Yellowjackets Season 3 May Have Confirmed Who Pit Girl Is

Spoilers for “Yellowjackets” to follow.

The “Yellowjackets” pilot has an unforgettable opening sequence. A girl, dressed only in a short trim nightgown, runs barefoot through an icy forest. As she flees, the ground gives way and she falls into a pit, instantly killed by wooden spikes protruding from the ground. Skewers don’t set themselves up, though, so the sinister atmosphere ratchets up when a masked figure peers over the pit afterwards.

Yes, we’ve known from the very beginning that the Yellowjackets — stranded in the wilderness for 19 months — will resort not only to cannibalism but also hunting and butchery. “Pit Girl,” as fans call her for now, may be the first example of someone (or something) being hunted that we see, yet she’s clearly isn’t the first prey the other girls have ever gone after.

Since the start of the show, fans have naturally wondered when “Yellowjackets” will loop back around to this and reveal Pit Girl’s true identity. Some were quick to guess she’s Jackie (Ella Purnell) since we knew early on she had died in the wilderness and had the same golden heart necklace Pit Girl did. But that was before Jackie bought it in the Season 1 finale by merely freezing to death.

Season 2 of “Yellowjackets” revealed how the group picked the hunt’s sacrifices, leaving it in the hands of fate with a card-drawing game. (The pertinent scene in “It Chooses” feels right out of John Carpenter’s “The Thing” and its famous blood test scene.)

Now we’ve come to “Yellowjackets” Season 3. In the ’90s storyline, spring has come and the snow has melted away. This confirms that Pit Girl will die during the Yellowjackets’ second and final winter in the wilderness. (“Yellowjackets” has proven to be a show that keeps its mysteries going as long as possible, aided by its production design team.)

Mind you, Pit Girl is a girl, so we knew from the beginning it couldn’t be Travis (Kevin Alves) or Coach Ben Scott (Steven Krueger). We also know for a fact that Shauna (Sophie Nelisse), Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown), Natalie (Sophie Thatcher), Misty (Samantha Hanratty), Lottie (Courtney Eaton), and Van (Liv Hewson) survive and are rescued, so it’s not them either. The girl is fair-skinned and dark-haired, so it’s not Akilah (Nia Sondaya) or the blonde Melissa (Jenna Burgess). Of the existing suspects, that basically narrows it down to Gen (Vanessa Prasad) or Mari (Alexa Barajas) — and Season 3’s two-episode premiere, “It Girl” and “Dislocation,” strongly suggests it’s Mari.