‘Yellowjackets’ Cast & Creators Talk “Scary & Unhinged” Season 3’s Bigger Picture, Lottie’s Influence & Juliette Lewis’ Absence – Deadline
By Glenn Garner Associate Editor
SPOILERS: This post contains details about episodes 1 & 2 of Yellowjackets, Season 3.
Although plenty of emotions abound in Season 3 of Showtime‘s hit series Yellowjackets, love was certainly in the air at the Valentine’s Eve premiere in Hollywood.
Ahead of Friday’s Paramount+ with Showtime streaming debut, the cast and creators spoke to Deadline at the Season 3 junket and premiere about missing one fallen teammate, as well as the “very scary and unhinged” third chapter, which ultimately sees the past and present beginning to merge.
“One of the fundamental conceits of the show is that past is present, that these are two storylines that are written in kind of present tense, they’re both very alive,” said co-creator Bart Nickerson of the show, which also airs Sundays at 8pm ET on Showtime. “And the way they inform each other narratively, the more and more they come together, to a certain extent, that’s how the show was built.”
Watch on Deadline
In the ’90s, the team has rebuilt after their cabin burned down in the Season 2 finale, following their sacrificing of Javi (Luciano Leroux) to the wilderness. Meanwhile, in the present, the group is dealing with the aftermath of Natalie’s (Juliette Lewis) death and Lottie (Simone Kessell) being released from a “facility for the differently sane.”
“It spirals real out of control by the end of the season,” said Courtney Eaton, who plays teen Lottie. “A lot of things are answered, there’s a lot more blood, and people just fully lose their mind.”#Yellowjackets co-creator Bart Nickerson explains how Season 3 sees both timelines beginning to merge pic.twitter.com/84baf8rYhB
Jasmin Savoy Brown, who stars as teen Tai, teased, “It is Yellowjackets, so you’re gonna see a lot of feral, and a lot of alter egos. It is fun, it’s like a release. It’s a bit cathartic, because I think we all have that in us.”
Sophie Nélisse explained that her portrayal of teen Shauna is “very scary and unhinged this season,” noting that the character is “at a point in her life where she’s got nothing else to lose” as she mourns the death of her baby, as well as that of her best friend Jackie (Ella Purnell).
“I think it’s difficult for her because she feels extremely responsible for both of these events even though they weren’t really directly her fault, and I think what’s hard is that Lottie seems to be steering the group in a way of honoring those deaths and to try to make the the best out of what’s happened as where I don’t think Shauna is ready to quite move on and doesn’t see it in that perspective,” said Nélisse. “And I don’t think she wants the death of her baby to be a shared experience. It’s something that’s so close and personal to her, and I don’t think anyone in the group can truly understand the trauma and the loss that she’s had to undergo. I think it’s too personal of a story to be shared with everyone, and so I think she just wants to live that moment and be able to grieve on her own.”
And as the characters mourn the death of adult Nat after Season 2, co-creator Ashley Lyle noted the absence serves as “the jumping-off point” for Season 3. “It’s sad, it’s bittersweet,” she said. “But her presence is felt this season through her absence. She meant a lot to the world of our show, to the characters of our show.”
Sophie Thatcher found it “heartbreaking” Natalie’s ’90s counterpart, feeling “maybe a sense of emptiness and little pressure, having to withhold such a powerful presence.”
“Knowing that it wouldn’t intercut to her, I wanted to keep that presence and do her justice because it’s such a powerfully complex character,” said Thatcher. “I guess I just felt, even watching the episodes, I was like, ‘Oh f—, there’s something missing.’ And it was Juliette. But it lends itself to more empathy towards Natalie watching it.”
Playing Nat’s best friend Misty in the ’90s, Samantha Hanratty assured us that Thatcher “fills in all of the spaces of Natalie in this season.”
Meanwhile, Nat’s death has a profound impact on adult Misty (Ricci), who is faced with the guilt of injecting her friend with a lethal dose of fentanyl meant for someone else.
“I think when we find her in Season 3, she is really reeling from the death of Natalie, and she can’t connect to the grief or emotion,” said Ricci. “And she does find a way to connect to her, and then that sort of leads her to question all of her friendships.”
And after being released from a mental health facility, adult Lottie turns up on Shauna’s (Melanie Lynskey) doorstep in search of a place to stay, causing a rift in her already fractured relationship with teen daughter Callie (Sarah Desjardins).
“I think Shauna’s already really struggling with how to relate to Callie, and then, this person from her past who represents the most traumatic thing that’s happened to her — I feel like Lottie is the one person from the past who is most representative to her of that first loss of that baby,” explained Lynskey. “And so, here she is trying to get her daughter to come and do things and she’s fun and interesting, and Shauna is not. The whole thing is really uncomfortable.”
Kessell agreed that the situation is “odd and weird and feels uncomfortable for everyone except Lottie,” as Desjardins said Callie sees the dynamic as “an opportunity, that this might be the person who would give me a lot of the answers that I’m looking for.”
“Lottie has an openness in her energy, I think … and there’s this energy between them that Callie can feel too, but she has no idea what it is,” noted Desjardins. “I feel like there’s so many emotions going on there. She’s very intrigued, she’s definitely drawn to it. I think she’s a little afraid of it.”
Lottie’s influence is also seen in the past as she helps Travis (Kevin Alves) cope with the death of his brother Javi, following the loss of his dad in the initial plane crash. Alves explained that Travis’ “grief has just gotten to a point that he feels like death just follows him and he’s numbing out” with some help from Lottie’s psychedelic armchair therapy.
“That’s what he’s coming into the season looking for, an escape, and Lottie is that outlet for him at this point,” he said, as Eaton explained the pair is “almost codependent, two people that are incredible pain.”
“Also, they’re just children, and they don’t know what they’re doing with their lives,” added Eaton. “The wilderness, this season, i think is a bit more like a drug to Lottie. And so there’s this addiction, and when it comes through, she manipulates it a little.”
With the first two episodes now streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime, Season 3 is quickly Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networksWe want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our annonymous form.Sign up for our breaking news alerts
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
