Editor’s Note: Spoilers ahead for Yellowjackets, Season 3.

Summary

In the Yellowjackets Season 3 penultimate episode, Van and Kodi meet brutal deaths, shattering the hope of escape for the teenagers in the flashback.

Kodi’s vision of freedom created a rift, but his death hinted at significant events in the Season 3 finale.

In an exclusive interview with Collider, Joel McHale admits how Kodi’s character, described as an alpha “to a fault,” may be a catalyst for a shift in the story’s dynamics.

Following a ton of buildup that alluded to the team’s eventual rescue, Yellowjackets Season 3 is coming to a close with just one more episode left, but not without a few heads rolling — literally. In the penultimate episode, titled “How the Story Ends,” we got not one but two major deaths that will no doubt leave the audience screaming WTF, especially after one of those characters was implied to be the team’s savior through visions.
While the episode sees grown-up Van (Lauren Ambrose) killed by Melissa (Hilary Swank) as a way to “give back to the Wilderness,” the flashback delivers an equally brutal loss. Natalie (Sophie Thatcher), who had been secretly assembling a team to escape Lottie (Courtney Eaton) and Shauna’s (Sophie Nélisse) grip, is left devastated when one of the frog scientists, Hannah (Ashley Sutton), turns on their would-be guide, Kodi — played by Joel McHale. In an attempt to prove her loyalty to Shauna out of fear, she stabs him in the eye and leaves him for dead. What was meant to be a carefully orchestrated escape crumbles in an instant, leaving Natalie heartbroken without their key ally Kodi, who was their best chance at survival and a return to life outside the woods.
In an interview with Collider following the devastating loss felt by Natalie and her rogue Yellowjackets, McHale admits that though Kodi and Hannah’s appearance initially causes a rift between the group, he teases his character as being a “slight catalyst” to their eventual rescue. In a world where survival is as much about loyalty as it is about instinct, he says Kodi’s push for freedom made him an instant threat to some of the team, like Shauna and Lottie.
“It obviously caused a rift in that group of, like, ‘No, we’re getting out of here,’ and ’No, we’re not. We’re actually staying,’” McHale explains to Collider. “I think that rift just gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and my character is a slight catalyst of, like, ’Hey, you can get out. We can go right now.’”
Kodi wasn’t just offering a way out — he was tempting fate, challenging the fragile power structure holding the group of teenagers together and whatever else Akilah’s visions meant. His urgency might have sparked something in Natalie, as we had seen in their interactions, but for others, it was a warning sign. Paranoia had already taken root, and Hannah, faced with an impossible choice and the hope of being with her daughter once again, picked a side.
In doing so, she didn’t just betray Kodi — she sealed his fate. But while it might seem like the end of any rescue, that death (or sacrifice to the Wilderness) alludes to some big happenings in the Season 3 finale, as McHale teases with Collider.
Joel McHale Knows What Wine to Pair With the Yellowjackets Team — for Cannibal Purposes

“It’d probably be a big California cab.”

Image via Showtime

COLLIDER: Congratulations on Yellowjackets! It’s so amazing to see you on the show. Before we do get to spoilers and talk about the cannibals of Yellowjackets, what wine do you think your character Kodi would recommend pairing with high school meat?
JOEL MCHALE: Oh, well, it is the ’90s, so like an oaky Chardonnay. It’d probably be a big California cab. They were very popular then. That’s a good question. Something by Inglenook, perhaps. They’d probably say Chardonnay. My character would be like, “Ugh!” My character probably just drinks, like, grain alcohol. He’s not so refined.
No, I felt that. When you first got the call for Yellowjackets, how much of your character Kodi did you know? Did they tell you in the initial pitch? And then what really surprised you when you were reading everything back?
MCHALE: Well, Ashley [Lyle] and I were at a rock concert and ran into each other, and she was like, “You ever want to be on Yellowjackets?” And I’m like, “Yeah! Of course. What kind of a question is that? Yeah. Any day of the week, I would do that. Do it now. Where am I going? Start walking to Canada now.” Then, it was one of those things where it doesn’t happen that often, where they’re like, “Would you ever do that?” And I’m like, “Yeah, I would do that,” and then you usually don’t hear anything. With this one, they were like, “You’ve got to be here in September.” I’m like, “Okay, yeah! Great. Thank you.”
That’s so great. I did like The Bear reference, also, where it was like you’re a chef. I was like, “Oh, that feels like it’s all these variations of you in the Joel Multiverse.”
MCHALE: Yes!
Joel McHale Breaks Down the Mystery of Kodi on ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3

“I think he likes being alone, and these kids are annoying.”

