Teen Vanessa 'Van' Palmer

Van is the Yellowjackets' goalkeeper, quick with a joke and quicker to notice when someone needs steadying. Among a team full of big personalities she's the wiseass in the back of the bus, loyal to her friends and unbothered about hiding who she is. When the plane goes down, that same steadiness makes her someone the others lean on.

Liv Hewson plays her with a scrappy, deadpan warmth that cuts through the show's dread without undercutting it. Van never performs toughness for anyone's benefit; she just has it, which makes her tenderness — especially toward Taissa — land as something earned rather than soft. She's funny in a show that badly needs someone to be.