If ‘Yellowjackets’ Is Renewed for Season 4, It Needs To Lean Full-Tilt Into Horror

Season 3 of Yellowjackets is a brutal time in the wilderness, with a pile-on of misery and death. Major deaths and a “full circle” reveal are catching fans up to the macabre Antler Queen cult introduced in the flashforward glimpses of the pilot episode. However, the show implements some dark comedy to try and tone down how dark things can get, and, unfortunately, it’s holding the show back from going fully into the horror of its premise. Season 4 has yet to be announced, and if there is another chapter about the teen survivors and their traumatized adult counterparts, the show needs less comedy.

The ensemble of veteran actresses is seemingly game for pretty much anything, from the hijinks of a car with faulty breaks to chowing down on the heart of a loved one. They are more than ready to deliver the deadly chapter to come should the wilderness accept a sacrifice and get a fourth season put into development. With how the characters are left in the finale, it’s time for the horror show to reach its full potential and see how bad things can get for those still alive in the present timeline.

‘Yellowjackets’ Has Increased the Dark Comedy Each Season

Some levity was vital to balance the darker scenes in Yellowjackets Season 1, from Misty (Christina Ricci) bursting into the motel room to snort all of Nat’s (Juliette Lewis) cocaine, to Jeff’s (Warren Kole) flabbergasted reaction to learning that Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) was cheating and never went to a book club. Unfortunately, however, the dark comedy has increased too much, becoming more campy and absurd, like in Misty’s trippy musical dream in Season 2, or many of Jeff or Walter’s (Elijah Wood) scenes in Season 3. Even Shauna’s tense reunion with Melissa (Hilary Swank) is interrupted by the two suddenly discussing if calling a therapist by their first name is weird or not. This kind of humor needs to be reduced in Season 4, given that major deaths have fractured the remaining women and threaten to have them return to their survival instincts from the wilderness.

Out of the two timelines, the wilderness is where there is very little dark comedy, with more surreal fantasies alongside cannibalism and folk horror influences. Teen Shauna’s (Sophie Nélisse) reign as the Antler Queen is already off to a deadly start, as she prevents the team from using Kodiak (Joel McHale) as a guide to escape, and is a major reason why Mari (Alexa Barajas) becomes Pit Girl. Shauna’s time as the Antler Queen will surely make the upcoming winter a sadistic time that will further decrease their numbers, but the brutality isn’t left to the past. Now, there is a point of no return for the remaining adult Yellowjackets as they find themselves on bleak paths.

Season 4 Needs the Adult Yellowjackets to Be More Vicious

In the final episodes of Yellowjackets Season 3, Shauna bites a chunk out of Melissa’s arm, and Taissa (Tawny Cypress) cuts into Van’s (Lauren Ambrose) body to feast on her heart as a morbid response to her grief. If anything, moments like this prove that you can take the girls out of the wilderness, but you can’t take the wilderness out of the girls. Somehow, the most stable character is Misty, something that no fan would have believed back in Season 1. After the Season 3 finale, what comes next shouldn’t carry much levity. Campy or absurd moments either need to be trimmed down or left out completely.

A darker tone can only help the adult timeline in Yellowjackets, which has always struggled to match the intensity of what goes on in the wilderness — even if the past timeline sometimes misses the mark. For example, the choice to mark teen Shauna as a monster who no one can stand up to feels removed from the complex culmination of grief and rage from losing Jackie (Ella Purnell

), and then her baby. Not even the fling with teen Melissa (Jenna Burgess) helped give depth to Shauna; instead, it drove home how far gone she was. Now, by having Taissa and Misty view Shauna as their enemy in the adult timeline, it leaves room for more of the Yellowjackets to revert to their primal instincts of survival and power in a way that hasn’t been properly explored.

The Adult Timeline Gets Darker in Season 3 of ‘Yellowjackets’

In previous seasons, the women turn on each other but always regain trust, like in the rocky “friendship” between Misty and Nat, or the uncertain relationship everyone has with Lottie (Simone Kessell) in Season 2. Covering up a murder or two helps to put a temporary bandage on the tension between the survivors. However, with the major deaths in Season 3, the bandage is off, and the wound is severely infected as the remaining adult Yellowjackets have a clear objective to avoid becoming hunted. Taissa blames Shauna for Van’s death and is teaming up with Misty, who has frequently been ridiculed and taken advantage of by Shauna. And it can’t be ignored that Shauna is finally ready to accept she wants to reject being a New Jersey housewife in favor of the Antler Queen crown back on her head. Should the show be renewed for a fourth season, Yellowjackets has the right pieces in place to truly descend into darkness without relying on levity for relief.