Yellowjackets director Ben Semanoff has explained the shocking death that took audiences by surprise in the show’s latest episode.
The third season of the Showtime series has received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising the show’s return to its unpredictable roots. Others, however, have dubbed the latest instalment “directionless”.
In the penultimate episode of season three, we see Lauren Ambrose’s character, Van, being cared for in a hospital bed by her younger self before she is sent to find “the treasure”.
Warning – major Yellowjackets season three spoilers follow
By the end of the episode, Van is stabbed to death by Melissa (Hilary Swank) who is trying to escape the rest of the adult Yellowjackets after it is uncovered that she faked her own death.
Speaking to ScreenRant, Semanoff said Van’s death is a result of Melissa’s gradually increasing frustration, which he may explore in subsequent episodes of the show.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with Melissa, and I think the next season might answer a bunch of these questions,” he said.
“But I think ultimately, the most important thing was that she didn’t need to be discovered. She was living a completely secretive life. My answer is that she was sick of it.”
He continued: “Melissa had gotten away with faking her death and flying under the radar, and I think she was just like, ‘How am I going to regain that excitement? I’m going to let the YJs know I’m alive. They’re going to come after me, and then all hell is going to break loose.’ I think this is what she wanted.”
“I think she wanted to be back in the game,” Semanoff added, “and now she’s essentially being chased through the woods again, had she pulled the card. That’s the reason for me. I love how that all happened, and that’s why I think she stabs her at the end. This is the game. This is what you do.”
His comments follow after Ambrose told Vanity Fair this week that she’s still processing her exit from the show and the nature of her character’s death.
“Van is this ultimate survivor. Her mother had an abusive nature, then she gets almost blown up by the plane, and then she’s almost killed when she’s attacked by wolves. And then she’s got this cancer that then goes into remission,” Ambrose said.
“I assumed it would be the cancer that did her in –this ultimate survivor who is unable to survive this very real and human thing… Then it wasn’t that, and reading it was really shocking… All of a sudden, Hilary Swank is murdering me.
“I’m like, ‘Okay, we’re going to make it work.’ As Kathryn Hahn said to me once, ‘Champions adjust.’”
Released in 2021, Yellowjackets follows a group of teenagers involved in a 1996 plane crash, going back and forth between that timeline and the consequences of the event in their adult lives in the year 2021.
Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, Sophie Nélisse and Juliette Lewis also star.
