SPOILER ALERT: This post contains details about the Yellowjackets, Season 3 finale episode “Full Circle“

After an eventful Season 3 finale, Yellowjackets fans no doubt have plenty of questions. Did Natalie reach help? Where did Jeff and Callie go? Does Shauna have a soul?

Leading up to this week’s episode “Full Circle,” co-creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson spoke with Deadline about the “spiritual symmetry” of the finale, which reveals the identities of “Pit Girl” and “Antler Queen” after they were teased in the 2021 Karyn Kusama-helmed pilot.

“In terms of bringing it full circle, there is always something exciting and maybe sort of daunting, because the entirety of — a large portion at least, in terms of narrative weight of the finale, is sort of starting where we began,” said Nickerson, who directed the episode. “The show’s obviously not over, but to sort of like land back at the beginning in a way that sort of like closes the loop, but also it kind of opens a door to a path moving ahead, was really fun and really challenging.”

In the ’90s timeline, a series of events conspired between two opposing factions of the stranded titular soccer team, which led to them carrying out another hunt. Although some of the girls attempted to rig the drawing, Teen Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) throws a wrench in their plan, which ends up making Mari (Alexa Barajas) their prey. The scene soon overlaps with the event of the pilot opening scene, revealing Mari as the doomed “Pit Girl” and Shauna as the “Antler Queen” that presides over the cannibalistic feast of her body.

Meanwhile, in the present, Adult Lottie’s (Simone Kessell) killer is exposed after Misty (Christina Ricci) does some citizen-detecting and finds out Shauna’s daughter Callie (Sarah Desjardins) committed the killing out of fear.

“I think it asks sort of a philosophical question about Callie, and for Callie, in terms of who is she with respect to her mother,” explained Lyle. “I don’t wanna say too much about this, but I don’t think Callie is her mother, I think Callie is her own person, and that’s something that we think is really interesting to explore.”

With the discovery, Jeff (Warren Kole) and Callie take off to get some space from Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), who is left in the ruins of her own existential crisis.

“I think she’s both grieving and finally allowing herself to recognize who she is,” said Lyle, adding: “I think there is both a grief to that and also a letting go. I think that it’s liberating for her in a certain way.” 

As the two timelines begin to merge, Teen Nat’s (Sophie Thatcher) call home in the eleventh hour provides hope for a potential rescue, and with it, a return to ’90s civilization and an era-appropriate toxic media landscape.

“Just to clarify, not to say that we’re gonna get there very soon,” noted Nickerson. “But we’ve always said that we do think that there is a portion of the story that wants to be told upon their return, we just don’t know when we’re gonna get there.”

Read on for Lyle and Nickerson’s recap of the Season 3 finale, which is now available to stream on Paramount+ with Showtime before airing Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on Showtime.

DEADLINE: One thing that was exciting about the finale was that Pit Girl is revealed finally. Can you tell me about bringing that story full circle? Was Mari always the one you wanted to be Pit Girl? 

BART NICKERSON: In terms of bringing it full circle, there is always something exciting and maybe sort of daunting, because the entirety of — a large portion at least, in terms of narrative weight of the finale, is sort of starting where we began. The show’s obviously not over, but to sort of like land back at the beginning in a way that sort of like closes the loop, but also it kind of opens a door to a path moving ahead, was really fun and really challenging. Because a lot of it is sort of held in the aesthetics of the finale, so just getting footage that was shot six or seven years ago to match, in a very different place and time, and with different people, was very exciting but very challenging. 

DEADLINE: Also the fact that Callie killed Lottie, that’s another big bombshell from this episode. Can you tell me what that means for her character and her relationship with her mom? 

ASHLEY LYLE: That certainly doesn’t mean great things for her character, which is sort of a broken record message of this show, something good for our characters. But I think it asks sort of a philosophical question about Callie, and for Callie, in terms of who is she with respect to her mother. We have Misty saying earlier on in the season, “apple, tree, I’m afraid to say,” and I think that that is the question for Callie moving forward. How much is she like her mother, and is it nature versus nurture to some extent? I think that’s what she’s going to be asking herself moving forward, is who am I, what kind of person am I? And I think that we’ve seen Shauna’s true colors this season. I don’t wanna say too much about this, but I don’t think Callie is her mother, I think Callie is her own person, and that’s something that we think is really interesting to explore. 

DEADLINE: Shauna has really become kind of the villain this season, and in the finale, she has this big breakdown. Can you tell me a little bit about what’s going through her mind in that moment? 

NICKERSON: I think that a lot of what’s going through her mind is what has been maybe going through her mind and her spirit on the periphery a very long time, just in that way that I think that there are kind of aspects of ourselves that we push to the back for a variety of reasons, for both good and bad. The story of Shauna is very much to take what is in the background and make it foreground, and so I think that there is kind of an energetic release that can almost feel like a coming home to yourself, even when some of the aspects are kind of negative. So, I think drinking from the fire hose of emotions of a fuller experience of yourself is kind of what’s going through her mind, if that makes sense.

