Everything to Remember from ‘Yellowjackets’ Before Season 3

“Once upon a time, a bunch of teenage girls got stranded in the wilderness. They hunted their friends, feasted on their flesh, and they went completely nuts.”

So begins the trailer for Season 3 of Showtime’s “Yellowjackets,” about the eponymous high school soccer team that crash-land in the Canadian Rockies in 1996. Season 3 picks up after a brief interval in both timelines; in the ’90s, the Yellowjackets have built new shelter as they enter the summer months, while their adult counterparts pick up several weeks after the end of Season 2. The upcoming season promises new characters (Hilary Swank), fresh nightmares, and maybe the beginning of the end for Coach Scott (Steven Kreuger). But before new episodes are served starting February 14, let’s quickly recap critical characters and plot points from the first two seasons.

Here’s everything to remember from “Yellowjackets” Seasons 1 and 2.

The (Dwindling) Survivors

As of Season 2, confirmed survivors of the crash and the wilderness were Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), Natalie (Juliette Lewis), Misty (Christina Ricci), Taissa (Tawny Cypress), Van (Lauren Ambrose), Lottie (Simone Kessell), and Travis (Andres Soto). Travis died in Season 1, from an alleged suicide that turned out to be an accident involving Lottie, and Season 2 ended with Natalie accidentally being shot with a deadly dose of fentanyl that Misty meant for someone else. That’s two known survivors of the crash dead under mysterious and violent circumstances, not to mention in situations that created further guilt and confusion for their friends.

It always creates extra poignancy seeing these characters in the past, to know how their lives end in the future. Van is also living with a terminal cancer diagnosis, and Lottie’s role as a cult leader suggests that she’s still grappling with the ideas that had her in and out of mental health clinics for most of her life. Tai is estranged from her wife and child after endangering them with her sleepwalking, and while Shauna’s family knows most of the truth, that may put them in as much danger as the Yellowjackets themselves…

Shauna’s Traumas

All the survivors of flight 2525 sustained innumerable painful experiences during their time in the wilderness, but things were especially terrible for Shauna (Sophie Nélisse). That first winter began with her losing best friend Jackie (Ella Purnell) after a vicious argument, then losing her baby after a painful and medically risky labor. Each season has seen Shauna incontrovertibly changed by the hardships she endures in the wilderness, yet she’s not immune to teen tensions like being upset that Natalie was chosen as group leader in the Season 2 finale. How will Shauna fare in the spring of ’97 — and what fresh horrors in the warm months will resurface and haunt her adult life?

The Men (and the Murder)

Season 1 introduced a fan favorite in Shauna’s husband Jeff (Warren Kole), who appeared to be having an affair but ended up carrying out a misguided blackmail attempt. When it turned out that Shauna’s suspicions led her to her own affair and to accidentally killing her lover, Jeff stood firmly by her side.

Another male ally to the women’s crimes is Walter (Elijah Wood), a fellow citizen detective of Misty’s who uses his wealth and cunning to bury Shauna’s murder case once and for all. Will he find any peace this season? Will anyone?

It Chooses

In the bleak midwinter, the Yellowjackets starved and hallucinated and turned to the wilderness to guide them. With Lottie as their shaman, the girls and Travis (Kevin Alves) practiced tuning into their surroundings, engaging in casual sacrifices (a few drops of blood or dead birds here and there), and ultimately creating a ritual way to hunt, kill, and eat one of their own while food ran scarce. Some of them dismiss this ideology — Shauna, Tai, and Natalie in particular — but food is food, and Lottie’s eerie connection to the wilderness yields more than a few meals. That means that in the springtime as well as the present, some of these characters credit “it” with saving their lives. Taissa made a blood sacrifice while sleepwalking, and the others slipped too easily back into animal cries and masks when Lottie asked them to. The wilderness still has a powerful grip on these women, and it’s not letting go any time soon.

The Coach and the Cabin

Steven Kreuger in ‘Yellowjackets’Kailey Schwerman/SHOWTIME

If you’re waiting for Ben Scott to live happily ever after, stay in line. The Yellowjackets’ young assistant coach got way more than he bargained for when the plane went down, starting with personal nurse Misty Quigley and leading right up to a group of young people who eschew his authority and feast on human flesh. Season 2 saw Coach regularly disassociating to imagine a parallel life with his boyfriend Paul (François Arnaud), but that illusion shattered as the horrors of winter in the wilderness crept in. He gives up on the Yellowjackets and finds shelter in the tree where Javi (Luciano Leroux) spent months, but not before coming back to see Javi’s body carved up for dinner and the cabin crew choosing Natalie as their new leader. Watching Nat’s 180 appeared to be the last straw for Coach, especially given their bond. The cabin catches fire shortly after — perhaps a decisive act from a man who can’t bear to watch what’s next.

“Yellowjackets” Season 3 premieres February 14 on Paramount+.