Kodi’s also a bit of an enigma. We don’t know much about him. How did you approach him, knowing there isn’t much that you would know, especially given these three episodes he’s in? What do you think motivates him? Because I think we do get a glimpse of him coming when we see Akilah’s vision in Episode 6. That was the most explicit one, where we see her envisioning this bear with a third eye, and I’m like, “Okay, well, Kodiak Bear, it has to be you,” and it was you.
MCHALE: Or it’s Jeremy Allen White. So, I didn’t see the scripts and know exactly what was happening, and rightfully so, because they can’t let those get out, and I’m pretty careless, so it’s good. But the description of him in the script was really such a nice jumping-off point. Just from reading the dialogue, he loved fucking with Nelson [Franklin]’s character. He is so at home in the woods, and that’s where he lives, and he loves it, and doing something like this is annoying, but it can buy him another crossbow, probably, and I think he really enjoyed flirting with Ashley [Sutton]‘s character at the expense of Nelson’s character. He enjoys that. He enjoys hunting, and he likes killing small animals, and larger if he can bring them down with the crossbow. So, those sorts of things helped, like, “Oh, he’s probably not the nicest person.” He was probably a really good athlete in high school, and wasn’t nice to the non-athletes or the athletes. I think he likes being alone, and these kids are annoying, and it’s like, “What are you doing?” And they’re like, “We’re studying for frogs that are having sex.” So, I think that he enjoys that. He’s like a pilot in his plane. He knows every part of it.
Then, of course, when they stumble into the cannibals, obviously, the whole thing changes, and then we’re off and running. Seeing from a person’s perspective if they were in the woods that they knew well, and then all of a sudden they stumble into these bloody teenagers who are eating people, it’s fucking crazy. So, that’s why he’s like, “Alright, we’ve got to get out of here, and I don’t care how many I have to kill to survive.” When he goes a separate way from Ashley’s character, he’s clearly out to survive himself.
That first episode was directed by Jennifer Morrison, which was really nice to see — I love her. What was it like working with her, and was there something that you two worked on together that elevated what you already knew about how to play Kodi, and then she came in to help fill in those gaps?
MCHALE: Oh, her advice, she was like an oracle of Delphi. She is the real frickin’ deal. She’s such a good director. She knew every single aspect from the technical side to the storytelling to the character, and the way she would encourage it, and go, “In this one, do that, and change it up.” She can do anything she wants. And she’s got little kids at the same time, and she’s prepping for other episodes, and I’m like, “So, do you think Kodi would lean against the tree?”
He seems like a leaner. He does.
MCHALE: Oh, yeah. And then Anya Adams, who was on Community, who also is just a fucking badass. I felt like I was in a candy store.
Kodi’s Death in ‘Yellowjackets’ Will Have Its Own Ripple Effect

“I think he would have helped them out as long as it was helping him.”

Image via Showtime

Let’s talk about Episode 9, because my feelings throughout this three-episode arc now of yours went from elation, like, really excited, to suddenly freaking out. I remember sitting on the couch with my sister, and we both screamed. I like to think Kodi’s sleeping. [Laughs] My heart believes he’s sleeping with his eyes open, and he’s just resting his head.
MCHALE: [Laughs] He’s one of those weird human beings who sleeps with their eyes open.
Just a normal person! But… he’s really dead? We’re not going to see him after Episode 9… but the Kodiak bear in Akilah’s vision with the third eye…
MCHALE: Well, I mean, he gets it pretty badly. I’m not sure. But everyone dies at the end of the season.
Well, obviously. [Laughs] Do you think Kodi would have actually taken the girls to safety? Because one of the things a lot of us who had the chance to see these episodes have been talking about among ourselves at work is the knapsack, the thrifted knapsack that said Eric in it. Who was he? You said before he was out for himself, he wouldn’t have helped Hannah really escape because he didn’t even follow her when she was running away. So, do you think that he would have actually helped them out?
MCHALE: I think he would have helped them out as long as it was helping him. I think he would have taken as many allies with him as he could, and it was his way to get out. It didn’t work out, but I think he would have kept everybody around him who was useful to keep him alive and to get him out of there.
What It’s Like Getting Into a Character Like Kodi for Joel McHale

“He knows that he has a bunch of cards that he can play, which means he knows his way around here.”

