‘Yellowjackets’ Season 2 Confirms New Surviving Girl With Adult Cast Member

There are few shows I am looking forward to more than the return of Yellowjackets season 2, the show that singlehandedly made me subscribe to Showtime for the first time in years, and one of the only “teens stranded somewhere spooky” series I’ve seen in recent memory that actually executed its concept correctly.

One of the biggest mysteries of the series has been not just what happened to the girls out there after their crash, but which one of them survived into adulthood and made it back. The show centers on four main girls we know made it from the start, but the season 1 finale (spoilers follow) indicate that budding cult-leader Lottie also returned and is still doing her weird cult things.

However, a new bit of season 2 casting news has confirmed yet another survivor. That would be Van, who had her face chewed on by a wolf before also becoming inducted into Lottie’s cult, and now it’s clear that in season 2, she will be seen in present day.

Adult Van will be played by Lauren Ambrose, joining the Emmy-nominated cast. Ambrose is probably best known for her role on Six Feet Under as Claire Fisher back in the early 2000s, but lately, she has appeared as the star of Apple TV’s Servant, another surreal horror series where she’s a mother dealing with the death, and un-death of her infant son.

Presumably when we see Ambrose in Yellowjackets season 2, she will be scarred-up to some extent, as even though the girls tried to sew Van’s face back together after the wolf attack, I mean there’s only so much you can do there. What is not clear is whether or not she will still be serving Lottie, and if the girls knew she was alive this whole time or not.

In Yellowjackets, there is a shrinking pool of crash survivors where we don’t know their fates. With this news about Van, we have:

• Shauna – Survived
• Taissa – Survived (may have a split personality)
• Jackie – Died (froze to death)
• Natalie – Survived
• Misty – Survived (is pretty insane, maybe a cult sleeper)
• Ben – Unknown
• Lottie – Survived (location unknown)
• Van – Survived (location unknown)
• Laura – Died (plane explosion)
• Travis – Died (probably murdered by cult)
• Javi – Unknown
• Mari – Unknown
• Akilah – Unknown

Javi was one of the biggest mysteries, and a common fan theory was that he was the guy who Shauna killed, but that does not appear to be the case. I have to assume Ben died, and the other two girls, Mari and Akilah, are not really the most major of characters, at least as of season 1. But we’ll have to see how things expand with the flashback storyline in the next season. But once all the fates are known, I do wonder how long that part of the story can last.

Yellowjackets returns with season 2 in early 2023, supposedly, with no fixed date yet.

Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to my free weekly content round-up newsletter, God Rolls.

Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.