Juliette Lewis of Yellowjackets, Bosses in Death in Season 2 Finale – The Hollywood Reporter
[This story contains major spoilers from the season two finale of Yellowjackets, “Storytelling.”]
second season of yellow jacket brings a tragic end to one of the main co-stars of the Showtime survival series created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson.
In the season finale, released on May 25, Juliette Lewis’ character, adult Natalie, is accidentally killed by Misty (Christina Ricci) during a wildly misguided wilderness reunion between people adults who survived the 1996 plane crash that trapped the Yellowjackets soccer team as teenagers for 19 months, driving them to cannibalism and other violence in order to survive. The series, which flips back and forth from 1996 to the present (and briefly introduces a third timeline when the team is rescued), has introduced Lewis as a series regular from the very beginning. She makes up the core quartet of Natalie (Lewis), Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), Taissa (Tawney Cypress) and Misty, with Lottie (Simone Kessell) and Van (Lauren Ambrose) expanding the grown-up survivors in part two.
“Natalie is constantly looking for something to live for,” Lewis said while reflecting on her character in Showtime’s short story “Behind the Buzz” during the finale. “She seems tough but if you see her actions, she just wants to fall in love.”
Lewis was an interesting actor from the start, with her, Lynskey and Ricci countless fans as they reunited in the series set in the ’90s. In conversation with hollywood reporter about the difficult decision to give Lewis this fate too early in the show’s run (yellow jacket has been renewed for a third season and the co-creators have plans for five seasons), director and EP Karyn Kusama said that, while her exit was difficult and very emotional, the arc of Characters have been developed since the pilot of the series.
Kusama, who directs both the pilot and the pilot, said: “What I know the hosts have always thought of, and Ashley and Bart have always thought of the pilot as well, is that mysterious moment when Natalie hallucinates Misty at a barrel in the woods. season two finale. “It’s always been a timeless exaggeration of the notion that Misty will always be an angel of death for Natalie.”
Lyle and Nickerson, on “Behind the Buzz,” talked about death being the quintessential moment for Nat and Misty’s friendship since that point in the pilot. Lyle said: “It is with great sadness to lose such an important character to our story as Natalie, the truth is that the stakes of the world are life and death. “The ritual itself awakened something in them that had been dormant for a long time.” Nickerson added of the tragic aftermath, “What we’re trying to do with today’s story is show that force is not a force that will end when they’re rescued.”
Ricci adds in the short, “Misty is obsessed with Natalie. It’s the closest she’s had to a friend, and she’s not going to give it up – even if she ends up hugging her so tightly that she’s crushed.
Kusama, when talking to CHEAP, shared that although Lewis was wondering about his fate for “a pretty long time,” the cast only found out just before filming the episode, which was the ninth episode in the second season. Sophie Thatcher, who plays Natalie, Lewis’s younger partner, described her sadness at the loss of her mentor, while also unpacking how the decision would propel the film forward. (The finale also featured an important revelation for teenage Natalie as she was crowned as the long-awaited Queen of Antler, which brings more heartbreaking clarity to adult Nat’s fate. .)
Thatcher said: “It was devastating. CHEAP about reading the finale script, shortly after Lewis confirmed her departure while the two were doing press work together. “I am happy that she as an actress is taking on different projects and exploring different roles. Because Natalie is a really difficult role to take, emotionally, and I can’t imagine doing it for another three seasons or anything… But, I think that’s really tragic for the staff. our object. Everyone’s been through a lot, but Nat is the one who took it all in the most intensely and let it live in her and flare up, so there’s something really sad about that. I haven’t really thought about it yet, because we don’t know when we’re going to do a third, but without that mentoring… I know she’ll always be the contact, but there’s no such thing right away. instantly [mentor], others had that and now I’ve removed that. She has given me a lot of confidence as a performer and an artist, and I will carry that with me for the rest of my life.”
With writers on strike, the third season of yellow jacket paused; The writers had a day in the room before it was written down after May 2. As production continued, Kusama shed some light on what the series will explore after the main installment. yellow jacket loss and events of the finale. “There’s something about loss in the present like this that creates an opportunity to explore the ways in which it can trigger a reevaluation or revisiting of the past, and it can trigger a lot of change. , both good and bad. And so I think that’s going to be something the show is going to explore in depth around Nat’s death,” she said. (Read the full interview.)
Advertisements and stars are also considered in the third installment in the feature film. Thatcher called Nat’s fate a “beautiful combination” between the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one, while Kusama noted that teenage Natalie became Queen Antler in an evolution from Lottie (Courtney Eaton) means that any Yellow Jacket can have a chance to wear the crown.
The final season ended with the young survivors’ cabins burning down, leaving them without shelter in the winter wilderness. Nickerson teased: “We’re huge fans of clueless climaxes and so the decisions that have been made and the implications of those decisions will be a big part of season three.
Kevin Alves, who played Travis Martinez in the 1996 spin-off, gave viewers a preview of where to look when talking to CHEAP tells about a cannibalistic moment that shocks his character, as he takes his first bite from his late brother Javi (Luciano Leroux) after thinking he died accidentally.
“The interesting and resourceful thing about Yellowjackets is that there are so many accessories. [shots when they leave the cabin after the fire]. I’m not sure how many were in the final edit, you have to go really slow to see. But, they’re taking things out of that cabin,” he said. “I suppose in writing it will have to do with how we are going to exist outside the cabin. We take everything we can and this show is so heavy on symbolism, it’s impossible not to have a reason why we took some of it. [The writers are] too sneaky. We had Queen of Hearts in that deck in volume four or five of season one, and now they’ve come true.”
yellow jacket leaves viewers with an ominous message from today’s Lottie (Kessell), when she looks into the camera and says they gave the wilderness what it wanted and it pleased; “you’ll see.” IN yellow jacket‘ the ultimate social media stunt for this season, the show updated its voicemail to an emergency landline number for Lottie’s Sunshine Honey wellness center (an easter egg from the episode) seven has been updated episode by episode to reflect the story). If viewers call (607) 478-1033, they’ll hear Lisa (Nicole Maines) texting chaotically as the compound falls into chaos following Nat’s death. “I’m sorry, we left… or, we will Leave. Our gates are closed…and we will soon be in the dark again.”
The second season is currently streaming and on Showtime on demand. Read news and interviews about THR’s second season of Yellowjackets.