LYLE: I think she’s both grieving and finally allowing herself to recognize who she is. In the beginning of the season, we felt it was very important—it was very funny to see fan reactions and they’re like, “oh, it’s a slow build,” which we always get every season—but to see Shauna take a moment and go, “I can be a good mother, I can be a good wife. I’m gonna make smoothies for my husband. I’m going to tutor Callie. I’m going to commit to the role that I’ve chosen for myself.” In the final scenes in the final episode of this [season], she is coming to the very clear realization that that is not who she is, and I think there is both a grief to that and also a letting go. I think that it’s liberating for her in a certain way. 

DEADLINE: You mentioned last time we talked that Hannah, of the trio, is the most prepared going into this, having been a teen girl herself. And I really saw that shine through in the end where she’s been playing Shauna the whole time and she helps Nat call for help. Can you tell me about her arc this season and how it lends to the team possibly getting home? 

NICKERSON: I think that her arc is just one of her own survival and going through maybe a non-linear compressed version of what a lot of the other girls have kind of been going through, which is namely having to find some parts kind of herself that are able to do some things that she wouldn’t normally be able to do/get to do back at home, in order to preserve her own life. So, her contribution to them potentially getting home is a huge one, but also an incredibly dangerous one. And it is a question for the fourth season of, is this gambit gonna work? And a big part of the gambit, in its technical definition is that you give up something in order to hopefully gain something, and so, what she will have lost and will it be worth it, will be something that we’re excited to explore in Season 4. 

DEADLINE: I’m so curious if they’re gonna end up getting back to civilization, just with Nat getting the signal at the end. Part of me is excited to see more of like the ’90s style and just get back to the ’90s pop culture and all that. 

LYLE: I think that that is something that will be very fun for us. We realized very early on, making the show, as we were even shooting the pilot, we were like, “Oh, this is our one chance for now, for a very long time, to actually dig into the ’90s.” And we like to have little pops here and there, even in episode two of Season 1 when they’re using the Sea Breeze toner as an antiseptic. But once they’re there, the ’90s is more in them and and how they’re reacting to the world and their references and all of that, but I think it will be very fun in the future to actually be in the ’90s and get to play around. That’s our time, man. We’re ’90s kids. 

DEADLINE: Yeah, I loved that line when Hannah gets there and Van’s asking, “Do Scully and Mulder hook up?” 

NICKERSON: Just to clarify, not to say that we’re gonna get there very soon but we’ve always said that we do think that there is a portion of the story that wants to be told upon their return, we just don’t know when we’re gonna get there. 

DEADLINE: Yeah, and Liv Hewson was saying that they’re very excited to explore the media reaction to the these young women. The media is still such a volatile place, but in the ’90s, it was awful. 

LYLE: Oh my God, Hard Copy? [laughs] We’ve always had this sort of dream version of the quick Hard Copy montage of like, “the return of the Yellowjackets,” and obviously, the media would be very interested in covering that story, and at the same time, obviously our girls are very interested in the media not covering that story. 

DEADLINE: I’m also excited to see what comes from Melissa now that we have established Hilary Swank’s side of it, as well as Jenna Burgess’ side. Another thing that Van brought up was the potential of what happened between their characters before Melissa ultimately kills Van. I think that’s an interesting thing I’m excited to see more of. 

NICKERSON: There’s still a lot of dynamic kind of unfolding in the past kind of and the present. Just to go back to the question about returning to the pilot, we see sort of a closing kind of of a loop, but a pretty wild up path ahead. So, we’re not really close to the final version of either timelines’ character or the character dynamics. There’s gonna be a lot of shifting and changing still to come.

LYLE: They’re not out of the woods yet, both literally and proverbially. 

DEADLINE: Is there anything else that you can tell me about Season 3 or looking ahead to Season 4? 

LYLE: We’re just very hopeful and excited to keep telling the story of these characters, and I just love that final moment with Natalie on the cliff. It was very exciting to shoot. We actually had to take a helicopter up there, and so it was a very small crew, it was Bart and Sophie Thatcher and just a skeleton crew up on the top of a damn mountain, that was very real. So, it was really fun.

DEADLINE: And Bart, can you tell me about like directing the finale?

NICKERSON: It was very fun, very challenging. I feel like it was also just, emotionally to get to revisit the pilot so many years later, and getting to direct that, just had a sort of a spiritual symmetry that I really enjoyed. And then just getting to explore a slightly different facet and that kind of relationship to the show has just been a joy and kind of a dream come true, and definitely something I hope will be a part of my journey and practice in the future.