This article contains spoilers about the penultimate episode of<\/em> Yellowjackets season three<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n When the showrunners of Yellowjackets<\/em> told Lauren Ambrose<\/strong> what she could expect from the drama\u2019s third season<\/a>, they covered a lot of ground. \u201cWe talked about the strike being over and the business contracting\u2014and then they were like, \u2018And your character\u2019s going to die,\u2019\u201d Ambrose says. This required what the actor calls some \u201cadjusting.\u201d When she was first cast<\/a> on the series in season two, playing the adult version of plane-crash survivor Van (played as a teenager by Liv Hewson<\/strong>), Ambrose expected to stick around a little longer. \u201cCertainly that was how it seemed from being lured onto the show and getting the job,\u201d she tells Vanity Fair.<\/em><\/p>\n In an emotional interview alongside Tawny Cypress,<\/strong> who plays Van\u2019s lover Taissa, Ambrose says she\u2019s still processing both her exit from the show and the nature of her character\u2019s death. The adult timeline of this Yellowjackets<\/em> season has built toward Shauna (Melanie Lynskey<\/strong>) learning who from her past has been after her; Van and Taissa making the most of their time together as Van\u2019s cancer progresses; and Misty (Christina Ricci<\/strong>) actively investigating the murder of Lottie (Simone Kessell<\/strong>)\u2014which jolted the season\u2014converging with Melissa (Hilary Swank<\/strong>), who as we learned in last week\u2019s episode<\/a> faked her own death to try to move on from the trauma of her adolescence. Van\u2019s story ends with her coming face-to-face with Melissa, who\u2019s trying to escape the rest of the adult Yellowjackets after she\u2019s found out. Van pins Melissa down but doesn\u2019t kill her, admitting she doesn\u2019t have it in her. The next moment, Melissa stuns Van by turning the knife on her, stabbing her to death.<\/p>\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/67edb6ec9a37949cb52e3e80\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Yellowjackets_309_KS_0925_0050_RT.jpg\")