing that the team would be forced to eat Shauna’s baby as winter approaches and game is scarce. While that theory is as unappetizing as it is horrific, Tawny Cypress, who plays Adult Taissa, told Entertainment Weekly that no one would be eating Shauna’s baby.

Of course, in a time where actors frequently have to lie to the press about their projects (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, the grief you have caused!), it’s hard for Yellowjackets fans to believe her.

As Yellowjackets showrunners have previously admitted to Variety, they did purposefully obscure the amount of surviving Yellowjackets team members during Season 1. Could the person who is eaten first be a nameless member of the team whose death sets off a chain reaction of cannibalism?

Poor Coach Ben Scott cannot catch a break. After injuring his leg in the plane crash, Misty helpfully chops it off with an axe, then cauterizes the wound. She also uses Ben’s weakened state to “nurse” him back to health, as she develops a crush on him that he does not reciprocate. Misty’s meddling culminates in poisoning Ben to keep him in her care, then dosing the team with hallucinogenic mushrooms.

After being rejected, it makes sense that Misty would attempt to turn the group against Ben. Whether or not Misty could successfully turn the other Yellowjackets against him is another story — many of the teammates have not forgiven Misty for the mushroom incident and do not trust her. However, in his current state, Ben can’t run, making him potentially easy prey.

At the end of Season 1, there is a core Yellowjackets team member who doesn’t survive: Jackie. After freezing to death in the Season 1 finale, fans don’t know yet what happened to Jackie’s body, leading to many, many theories that she will be the first to get eaten simply by the process of elimination.

Throughout the first season, Jackie devolves from Team Captain to whiny and unhelpful as the Yellowjackets re-navigate social contracts in the face of certain death. She refuses to adapt to the wilderness and is even exiled from the cabin, which is how she dies. It would be an ironic twist for the team members to end up eating Jackie after all the grief she caused them.

One compelling theory put forth by Cosmopolitan suggests that maybe, the cannibalism everyone seems to be hinting at is a red herring. Writer Mehera Bonner argues that, especially in the present-day scenes, the Yellowjackets soccer team committing cannibalism is an open secret in the town, even used as a smear campaign tactic by Taissa’s political opponent.

Therefore, whatever happened to the team in the wilderness, it must be worse than cannibalism … right?

Fans will find out if their best theories are correct when Yellowjackets Season 2 begins streaming on March 24, 2023. Subsequent episodes of the show will premiere on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET, only on Showtime.