“That Was a Gut-Wrenching Moment”: Samantha Hanratty Reacts to One of the Biggest Deaths in ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 [Exclusive]

Season 3 of Yellowjackets was pretty hard on fans. Showrunners Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson weren’t afraid of raising the body count as the season progressed, and by the end of it, several main cast members had been killed off. We know how it felt on our end, but what about what the actors felt? During an interview at the Newport Beach TV Fest and before the Yellowjackets panel, Samantha Hanratty (who plays teen Misty) talked to Collider about how she felt while filming all those shocking deaths.

Hanratty told Collider’s Aidan Kelley that, behind the scenes, the biggest challenge for her was filming Season 3 while pregnant with her first child (the pregnancy was not written into the series). She also shared the death that was the hardest to deal with, and it’s no surprise that it was one of her most frequent scene partners.

“I think all of the deaths have been very intense. But I think one of the biggest one for me for filming was with Steven Krueger. And I just adore him and love him, and so… yeah. That was a top one. That was a gut-wrenching moment.”

Krueger played Coach Ben Scott, the only adult to survive the plane crash with the girls from the soccer team. Throughout the series, teen Misty develops a crush on Ben. By season 3, Coach Ben’s health was faltering, and it didn’t help that the girls suspected he was the one who burned their cabin down. In episode 6, young Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) decides to put him out of his misery and stabs him. Misty is floored by the cruelty of the decision.

Who Died In ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3?

Coach Ben Scott was hardly the only victim of Yellowjackets Season 3. The first death to surprise viewers was Lottie (Simone Kessell), who is found dead at the bottom of a set of stairs, and who killed her was one of the season’s biggest mysteries. Newcomers Edwin (Nelson Franklin) and Kodi (Joel McHale) are brutally killed after stepping inside the girls’ camp in the wilderness, and the death that took fans completely by surprise — adult Van (Lauren Ambrose) getting killed out of nowhere by adult Melissa (Hilary Swank). Last but not least, we find out that Mari (Alexa Barajas) is the girl that fell to her death in a pit in the Season 1 opening scene.

Fortunately for fans, some of those characters might get some form of vindication as Season 4 starts to take shape. The death of Coach Ben might have had a purpose that got fulfilled by the end of the season, and Melissa at some point will be located by adult Taissa (Tawny Cypress). For now, we just have to wait and see how the next part of the story develops while we miss our favorite characters dearly.