Image via Showtime

I feel like that’s why he was kind of connecting with Travis a little bit more, because Travis was trying to find a way to get out. But given the violent nature of that attack, how much of Kodi’s fate symbolizes the shift in the story going into the season finale? I do think it symbolizes a little bit of growing paranoia and distrust in some ways.
MCHALE: Yeah, I mean, obviously Ashley and Bart [Nickerson] are frickin’ geniuses. When they’re like, “Oh, he can get out of here?” He knows the way, and people were like, “Oh, he does?” So, it obviously caused a rift in that group of, like, “No, we’re getting out of here,” and “No, we’re not. We’re actually staying.” And I think that rift just gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and my character is a slight catalyst of, like, “Hey, you can get out. We can go right now.” And I think given that choice, like, who really wants to stay? As I’m approaching it, I didn’t think about those things. I just thought, “This guy is in this situation. He needs to get out as fast as possible, and he’ll do anything to save himself. So I was just kind of like, “Fuck these guys, I’m getting the fuck out of here. I’m going to shoot as many as I have to. These guys are crazy.” I was like, “I know I’m half crazy, but this…”
The whole Eric thing, I think it was unclear. I think it was kept nebulous on purpose, obviously, because, like, who is this guy? You really can go into any army surplus store and buy shit with other people’s names on it.
As an actor, what’s the process like to play this understanding of what this character, Kodi’s mind, is like, because you’re supposed to really, actually reset a strategy. When you’re helping these two frog scientists, and then, all of a sudden, you come into this world of these crazy girls eating each other, eating their teammates, for your character to reset his head. What’s going through your mind as an actor to give that role?
MCHALE: I try to think, “Given these circumstances, if this is where he really is able to thrive, which is in the woods alone,” I’m like, “What would it really be like to walk into a cannibal village in the middle of the forest?” He knows that he could be killed, but then he knows that he has a bunch of cards that he can play, which means he knows his way around here. But for the sheer insanity of the moment, we stumble in and there’s the other character they’ve been eating, and then Nelson gets hit in the back of the head. I think from my character, I was just like, “Get out right now. Do everything you can to get out of here. This volcano is erupting, and you are going to get burned, so go, go, go.”
I think when you get in those situations as a real human, for some people, they know exactly what to do, and they’re like, “Leave. Leave now. This is it.” And other people freeze. With Ashley’s character, I think he was worried about that. Then, of course, her evolution and her metamorphosis is pretty incredible, and she’s an incredible actor and a fucking great person. So, yeah, that’s a very vague answer. People spend most of their lives going, “Everything’s normal. I just want things to be normal, and I want my days to be typical,” and then shit happens.
Lots of shit.
MCHALE: Yeah. Like when we were going through the wildfires here, I was like, “Oh, we’re part of a disaster. This is a disaster. This is a real disaster happening minute by minute.” And I was like, “This has never happened to me.” I know that has never happened to so many people, but, boy, that was one of the crazier moments. Anyway, that’s a lot. I really diverged.
Joel McHale Admits Kodi Is an Alpha “to a Fault’

“When she’s staring at me, none of that was going to happen because this guy would fight back.”

Image via Showtime

There’s a moment in Episode 9, though, when Kodi and Sophie [Nélisse]’s character, Shauna, share this very intense death stare. I thought it was really interesting to see, because Kodi is an alpha, and she is the alpha of the camp, but they had this quiet sort of energy that I think they understood with each other. What do you think he’s thinking at that moment when he sees her? Because he’s at her mercy and he knows how to play the game, basically, but she’s scary and super mean this season. I am so angry at her. Anyway, that’s an aside. I’m just so mad at Shauna…
MCHALE: I think that Kodi wouldn’t back down from anything, and I think that was his way of ramming horns with her and kind of going, “If you fuck with me, I’m going to kill you even though you’ve got me captured here.” As you said, he’s a total alpha, and probably to a fault — obviously. I was like, “She’s probably used to intimidating a lot of people,” and when she’s staring at me, none of that was going to happen because this guy would fight back. Obviously, that doesn’t work.
I feel like this character is all of a sudden a variation of The Great Indoors character, that he knew everything.
MCHALE: Yes! Exactly that. He had a magazine that came out, and then that all fell apart, and he was like, “Screw it, I’m going to live out here.” He killed all the people in the office. He’s on the run as Eric. Good callback! Eight years old. That’s eight years…
It was a fun show! Given the symbolic connection to bears, Akilah’s visions, maybe even some of the supernatural elements, how do you see Kodi’s role in the story after the event? Do you think he was meant to be their guide or just something else entirely, like a catalyst for what’s going to happen that we can expect?
MCHALE: Well, when I looked at it… I was like, “What am I doing?” My vision became pretty narrow in being like, “This is what my guy is doing, and that’s what he is going to try to accomplish.” So, the super story stuff, I don’t know it as well. Obviously, Ashley and Bart do, and so I just kind of go, “What is my job right here, right now?” And it’s like, “Get away from these crazy teenagers who are trying to kill you.” So, that’s all I really think about. So, I don’t really know.
I can give you a theory. Clearly, my character has a way out, which, obviously, doesn’t… For what’s happened to Ashley’s character, obviously, it’s a different result than what people thought would happen or where it looked like it was going. So, I think my character shows up and goes, “Here’s a way out. Who’s in?” But it’s all his self-preservation. I don’t think there’s any part of him that is like, “I gotta help these kids.”
Joel McHale Breaks Down What the Show’s Real Power Is Following Kodi’s Death

“I don’t think [the Wilderness] is magical, is what I’m saying.”

