This Major Yellowjackets Walter Theory Would Change Everything Fans Know About the Show

Elijah Wood’s Walter Tattersall first swarmed Yellowjackets in Season 2, introduced as Misty’s fellow citizen detective and unlikely romantic partner. Ever since the amateur sleuth debuted, he’s been one of the most buzzed-about characters in the hit Showtime series. Deep into Season 3, there’s now a growing contingent of viewers suspecting Walter’s charm and his fancy of forensics hint at something more.

And who can blame them? Parsing every Walter scene, every bit of backstory, for clues to potentially reveal hitherto hidden motives is exactly what Yellowjackets invites. The series revels in ambiguity and undoubtedly thrives on this sort of code-breaking among the fan base. However, a particularly troubling Walter theory is gaining traction among fans—one alleging he executed Lottie and framed Shauna, mad with jealousy over Misty’s divided attention. If true, the revelation would reshape Season 3’s central murder mystery at the expense of the series’ larger story and trajectory.

Did Walter Kill Lottie? Suspicious Behavior Mounts in Yellowjackets Season 3

Since Lottie’s death, fans think Walter might be behind the tragedy as part of a hidden agenda, jealous rage, or a revenge quest he’s on. There’s supporting evidence that there’s more to Walter than meets the eye. When Shauna directly accused him of killing Lottie to create “a puzzle” for Misty to solve, Walter didn’t deny it. Instead, he told her she was “asking the right questions.” Add his carefully applied leather gloves he sports during the encounter, convenient appearances and conspicuous absences, and garnish it with his suspicious confirmation “matching” Shauna’s DNA to evidence found on Lottie at the crime scene, and Walter’s citizen detective act starts looking more calculated than cute.

“Mutually assured destruction can be devastatingly effective.”

— Walter in Season 3, Episode 5, “Did Tai Do That?”

Walter has already proven he’ll murder to protect Misty. He killed and disposed of Officer Kevin at the end of Season 2 with methods suggesting he’s someone who’s thought through—or enacted— these scenarios before. The timing of Walter’s appearance at crucial moments raises questions, too. He stalks Shauna until, once found out, he’s impressed with her inquisitive approach. Together, they showed up at Lottie’s apartment building just as Misty was investigating. With each action, Walter gets positioned, or positions himself, as a solution to a problem.

Walter’s facial expressions during these pivotal moments don’t necessarily help his case, either. His smile, whether when killing a police officer or caught off guard by Shauna’s questioning of his innocence, didn’t hint at someone horrified by murder or accusations, but rather someone delighted that their work was not going unnoticed. Wood himself acknowledged that “we can rightfully feel a degree of un-trustiness towards him.” From a certain point of view, his convenient timing and his overall quirkiness could be perceived as consistent with a criminal mastermind.

Walter Might Be Making Mysteries for Misty

But why would Walter deliberately kill Lottie and frame Shauna? The answer might be tucked away in a recurring name-calling motif between Misty and Walter, rooted in a detective fiction classic, Sherlock Holmes. The implications behind the Holmes references in Yellowjackets shouldn’t be ignored. They start in Season 2 after Walter meets Misty on an online citizen detective forum. Walter, in a tête-à-tête with Misty, doesn’t refer to himself as Watson, Sherlock’s loyal sidekick, but as Moriarty, Holmes’ nemesis. The distinction matters as Watson and Sherlock solve mysteries, but Moriarty manufactures them. Among Holmes fans, Moriarty is most notorious for creating elaborate crimes that coax, challenge, and bring the best out of his rival and only equal, Sherlock, whom he ultimately kills in “The Final Problem.”

Maybe I’m just a bored Moriarty looking for his Sherlock.

— Walter to Misty in Season 2

When asked about this reference in interviews, Elijah Wood didn’t shy away from the loaded subtext, admitting that “there are narrative hints that are dropped” about their potential rivalry. Wood also confirmed the Moriarty line “wasn’t a throwaway” and hinted that their relationship would “cross into darker territory than one would initially have imagined.” No fate for the Misty/Walter relationship would be darker than their being the cause of each other’s death, like Moriarty and Sherlock were for each other, especially if it came after Walter revealed himself as the puppet master behind multiple Yellowjackets mysteries.

Walter Might Have Murdered Lottie to Help—Or Hinder—Misty’s Relationship With the Survivors

The “Walter Killed Lottie” theory could be supported by a pivotal Season 3 moment. During their breakup, Misty hurled a soul-crushing line at Walter, claiming he’d never understand her or her relationships, forged through trauma. When Misty declared he could never comprehend her wilderness-forged connections, his expression sank. The barb could have been the impetus for his concocting an elaborate scheme.

“Sometimes I forget you can’t possibly understand relationships forged in life-and-death experiences. See, us survivors, we’re not sitting around keeping some petty log of who needed what, when. Our bond just runs deeper than that.”

— Misty in Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 2, “Dislocation”

Walter might not have taken Misty’s comments as a disqualifier but as an invitation. Since Walter is excluded from the Yellowjackets’ trauma-bonded circle, he might see Lottie’s death as a way to create a new shared trauma, seeing it as his only path to gain the bond with Misty he craves. By upending Misty’s most valued relationships— Lottie and framing Shauna— Walter essentially plucks them out and inserts himself as a new integral part of the team.

He also could be stirring the pot as a means to bring the Yellowjackets closer to Misty, not himself closer to them. Walter’s big gripe against the team is their mistreatment of Misty, which prompts Misty’s aforementioned trauma defense. The less insidious—albeit still murderous—interpretation could position Walter as the perpetrator of Lottie’s murder as a means to bolster Misty and remind the other survivors of her importance. This, of course, would leave the Shauna aspects up in the air—but based on the events of Season 3, Episode 8 “Normal Boring Life,” that could very well be written off to Shauna’s paranoia.

Elijah Wood Wants You to Wonder What Walter’s up To

Walter theories running rampant makes even more sense considering that Elijah Wood, who plays Walter, has encouraged skepticism. Vulture ran a profile on Wood after his Yellowjackets debut in Season 2 literally titled “Yellowjackets’s Elijah Wood Thinks You’re Right Not to Trust Walter,” in which he concedes: “Look, I’ll say this: We’re not entirely sure of who Walter really is. Both Walter and Misty present a version of who they are to the world that is not entirely their true self or their whole self.”

“There are all sorts of funny little hints that [Walter could be an adversary]. But I don’t believe that’s the motivating factor. It certainly isn’t present — yet…” — Elijah Wood via Vulture