Yellowjackets: Who is the Antler Queen? The Mysterious Figure Explained

Who... or what is the mysterious Antler Queen? Here's what we know.

By Nicole Drum

The first season of Yellowjackets is now streaming on Netflix, bringing the hit Showtime series to a whole new audience as the story of a group of teenage girls stranded in the wilderness following a plane crash in the 1990s and how that time continues to impact their lives decades later to a whole new audience. This is also means that viewers are getting acquainted with some of the big mysteries of the series — including one about a mysterious figure, the Antler Queen.  So, who — or what — is the Antler Queen? Let's break down what we know.

The Antler Queen is a figure that we're first introduced to in the series premiere where the figure is seen overseeing what appears to be some sort of ritual in which a young woman wearing just a nightgown runs through the woods and falls into a trap before being dragged away by figures wearing Yellowjackets shirts, animal hides, and masks. The young woman meets a grim fate and the Antler Queen figure oversees it all but her actual identity is not shown. We do not see her face, which makes the disturbing figure and ritual even more unsettling.

Then, during the episode "Doomcoming", the survivors throw their own version of a homecoming party in the wilderness. However, the party goes a bit awry when everyone in the group — except Jackie — consume hallucinogenic mushrooms unwittingly, leaving everyone in the group to have strange hallucinations. During the episode, the girls adorn themselves with various things from nature and Lottie is seen wearing a crown that looks like antlers and, in turn, looks a great deal like the Antler Queen. Lottie's eerie costume is only made eerier as the season has shown that Lottie has some sort of strange connection to the wilderness and even singlehandedly kills a bear before offering its heart on an altar.

Season 1 of Yellowjackets doesn't actually definitively reveal the identity of the chilling Antler Queen and the mystery of the symbol is one that deepens in Season 2 — particularly as we're introduced to adult Lottie played by Simone Kessell and we see someone formally chosen to be the Antler Queen — but even with some major developments in Season 2 that will hopefully carry into Season 3, exactly what the Antler Queen is something that even the cast has previously said is a bit of a mystery to them.

"I remember saying, 'What is the Antler Queen? Is it a symbol, is it a metaphor, is it real?' And I remember them going [no answer]," Kessell said back in 2023.

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"It can be kind of anything that we deem it to be," she continued. "There was so much about Lottie being the Antler Queen. But really now, we've distilled it into the fact that the Antler Queen is a part of all of us, and she really was something that kind of kept these women going to survive the wilderness. That was my interpretation of it. I had so many questions, but I was trying to play it cool."

How to Watch Season 2 of Yellowjackets

While Season 1 of Yellowjackets introduces audiences to the concept of the Antler Queen, the story fleshes out a great deal more in Season 2 — and while Season 1 of the hit series is now streaming on Netflix, fans who want to know what happens next will have to change streaming services for Season 2. Season 2 of Yellowjackets is currently streaming on Paramount+. Additionally, a third season of the series is currently in production and don't worry — we're not done with the Antler Queen just yet. Recently shared photos confirming production on the series features a glimpse of the ominous iconography of the mysterious figure. Season 3 of Yellowjackets is expected in 2025.

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