Yellowjackets season three is finally here and new mysteries already await us in its first two episodes. We caught back up with the crew in both 2021 and the wilderness in Spring 1997. Division is brewing among the teen survivors, with Shauna reeling over the loss of her child while the others are praising the wilderness for a new season. In the present, Shauna is processing Natalie’s death and hoping that her poor kid is not forever traumatized nor overly influenced by Lottie. Little does Shauna know that a whole new situation is brewing in her home in Yellowjackets season three after a mystery person left an envelope on her doorstep, which Callie found and is keeping a secret along with the tape inside of it.
What Is in the Mystery Envelope Left for Shauna in Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 1?
At the end of Yellowjackets season three, episode one, Callie is home alone (or so she thinks) after getting in trouble at school for pouring animal guts on a group of mean girls. (She’s certainly got her mother’s spunky and vengeful spirit.) She hears a noise at the door and discovers that someone left a brown envelope on the porch. The front simply says “Shauna Shipman,” along with that weird symbol from the wilderness in place of a return address.
It’s interesting that whoever left the note decided to use her maiden name instead of Sadecki, her married name. But what’s inside the mysterious Yellowjacketss season three envelope? Well, we get to see that there’s a small audio tape inside, which Callie pockets before her dad sneaks up on her and tells her to go to bed. But we do not get to see or hear what is on the tape.
Episode two of Yellowjackets doesn’t dive into the tape and envelope anymore after that. Callie briefly looks at the mystery tape before Lottie, who is now out of psychiatric hold and temporarily staying with Shauna’s family, enters the room. We never see Callie listen to it in the first episodes of Yellowjackets season three, nor does she tell anyone about the envelope. However, she does attempt to pressure Lottie into telling her about what happened in the wilderness. Lottie mostly evades her questioning, but they seem to bond over a ridiculous TV show by the time Shauna and Jeff get home.
We Finally Learn More About the Tape in Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 6
In Yellowjackets season three, episode six, Callie finally reveals that tape to Shauna. We learn that it’s no normal tape, it’s an old kind of tape called a DAT tape, which stands for a Digital Audio Tape. This kind of tape was made in 1987. Handily, Van is into nostalgia and vintage tech and has a DAT-player. She shares that garage bands and hunters tend to use them. And then has another thought which alarms her.
Shauna, Tai, and Van listen to the tape. But what exactly is on this mystery Yellowjackets tape? We only get to hear snatches of it so far. The mysterious tape Shauna receives begins with a woman’s voice, and she records, “Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3, Oh my god, what is this.” She sounds a little frightened. Yellowjackets then cuts to the end of the tape. There we hear howling and screeching, presumably, of the girls in the wilderness. And the woman’s voice returns to yell, “Nooooo!” quite emphatically. Did she die? Did she get hurt? Did she see something awful? Yellowjackets isn’t revealing what’s on the tape fully quite yet.
Tai, Van, and Shauna seem shaken by what they hear recorded. Van says, “The only people that even know about this are either us or dead.” And Shauna says the tape is clearly a threat. But from who or how so, that much we don’t get to find out at this time.
We Find Out More What Is on the Tape in Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 7
In episode 7, Shauna finally holes up in a cheap hotel bathroom and listens to the tape. It’s a recording that Hannah, the woman who appeared in the woods alongside her partner and their travel guide, had going on during the encounter we saw at the beginning of the episode. The thud of the axe to her guy’s head and Shauna yelling “Holy Shit!” are hard for Shauna to hear, if she even remembers that moment clearly. She fast forwards to hear Hannah recording a message for her daughter, which strikes Shauna because the child could 1) still be alive and 2) be the person who sent that tape. Shauna even looks Hannah up and scrolls through her obituary, which probably means that the group killed her in the Wilderness.
Shauna contacts Van, Tai, and, well, Misty comes along and they listen to the tape together while driving to Virginia, which is where the daughter lives. Shauna doesn’t know it but Callie retrieved the deleted message from her phone that she snuck into Shauna’s person previously. So now Callie is even more suspicious that her mom and the others really did some terrible things in the Wilderness and that Shauna is perhaps a bad person. She’s absolutely right on all fronts.
Hannah’s daughter could have sent the tape to Shauna. But why would she do it now after all these years? Did she just find it somehow? And even if she did, how would she know anything about the Yellowjackets’ symbol, which was on the envelope? It seems more likely that the tape came from another survivor who would want to blackmail Shauna for some reason. She was a pretty terrible person in the Wilderness, after all. We will see what happens next.
Who Sent That Tape to Shauna in Yellowjackets Season 3?
The end of Yellowjackets season three, episode two, might have had a big hint about who is trying to reach out to Shauna with a cryptic envelope. It’s clear that someone is following her at this time. She sees someone in a restaurant from afar but doesn’t mention it to Van and Tai. And, this person leaves a cell phone in a bathroom while she’s out to dinner with Jeff. She turns the cell phone in and later calls to see who picked it up.
This scene cuts between one in the wilderness where Shauna discovers that Melissa, a survivor who seems to oppose Natalie’s leadership, was watching her move her baby’s remains. Shauna puts a knife to her throat and threatens to kill her, but Melissa kisses Shauna. She is surprised at first but soon returns a kiss with passion. So, it is possible that 1) Melissa survived the wilderness and 2) she’s somehow involved with this tape in Yellowjackets season three, episode two. We don’t get confirmation that the phone belongs to Melissa, but it is heavily hinted at based on how the scenes cut between each other.
It is also possible that Misty sent the tape to Shauna. She’s known for still calling her “Shipman” at times, and she could be looking for a way to get back in good with the friend group. Or, maybe there’s another survivor outside of Melissa who possibly found the tape, whatever it contains, and decided to send a cryptic envelope for some reason.
Is Hilary Swank Playing Melissa, the Survivor That Teen Shauna Kissed, in Yellowjackets Season 3?
We know that Hilary Swank will be in Yellowjackets season three, but we have no idea who she is playing. After the end of episode two, it seems possible that Hilary Swank could be Melissa. However, in episode seven, Van, Tai, Shauna, and Misty are on a car ride and confirm that both Melissa and Gen are dead. So, it doesn’t seem like she sent the tape after all. Maybe it is Heather’s daughter or another Yellowjacket. It is not clear why another teammate would suddenly reach out after all of these years but perhaps Natalie’s death was the spark to bring them back home. Or, maybe the person who sent the envelope in Yellowjackets season 3’s earliest episodes isn’t Melissa but someone else whom Swank is portraying.
We will have to see how the season plays out and what that tape means for Shauna’s future in this season of Yellowjackets.
Originally published on February 14, 2025.