As Joel, a fan of the show, do you view the show more as a supernatural thing, or is it a symptom of the girl’s psychological breakdown? I like hearing from other fans on the show. I know you’re in the show, but how do you see it yourself? Do you think all these supernatural things are supernatural, or is it just something that is a product of their environment?
MCHALE: I think, and I could be wrong, yes, it’s a product of their environment. I don’t think it’s magical. But that said, like the movie The Fisher King with Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges, there’s the point where Jeff Bridges thinks he sees something happening, and it’s like, “Wait a minute, is this real?” Because the more you’re around it, the more wound up you can get. So I don’t think it’s magical, is what I’m saying. I just think they are so… Stockholm syndrome of themselves. You create your own lore, and you create your own gods and things like that when you’re in these tiny groups to survive. Human beings will do almost anything to survive. Anyway, that’s a very long, very convoluted, uneducated answer.
Of all the characters you played, which one do you think would have survived the wilderness with the Yellowjackets? Because I can tell you now, I think Butler from Deliver Us From Evil wouldn’t just because of the cockiness and his backwards baseball hat and being too pretentious for the team.
MCHALE: Yeah, well, he wouldn’t know how to survive in the woods. Probably Jack from The Great Indoors. He would know, ironically. He would be telling a lot of jokes and being like, “These kids! I don’t understand… What? Update my phone? I don’t have to do that. You just hang it on the wall.” Johnny Cage, I don’t think he would have survived.
You don’t think he would survive?
MCHALE: He would have just been in a ball game, like, “Where’s my pedicure?”
Same with Jeff Winger and his jacket.
MCHALE: Oh my gosh, yeah.
He would have died on the first day.
MCHALE: He would have starved to death.
Joel McHale Teases ‘Scream 7’ in the Most Joel McHale Way Possible

“Now that I’m 53, I’m still like, ‘I can’t believe people still allow me to work.’ I love it so much.”

Image via Dimension Films

I love seeing you reunite with Courtney [Eaton]. You guys shared scenes in Parachute, a beautiful movie. That one, again, made me cry, too. You guys had a little bit of scenes together, but you do share a lot more with Jasmin [Savoy Brown], who is starring in another Paramount production with you called Scream 7.
MCHALE: Yes. Believe me, the way it all ties together, like a True Detective storage facility with strings. I was like, “Wow!” Yeah, Jasmin and I were on that, and I think we were there for two weeks together on Scream. She’s fantastic, obviously. And then Courtney — talk about a different experience. It would be so great if I were like, “Welcome to the sequel to Parachute. Here’s where my character and Courtney’s character both ended up.” But yeah, it’s so cool getting to work with people again on something else. Now that I’m 53, I’m still like, “I can’t believe people still allow me to work.” I love it so much. I always thought, “I’ll do this until I can’t,” and I’m still doing it. I’m so, so very thankful.
We’re all thankful for it. I know that you and Jasmin had a few scenes in this, too. Can you tease anything about Scream 7? Do you two share a lot of scenes?
MCHALE: We do have some screen time, but I really can’t say anything because it’ll spoil. Scream fans and Yellowjackets fans are very similar in that they love it, and they’re rabid, and they’re passionate, and they’ll take any morsel.
Could you tease something about what surprised you most about the script? Because I’m sure it’s different from anything you’ve ever read, which attracted you to Scream. [Pauses] Or will you have to kill me after? Paramount has its assassins like the MCU, I’m sure.
MCHALE: I will tell you, Ghostface killer is in this one.
Okay, I wouldn’t have known otherwise, so thank you for that scoop.
Yellowjackets streams its Season 3 finale on Showtime on April 6.

Yellowjackets

Release Date

November 14, 2021

Network

Showtime, Paramount+ with Showtime

Showrunner

Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, Jonathan Lisco

Directors

Benjamin Semanoff, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Deepa Mehta, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Liz Garbus, Scott Winant, Eva Sørhaug, Jamie Travis

Writers

Liz Phang, Sarah L. Thompson, Ameni Rozsa