‘Yellowjackets’ Foreshadowed Shocking Season 2 Death in the Pilot, Director Reveals

[This story contains major spoilers from the season two finale of Yellowjackets, “Storytelling.”]

After listening to what Karyn Kusama has to say concerning the Yellowjackets season two finale, viewers are going to need to rewatch the pilot. The viewers of the hit Showtime collection might have by no means seen it on the time, however the tragic full-circle ending for one main character was proper there within the first episode of the collection.

“Something I know the showrunners had always thought about, and that [co-creators] Ashley [Lyle] and Bart [Nickerson] had always thought about from the pilot, was that mysterious moment when Natalie hallucinates Misty at the kegger in the woods,” Kusama tells The Hollywood Reporter concerning the first episode of the collection, “Pilot,” in a chat after the surprising occasions of the season two finale. “That was always this time-defying flash-forward to the notion that Misty was always going to be kind of an angel of death for Natalie.”

Kusama, additionally an government producer, directed the season two finale, “Storytelling,” and she or he additionally directed “Pilot.” Now that the second season of the dual-timeline Showtime collection has launched, Kusama’s bookending director experiences put her in a singular place to make clear how lengthy it’s been within the works that grownup Nat, performed by Juliette Lewis, would meet an premature dying within the present-day storyline simply as younger Nat, performed by Sophie Thatcher, can be topped Antler Queen within the 1996 wilderness.

Devoted Yellowjackets viewers have poured over that first-ever episode, attempting to glean hints from the “pit girl” flash-forward scenes which have pushed the thriller drama. With every new episode, a rewatch of the pilot brings extra clues into focus (Jackie’s coronary heart necklace; Nat carrying heliotrope; Shauna’s foreshadowed being pregnant; and Lottie’s actual title being Charlotte, labeled on a prescription tablet bottle). But the largest query continued to loom up till the season two finale: How will this crew of teenage soccer gamers arrive on the ritualistic cannibalism that was promised?

The second season progressively answered that, with the penultimate and finale episodes displaying the ravenous survivors sacrificing Javi (Luciano Leroux) to the wilderness and crowning younger Nat as their new chief. And the present-day gut-punch of grownup Nat’s dying — and that Misty (Christina Ricci) by accident killed her finest pal in a wilderness reunion gone very fallacious — brings renewed readability to the younger characters who’ve captivated viewers because the begin of the collection.

As it seems, the pilot not solely foreshadowed Nat’s dying by the hands of Misty, however upon rewatch, it additionally hinted that Nat would change into Antler Queen, which is the present’s most tragic twist up to now. “All this time, it was Natalie who was crowned the successor to Lottie (Courtney Eaton). And she’s been carrying this terrible shame of taking on that role. What has she done?” says Kusama of the finale’s “surprising inevitability” for the self-destructive fan-favorite character. “The fact that was part of her guilt was such a surprise to me. Of course, she’s so much a part of it that she hates herself for it. And that was something that I felt bound the two seasons together, from pilot to this finale.”

Below, Kusama unpacks the emotional determination to kill off the character of Natalie and say goodbye to core castmember Lewis, explaining in depth why the big-swing alternative made sense for the collection and the way lengthy it’s been in movement. She additionally appears forward to what the questions across the season two ending imply for the already renewed third season, together with a “dark conclusion” after that primal hunt that result in Nat’s dying.

***

I spoke to Yellowjackets showrunners Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson and Jonathan Lisco at the start of the season. I deliberate to speak with them once more on the finish, however we are actually within the ongoing writers strike. How is every little thing going for you amid the state of the trade?

As a director and as any person who generally writes and as any person who’s married to a screenwriter, I’m simply so prepared for these firms to grasp that we do one thing that could be a very, very, very particular talent, and I stay up for them studying that and compensating us pretty for it.

They stated they’re nonetheless concentrating on a five-season gameplan. Now that I’ve seen the total season and perceive that the youthful solid isn’t any nearer to getting out of the wilderness, I’m beginning to see the journey you guys have lined up. Can you speak about what you all got down to do with season two amid the bigger plan?

That’s an attention-grabbing query. Something we’ve all seen because the present develops is that the emphasis is on emotional surprises and emotional dynamics. Now that we’ve arrange this massive reveal about Natalie [played by Lewis and Thatcher] by way of what she functioned as prior to now, I believe that provides Ashley and Bart and Jonathan much more runway to discover with these emotional dynamics between all the ladies. I don’t need to name it an influence battle, as a result of that just about minimizes what they’re going by. It’s one thing extra mysterious and extra primal about looking for your house in society; we’re watching every of those ladies attempt to determine if they’ve a job to play on this efficiency referred to as life. But within the case of our Yellowjackets, it’s such a heightened stage and clearly the finale is leaving you with tensions and conflicts that promise extra to navigate between the entire ladies — and some of the blokes.

