Yellowjackets’ Steven Krueger on Ben’s Choice to Opt-Out of the Jackie Feast

Ben is already separated from the teenagers as the only adult and authority figure to survive the crash. Steven Kruger explained in the “Edible Complex” oral history for The Hollywood Reporter that this makes him feel responsible to guide his students in the right direction and away from any wrong decisions — like cannibalism — that will torment them. As their teacher, he knows that he will face the most repercussions and questions for what they’ve done in the wilderness if they are rescued. If they start to eat one another, their lives are irrevocably damaged. 

However, the moment the Yellowjackets wildly feast on Jackie’s body, “he completely loses control over everybody else, and I think that’s the most haunting thing for him,” Kruger told THR. He elaborated in Variety on Ben’s decision not to join in the feast: 

“He sees this transformation take place on their faces and in their behavior, and all of a sudden, he recognizes that it’s not him and not the way we should be going about this. He’s immediately repulsed. That ends up being this inciting incident that lights the match for the rest of the season about how he relates to these girls, about what his position is in the group, and about how he has to deal with the repercussions of almost ostracizing himself from the rest of them.”

According to Krueger, the only way Ben would have dined on Jackie was “if there was some logical discussion” about the decision, rather than a feeding frenzy. Up until that point, he tried to maintain order in the volatile wilderness. Ben realizes that once they give in to cannibalism, a certain line between anarchy and socially acceptable behavior has been crossed and there is no going back. In fact, cannibalism may be just the beginning of their savagery.