I Think This ‘Yellowjackets’ Character is Still Alive

The Yellowjackets season 2 finale has dropped, delivering a shocking death—along with a major cliffhanger. Want to hear some wild speculation about what that cliffhanger might mean? Of course you do!

This article contains major spoilers for Yellowjackets season 2!

In the Yellowjackets season 2 finale, Coach Ben finds the cave where Javi has been hiding all winter. The cave, formed by the hollow of a tree’s roots, is on some kind of geothermal vent that warms it. Inside, Ben finds bones and a fire pit.

Ben decides to take Natalie to the cave, telling her she’s different from the other girls. He’s been frightened of the team and dissociating from his situation ever since the Yellowjackets ate Jackie, even contemplating suicide at one point, and he clearly has something big planned.

Later, the team crowns Natalie the new Antler Queen. Realizing that Natalie is no different from the rest—especially after she reveals that she let Javi die in her place—Ben carries out his plan: burning down the cabin with everyone in it.

The team manages to escape, but the loss of the cabin leaves them without shelter in the middle of winter. While they figure out how to keep from freezing to death, Ben will presumably hunker down in his cave.

Which leads to my wild theory. What if Ben is still alive in 2021, and has living in the wilderness this whole time? What if he becomes the new Cabin Daddy?

Is Coach Ben the new Cabin Daddy?

As you know, Yellowjackets alternates between its 1996 and 2021 plots. Season 2 revealed more adult survivors, and season 3 might reveal even more.

Thus far, none of the survivors have mentioned what happened to Ben. It’s possible that he’s dead, or just trying to live a normal life like the other survivors. But his break from the rest of the team is significant, and not just because it sets him up as an antagonist in the 1996 storyline.

The cabin the team stays in belongs to a mysterious figure that the Yellowjackets fandom calls “Cabin Daddy.” In the season 1 finale, Jackie (or Shauna? Or both?) has a vision of Cabin Daddy standing in the corner. We don’t know who he is, but it’s clear that he had some connection to the spirit of the wilderness before he died in his attic. It’s possible the wilderness even assigned him some kind of official job, like carving those symbols in the trees, or uttering terrifying demands for sacrifices in French.

Again, this is pure speculation, but if Ben is safe, warm, and somehow fed in his new digs, there’s no reason he couldn’t live in the woods indefinitely. He could even still be out there in 2021, performing whatever role for the wilderness the original Cabin Daddy did.

Do I have any concrete evidence supporting this theory? Of course not! But come on, we’ve probably got a couple of years before Yellowjackets season 3 comes out. Why not engage in some wild-eyed conjecture to pass the time? Unless you feel like hunting your friends for food instead.

(featured image: Showtime)