It’s not wanting good for Coach Ben (Steven Krueger)!

Oh, yeah… yeah.

This season exploded out of the gate with the Jackie feast in episode two. Then issues settled down a bit earlier than ramping up into this finale. When I spoke to Sophie Thatcher, I spotted this present is sort of a two-season origin story for the character of Natalie.

Yep.

At what level did you guys determine this destiny for Natalie?

She was at all times meant to be a personality who fulfilled a job that we’ve come to like in tv, which is the transgressive, self-destructive, self-sabotaging… the shit-stirrer. The stress was at all times that we understood that individuals like to look at these characters, however the actuality is that they actually or figuratively self-destruct.

What I like about these previous two seasons is that we’ve been given all of the details about Natalie. We’ve been advised again and again that there’s part of her that flirts with the dying intuition in a fairly large means. Whether it’s her personal dependancy points, whether or not it’s what she’s gone by prior to now. We’ve watched this character cheat dying, come near dying, be foiled in trying her personal suicide, and now that sense of inevitability is lastly answered by this horrible mistake. Just like a messy, human mistake. Which is just like the finale in season one with Jackie dying nearly out of poor judgment. That’s one thing the present does rather well in exploring. And I believe that was one thing at all times intentional about Natalie’s arc.

Earlier within the season, Juliette Lewis advised me she was certain that Nat would have pulled the set off within the season one finale if Lottie’s followers hadn’t saved her. When you filmed that season one finale and Natalie’s suicide try, did the writers and/or Juliette find out about her final destiny?

I believe that they had a fairly good concept of the place she was headed. That was one thing understood. This is one thing that I believe is admittedly fascinating: We’ve heard again and again that this can be a character who has been out and in of rehab and has had a very laborious time type of staying straight on this earth, proper? And then we get a window into what that really has regarded like and felt like for her. So to me, what’s so attention-grabbing are the emotional reveals of why she is so tortured and so self-destructive. I simply really feel prefer it’s a giant shock to find that she was put in that place of accountability prior to now, and it’s a horrible function to play. Just horrible.

Because of that season one finale, viewers might guess that of all of the characters, Natalie won’t make it to the tip of the collection. And but, I don’t suppose followers noticed this coming. Also, it’s Juliette Lewis! So, this couldn’t have been a straightforward determination.

Oh, I believe it was laborious. I do know it’s laborious. I’m going to overlook Juliette and I’m going to overlook the power that she brings, and I’m going to overlook that grownup character. But I additionally really feel like there’s a satisfying high quality of actual life being delivered to the present. You really feel like persons are individuals when the stakes are actual, and so they’re not simply on for nonetheless many seasons you make your present.

Are you conscious of the conversations about her dying; at what level Juliette came upon and the way lengthy she needed to maintain it a secret from everybody?

I believe she needed to maintain it a secret for sort of a very long time. I don’t know the precise… I don’t know the way that every one went down by way of the way it bought mentioned with the community or the way it bought mentioned together with her, however I believe she was within the loop for fairly some time.

It’s attention-grabbing to consider the writing being on the wall. Do you suppose when Juliette signed on for this function, she knew Nat won’t make it so long as everybody else?

Juliette is a very soulful, expressive actor who talks loads concerning the implications of what it could imply to be like this character. Each day will get more durable and wears you down extra, for those who’re dwelling the life that this character does. And I believe what’s very nice concerning the last couple of episodes of this season is that you simply see how she’s had this disgrace and sort of primal guilt imprinted in her DNA since she was 17 or 18 years previous. We’re seeing how broken she really was and is, and I hope that helps with a number of the sense of the stunning inevitability that comes with the finale this season.

From what the solid has stated, Melanie Lynskey is the one one who is aware of the arc of the collection, as a result of she wished to know extra in an effort to play grownup Shauna. Was she within the find out about this?

I truly suppose that this might need been one thing that was stored from the entire solid till later, except Juliette in fact.

Were you there when her co-stars came upon?

I wasn’t. I wasn’t capable of be there. But I do know that it was emotional.

Since you have been one of many individuals within the know, how have been you capable of be a useful resource for Juliette all through the season and heading into this finale?

That’s an attention-grabbing query. What we discovered, and that is undoubtedly one thing all of us spoke about at size, is that individuals have a conflicted however loving relationship with this character, proper? And significantly as an grownup, in the way in which that you’ve got conflicted relationships with individuals in your life who may push a few of those self same buttons that Natalie does. And so to me, and I believe this wasn’t a giant shock to the showrunners, and so they definitely have been in full-throated settlement, that it was essential if we have been going to make this transfer that we really feel like Natalie’s life had had this arc by which we understood a few of what introduced her to this second.

