Warning: This story contains spoilers from Yellowjackets season 3.

Ever since the first episode of Yellowjackets, it was clear that not everyone would make it out alive in this series about a group of teenage plane crash survivors stranded in the wilderness and their adult counterparts. Throughout the first three seasons — with the third currently just past the halfway mark — there has been no shortage of deaths, with even some of the show’s biggest stars making unexpected departures. 

So far, during the past storyline, Crystal (Nuha Jes Izman), Jackie (Ella Purnell), Javi (Luciano Leroux), Laura (Jane Widdop) and Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) have lost their lives in the mysterious woods one way or another. (When it comes to Ben, Krueger tells PEOPLE that it was “the first actual murder that’s being committed ” by the remaining survivors, who have cannibalized him as well as Jackie and Javi.) Meanwhile, in the present, Adam (Peter Gadiot), Kevyn (Alex Wyndham), as well as grown-up survivors Natalie (Juliette Lewis) and Lottie (Simone Kessell), have all been killed off. 

And based on where season 3 seems to be headed — and the fact that the fate of so many of the teenagers hasn’t been revealed — several more characters seem unlikely to survive through to the end of the series. 

In fact, no one in the sprawling ensemble is safe — not even the characters that have firmly established adult counterparts, like Sophie (played by Sophie Nélisse and Melanie Lynskey), Misty (Samantha Hanratty and Christina Ricci), Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown and Tawny Cypress) and Van (Liv Hewson and Lauren Ambrose).   

“On shows like this, where you have such a nuanced and complex story as well as a giant ensemble cast, things can always change,” Krueger, 35, says. “Like, things go haywire. People respond to certain stories more than others. And so, I think everybody’s always a little on edge.”

He adds, “Even the teens, it’s funny, I do remember at the very beginning of the series, it was the teen cast who had older counterparts already and in a way, they felt very safe. They’re like, ‘I can’t die.’ And I remember our showrunners [Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson and Jonathan Lisco] just joking with them and saying, ‘Yeah, but you can go on a very long walk in the forest for a while.’ Nobody’s ever truly safe on shows like these.” 

In fact, Krueger has been on shows where he didn’t find out what was happening to a character until shortly before they began filming that episode. “You could call it a fortunate or unfortunate set of circumstances that I’ve been involved in quite a few shows where character deaths are just kind of the norm,” he says. “So, I’ve gotten used to this longstanding protocol when characters get killed off on shows, you typically don’t find out until an episode or two right before you film.” 

But that’s not to say the Yellowjackets showrunners don’t handle each death without care, both in terms of writing and how the actors are informed. In Krueger’s case, he knew Ben would eventually be killed off from the very beginning. “I was kind of tipped off a little bit — I mean, just in passing conversations with the showrunners from the very beginning of the series — that it was always kind of planned that season 3 would be when Coach Ben would finally meet his demise,” the actor reveals.

And when it came to season 3, he wasn’t the only one told in advance. “To our showrunners’ credit, they made it known that everybody that was involved this season with a character dying months before we ever started filming. So, that was kind of nice. And it was refreshing.” 

“Of course, no actor likes to hear that they’re losing their job,” he adds. 

However, that advance notice gave Krueger a chance to see where things were headed for his character, in particular. “For me, my immediate question was like, ‘How does it happen?’ Like, ‘I want to know what the story is. I wanna know if it is a cool exit. Is it impactful for the rest of the season and the rest of the series?’ So, that’s where my head was at,” he recalls, explaining that “it was very nice to be able to find out well ahead of actually stepping on the set and shooting so that we could prepare mentally and emotionally. And also, for me, just as an actor and the kind of process that I like to work with, it’s nice to get all that information.” 

Yet, as Krueger stated before, anything can change. “At the beginning of every season, I sat down with our showrunners and said, ‘Okay, great. I know things can change but what’s the general arc for Coach Ben?’ Just so that behind the scenes I can craft that arc from episode to episode along the way.” 

When it comes to Ben’s death, which came at the hands of Natalie after being held prisoner for burning their cabin to the ground, Krueger adds, “I’m always on edge about like, ‘Ooh, did something change? Did they find a better way to end the story with Coach Ben than what they had initially planned? But I’m just glad it ended the way it did, to be honest.”

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New episodes of Yellowjackets season 3 debut Fridays on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME before airing on Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.