Will older Natalie return to Yellowjackets Season 3?

After a tragic end in Yellowjackets Season 2, older Natalie, played by Juliette Lewis, and her future with the show has been thrown into question.

Yellowjackets Season 2 has easily been living up to the first, with more danger, more cannibalism, and more toxic friendships. We’ve been loving this new season and you can read our coverage of it here.

The official plot of the show is as thus: “Wildly talented high school girls’ soccer players descend into savage clans after their plane crashes in the remote northern wilderness. Twenty-five years later, they discover that what began in the wild is far from over. They brought the darkness back with them.”

Now Natalie Scatorccio, played by Juliette Lewis in modern day and Sophie Thatcher in the ’90s, meets a tragic end at the hand of all of this darkness in Season 2. But, what does this mean for Natalie in Season 3?

Juliette Lewis won’t return for Season 3, according to another Yellowjackets star

Quite a number of characters kick the bucket this season, but the “big death” is older Natalie, who dies at the very end of the season. 

See, in the finale, like in Episode 8, the older Yellowjackets draw cards, and whoever gets the Queen gets hunted and killed. This is meant to be a fake hunt to placate and distract Lottie, who has begun to lose herself again to the Darkness and requires mental help. But, then things start to escalate.

Natalie, Van, Tai, Misty, and Lottie all chase Shauna, but Callie shoots Lottie in the arm to defend her mom. Then, as the girls are bandaging Lottie up, Lisa, a member of Lottie’s cult, also comes in with a gun, as from her point of view, it seems like they’re all about to murder Lottie, as they’re all holding weapons.

This conflict escalates to the point where Misty goes to stab Lisa with a syringe filled with phenobarbital. However, Natalie jumps in front of the needle to protect Lisa and ends up dying in Misty’s arms. But, according to visions that Natalie has of herself on a plane, she at least dies with a feeling of peace.

But considering that we’ve seen some dead characters return, like how we see flashbacks of older Travis in Season 2, along with visions of Laura Lee, there still remains the question: will Juliette Lewis stick around for Yellowjackets Season 3?

Sadly, according to Sophie Thatcher, who plays younger Natalie, no, Lewis will not be returning.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Thatcher was asked about if she knew of Natalie’s death before filming and she said, “No. I don’t think anybody did, of the younger cast. There was a sense with Juliette that she might be going; there was some talk.

“When we were doing the eighth episode, we did this New York Times interview together and she was finally like, “Yeah, I’m moving on. I’m going on.” She told me then. I had heard, I think, through some rumors. And then we finally got the script, and did the table read. And, it was really depressing!”

She continued explaining how Lewis was moving on from the show stating, “I’m excited for her as an actor to go onto different projects and explore different roles. Because Natalie is a really hard role, emotionally, to take on, and I can’t imagine doing that for another three seasons or whatever. I’m not saying she’s not capable, but she wants to explore and I’m excited for her; she’s already doing a lot of movies.

“I haven’t really thought about it yet, because we don’t know when we’re doing season three, but not having that mentorship… I know she’ll always be a contact, but not having that immediate [mentor], everyone else has that and now I’m removed of that. She’s given me so much confidence as a performer and an artist, and I’ll take that with me my entire life. But it will be hard for everyone to have their older counterparts and to be left alone!”

Is Natalie the Antler Queen and how will that affect Season 3?

As of the Season 2 finale, Natalie has been appointed the Antler Queen by Lottie, but the role isn’t going to be easy for her.

After letting Javi die and get eaten in her place, Natalie and the rest of the group are told by Lottie how the Wilderness has appointed Nat the leader of the Yellowjackets, explaining, “The wilderness chose who fed us. It’s already chosen who should lead us. How else do we explain what happened out there? We tried to kill you. It wouldn’t let us.”

But, her new role won’t transform life in the Wilderness for her. “I think it will mess up the group dynamic no matter what,” continued Thatcher. “And no matter what, it’s going to be exciting. But, it doesn’t mean that she is going to fully take over that role. Because, you don’t see her reaction after that scene. I think there is a sense of accomplishment and that she feels seen, for once, for everything she’s done. So, I think she’s going to try to hold onto that and wouldn’t just completely dismiss or throw it away immediately.

“But I think the group is going to react terribly. I think there’s going to be tension between her and Shauna, because Shauna obviously has endured so much and felt like she was the natural one to fall into that role. I think it’s just going to start more conflict. Not that things were going well, but they had a leader that people agreed on and now everything is thrown out of sorts. People don’t even like Natalie that much. They trust her, but she’s not giving them what Lottie was giving them.”

Not only that, but this role likely led to Natalie accepting her death 25 years later, as when she dies, she sees a vision of her younger self, who states, “This is exactly where we belong. We’ve been here for years.”

As explained by Thatcher, “I think because she’s been so far removed from herself and gone in and out of these suicidal feelings and thoughts, I think my character is talking about when she let herself go in the wilderness. As in this last episode, with Javi. She already let herself go. She already is going to be living with that guilt, and it’s going to be evil and tear her apart. And that’s going to be what she’s going to live with her entire life, so I think she’s referring to that specific moment.

“Because that is the beginning of what we’ll see a lot more of. But saying that ‘we’ve been here, we’re already a person away from ourselves,’ it’s been 25 years. It’s been so long. So I think there’s a sense of acceptance. It’s so sad!”

Check out our Yellowjackets coverage, including our reviews, here.

Yellowjackets Seasons 1 & 2 are currently available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, which you can sign up for here.

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