This article contains spoilers for Yellowjackets season three.
There’s no doubt that the character of Coach Ben, portrayed by Steven Krueger, on Showtime’s hit horror-thriller series Yellowjackets is one of the most interesting and tragic. He was the high school girls’ soccer team and is one of the few adult survivors of the plane crash that strands the team in the wilderness. Unlike the players, Ben lacks survival skills and quickly becomes physically compromised after losing his leg in the crash.
As the only authoritative adult figure early on, he tries to offer guidance and maintain order, but his influence gradually fades as the group descends into chaos. Isolated and increasingly sidelined, he becomes more of a symbolic reminder of the life they once knew rather than a true leader.
In addition to his struggles with survival, Coach Ben grapples with his own identity and internal conflict. He is a closeted gay man, and through hallucinations and flashbacks, viewers gain insight into his relationship with his boyfriend, Paul, back home. These emotional glimpses humanize Ben and add depth to his growing sense of disconnection and despair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKcDUeHyC_M
Ben’s Slow Deterioration:
In season three of the show, Ben is at his absolute lowhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKcDUeHyC_Mest point in life. While in the first – and even parts of the second season – he was optimistic about things, the same cannot be said for the latest season. He has essentially given up on everything he used to hold on to. When asked about what it was like to play Ben slowly deteriorizing, Krueger said:
“I mean, look, that’s the beautiful part of this show is that… as much as everybody wants to think of it as a plot-driven show, where it’s like ‘we just want to find out what happens next,’ I’ve always seen it – and I think the creators have always seen it – as a character driven show. That’s always been the cool part to me is we get these really long story arcs over the course of many seasons and so, I think in the case of Coach Ben, yeah… like you said, I mean it starts from a ‘Okay great, I’m going to be the leader… I’m gonna continue to be their mentor and try to help us get out of this situation and then we get into this season and it’s like the complete opposite end of the spectrum.”
Did Coach Ben confess to burning the cabin?:
To pick even the top three best scenes in Yellowjackets season three is an outrageously daunting task, but undoubtedly one of the most intense is the moment in which Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) and Ben are having a conversation in the wilderness, where Ben is at his complete lowest. He begs Natalie to kill him, but because of their extremely close bond with one another, she refuses. None of the other girls are willing to do it, either.
It’s at this moment in which Ben tells Natalie that he burned down the cabin (depicted at the end of season two). However, this scene has a bit of a gray area. Was Ben telling Natalie the truth here, or was he simply falsely confessing to burning the cabin so Natalie would be angry enough to kill him? Unfortunately for Ben, his “confession” doesn’t work and Natalie still chooses to spare him, even if she does end up putting him out of his misery later on.
“I think [Ben was trying to falsely confess so Natalie would be angry enough to kill him]. It played on screen a little bit differently than we had shot it. There was a part of a montage essentially where we’re supposed to see the passage of time over the course of several weeks, really, where we kind of get from late summer into early Fall. The way we had shot it… we’d shot things a little bit wider so that you could actually see the progession of time and the seasons changing a little bit, and the shelter that’s being built around Ben as we go through and get closer to the colder months.”
When speaking of the climactic few moments leading up to the conversation, Krueger talked a little bit about what was going through Ben’s head:
“That was meant to be a series of antagonizing events where Ben is trying to do whatever we can to get somebody else to end his life. There’s obviously not gonna let him do it himself so, he figures, ‘Okay, great, let’s see if I can talk Natalie into doing it. So, he goes through all these different tactics. Every single day, every single week of ‘what if we tried it this way or this way? Then he gets to the point where he’s so frustrated that he really just tries to push her buttons so that she’ll snap and do it. Of course, it doesn’t work that way until the very end and then he finally woos her over to the dark task.”
