Ella Purnell’s Yellowjackets Role Just Got An Exciting Update & It’s A Huge Relief After Jackie’s Season 1 Death
Jackie has been dead since Yellowjackets season 1, but she’s continued to appear since then, and a new trailer has confirmed that Ella Purnell will still be in the show for season 3. Throughout its run, Yellowjackets has ingeniously used its dual timelines to foreshadow major plot events. In season 1, the most shocking use of this technique was teasing Jackie’s dark fate. Jackie didn’t have an adult counterpart in the present-day timeline, so it was obvious that something terrible would happen to her in the ‘90s timeline — but it wasn’t clear what.
In the season 1 finale, Jackie got into a big fight with Shauna and was ordered to sleep outside the cabin. However, the next morning, much to Shauna’s horror, they found that it had snowed throughout the night and Jackie had frozen to death. Jackie’s death caused immense guilt for Shauna throughout season 2, since she was technically responsible, and that guilt manifested itself as Jackie’s spirit appearing to Shauna in disturbing visions. Based on the latest trailer for Yellowjackets’ third season, it seems as though Shauna hasn’t escaped those visions yet.
Yellowjackets Season 3’s New Teaser Confirms Ella Purnell Returns As Jackie
In the new Yellowjackets season 3 trailer, Shauna has another unsettling vision of Jackie. Shauna seems to be in a dark public restroom, seeing a vision of Jackie sitting in a stall and looking back at her. It’s a blink-and-miss-it moment, but it’s unmistakably Jackie with a stunned Shauna looking at her. Jackie is covered up by a critic’s quote from The New York Times praising the show for being “beautifully deranged,” but it’s clearly her. This suggests that Shauna’s visions of Jackie will continue to haunt her throughout season 3.
It was unclear if Purnell would return for Yellowjackets season 3. Not only has Jackie been dead for over a season now; Purnell’s career is taking off, and she’s become one of the most in-demand stars in Hollywood. She’s taken on other leading roles in TV shows, like Lucy MacLean in Fallout and Rhiannon Lewis in Sweetpea, both of which have been renewed for a second season. But it seems that Purnell has found space in her schedule for a Yellowjackets return. Showing up in a couple of guilt-ridden visions probably only takes a couple of days of filming.
Ella Purnell’s Yellowjackets Season 3 Return Hints She’ll Continue To Recur Throughout The Entire Show
If Purnell is back as Jackie in Yellowjackets season 3, then it probably means she’ll stick around for the rest of the entire series. Jackie’s return in season 2 made sense, since she had just died and the teenage Shauna was dealing with an incredible amount of guilt over her death. Having Jackie show up in visions was a great way to kill two birds with one stone: visualize the guilt that Shauna is experiencing, and keep one of the show’s best actors around for a few more episodes.
However, it was still up in the air whether that would continue through season 3 and beyond. Given that she’s back in season 3, and it’s in the present-day timeline with adult Shauna hallucinating her, it seems as though Purnell can be expected to appear throughout the rest of the show. Her appearance in the third season — and in adult Shauna’s life, years after they escaped from the wilderness — means there’s no endgame for these visions; Shauna is stuck with them for good (and Purnell will be on the show for good).
What Jackie’s Vision Return In The Present Timeline Means For Adult Shauna In Season 3
Jackie has been appearing in Shauna’s visions since as far back as season 1. When adult Shauna was about to jump off a bridge with Adam in an attempt to relive her youth, Jackie showed up to tell her that someone was going to get hurt. Now, in season 3, adult Shauna is seeing Jackie again. Her hallucinated reappearance could have dire consequences following the bombshell ending of Yellowjackets season 2. The last season of the show ended with Natalie’s untimely passing as she took a phenobarbital injection and died in Misty’s arms.
Maybe Jackie’s reappearance isn’t just a manifestation of Shauna’s guilt; maybe her spirit is really there to guide Shauna.
The women were then told that the wilderness was pleased with their sacrifice and that they would be rewarded for it, ending the season on an ominously ambiguous note. Most of the bizarre elements of Yellowjackets have been blamed on the characters’ psychological distress, but there are clearly supernatural forces at play in addition to that. Maybe Jackie’s reappearance isn’t just a manifestation of Shauna’s guilt; maybe her spirit is really there to guide Shauna. Whatever happens with Jackie, Yellowjackets season 3 is arguably the most exciting installment of the series to date.