Possibility of Ghost Ben?:
If you’re a big Yellowjackets fan like myself, you know that there are a handful of sequences throughout the series in which characters will hallucinate dead characters, and there will be amazing scenes in which one character is talking to the dead one. I’ve always found it very interesting and a bit strange that neither Misty or Natalie ever have any hallucinations of Ben talking to either one of them after his death. Perhaps in season four? Krueger replied:
“It’s possible. Look, if we’ve learned one thing about this show it’s that nobody’s ever gone forever. I think that there’s a world in which there could be some ghost Ben appearances. I think that there could be some flashbacks. You know, I’m always curious as to the parts of the story that happened immediately before they left and even earlier for that matter. I think that there’s a world of opportunity to explore there. Also, look, this is one of those shows, that, the writers have to be very careful about how they craft the stories in both the 90s wilderness timeline and the present day. They know essentially what’s gonna happen with these characters and they have to be very careful to kind of plant some seeds and hide some Easter eggs without giving away too much.”
On why neither Adult Misty or Adult Natalie ever had any hallucinations of Coach Ben in the first or second season, Krueger made a good point about the showrunners not wanting to spoil his death and make it obvious.
“There was never a world in which we were gonna see any Misty or Natalie hallucinations before we really knew Ben’s fate because they didn’t want to give that away. It’s a careful maze they have to weave a little bit with that stuff, but, yeah I think there’s definitely an opportunity for that going forward into season four so we’ll see.”
Season 4 Hopes and Predictions:
Sadly, unless the showrunners do end up deciding to have ghost Ben make an appearance or two in season four, it’s pretty safe to say that Krueger won’t be making a return to Yellowjackets. However, Krueger is still deeply invested in the story that’s going on that stretches beyond his character’s lifespan. I spoke with him about how Luciano Leroux (who portrays Javi) and myself would love to see some stuff post-rescue in the season and this is what he said as a response:
“I’m with both of you guys. I think that’s the direction the story is going. Obviously, I don’t have any insider information at this point, but I would imagine that we might pick them up as they’re getting ready to be rescued because I do think that there’s some important story to tell there in their last couple days or even weeks out in the wilderness when they figure out ‘Oh my gosh, we’re about to be rescued. What do we have to do? How do we hide this story? How do we hide everything that happened out here?’ To me, there’s almost an entire season worth of story to tell once these girls get back and once they’re back in civilization… once they’re trying to reintegrate into society as high-school students. Do they go back to school? Do they try to graduate? Where do they go from here?”
Directing a Short Film:
Krueger is a busy person, having just finished his final season on Yellowjackets and additionally directing his first-ever short film titled Leaving the Light. Krueger opened up about how his work as an actor in Yellowjackets and previous projects helped him direct the short.
“This has always been something that, from the early days of my acting career… I’ve watched other actors get behind the camera as directors, and directing to me has always been kind of a skill-set that I think fits my brain a little bit more naturally. I’m a little bit more of those left-brain type people where I’m very analytical and logical and organized and I like to plan and be in control of things. Acting is very much the opposite of that, which is why I love it so much because it forces me to get out of that part of my brain and just be able to play and be spontaneous.”
What’s the Short Film About?:
There isn’t much information out there as to what Leaving the Light is about, so I wanted to learn a bit more about the story of the film from the director himself.
“It is essentially about a young mother who is on a road trip with her three-year-old daughter trying to get to a ‘safe zone’ in the middle of an apocalyptic event. There’s a little bit of thriller and suspense to it, there’s a little bit of a love story that’s woven in there, and of course, there is some supernatural stuff that is going on as well. So it kind of interweaeves different things, a lot like Yellowjackets.”
When Does Season 4 Start Filming?:
Krueger briefly mentioned that he would be interested in directing an episode of season four of Yellowjackets, something that he previously discussed with the showrunners. So, fingers crossed. He also brought up some information about possible season four production details.
“I think they’re in the process of starting to work on the writers’ room right now for season four, so, hopefully by early next year everybody will be filming and we’ll be off to the races.”
Yellowjackets season three is now streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime and Leaving the Light is scheduled to be released online at a currently undisclosed date.