Something I do know the showrunners had at all times thought of, and that Ashley and Bart had at all times thought of from the pilot, was that sort of mysterious second when Natalie hallucinates Misty on the kegger within the wooden and the way that was at all times this time defying flash-forward to the notion that Misty was at all times going to be sort of an angel of dying for Natalie. And in order that’s why it comes full circle within the finale of season two, the place we return to that second. Their relationship was so troubled and sticky and unusual, and that is partly why. These are difficult women, difficult youngsters!

That imaginative and prescient was within the pilot? I’ve to rewatch. [Note: After Nat hallucinates Misty, the episode cuts to the flash-forward of the Antler Queen, identity hidden, leading the survivors in their cannibalism ritual in another seemingly foreshadowing moment to Nat as Antler Queen.]

Yes. There’s a second within the pilot the place Natalie has taken medicine and she or he sees Misty, or thinks she sees Misty type of watching her throughout a celebration that she by no means would have been invited to. I believe that’s one thing that we at all times knew had a thriller to it that was nearly meant to be like a key to wanting ahead to that relationship.

That’s so attention-grabbing. So Juliette had way more time to just accept this ending, however I perceive everybody else came upon nearer to filming the finale. By the time you bought to filming her dying scene, was there additionally a way of acceptance from the remainder of the solid or might you are feeling the unhappiness?

Oh, I believe it was actually laborious truly. Christina [Ricci] was breaking down on set. First of all, we have been in the course of the woods, in the course of the night time within the rain for 2 nights. It was simply sort of grueling, as this stuff are generally. And all of the actors have been in a really amped up emotional house. So yeah, it was like a discombobulating scene to shoot. It was laborious.

What was it like whenever you wrapped the scene?

We have been simply grateful that the solar had not totally come up but, and that our actors might make their flights to get house. I believe we have been relieved, and I believe we have been hopeful about how it could all prove. And there was loads of emotion and good will exchanged, and finally, loads of love. It’s a present that brings up loads about feminine friendships and relationships and ultimately, I felt like there was loads of good vibes on the set. And then the solar rose and all of us needed to trudge to the airport.

Killing off a serious character in an early season is a giant swing; another main reveals have executed this and it’s paid off. How will Nat’s dying propel the story ahead? Why did this have to occur within the total image?

Something I talked about loads with Juliette, and truly the entire solid, was that no life is a certain factor, proper? Something I’ve definitely skilled, and know just a little an excessive amount of about for myself, is that loss may be this lacerating, transformative expertise and I believe we’ve seen that the teenager characters have gone by a lot loss. As we get to know them, we watch what they’ve gone by after which we see them as adults and we surprise how a few of them, at the very least I do, put one foot in entrance of the opposite. But I really feel like there’s one thing a few loss within the current like this that creates a possibility to discover the ways in which it may possibly set off reevaluations or revisiting of the previous, and it may possibly set off loads of change, for good and for sick. And so I believe that will likely be one thing that the present will discover deeply round Nat’s dying.

Ella Purnell returned as Jackie after her character’s dying. Do you understand if it’s a risk that ghost Nat or flashbacks are on the desk for Juliette?

You know, that’s attention-grabbing. I don’t know about that. But what I’ve discovered about Ashley and Bart and Jonathan is that they’re sort of a never-say-never group. I discover they’re at all times tremendous open to imagining issues if it drives the story into an attention-grabbing place.

When talking to Sophie concerning the finale, she stated that Natalie is a heavy character to play and the way she’s devastated but in addition comfortable Juliette will get to maneuver onto different roles. Do you suppose this determination was purely story-driven, or that a few of it was mutual?

Oh, I believe that’s a risk by way of simply the historical past that all of us convey, and the experiences that all of us convey to the work that we do, however significantly actors. That Juliette was taking part in this type of transgressive, self-destructive character, I’m certain for her, spoke again to moments in her younger life, moments in her profession as a younger actor at the start that she has loads to attract on; loads of knowledge and loads of expertise to attract on. But additionally, loads of loss and harm.

That’s what made her good for the function, however I’m certain it’s not straightforward. Like, off digital camera, we might be speaking concerning the important oil line that she was creating. (Laughs.) I felt like that was her on the lookout for all of the methods to be dwelling with a quieter thoughts and with just a little extra peace. I’m certain for therefore many actors, it’s simply laborious to play people who find themselves sort of dwelling on a jagged edge. So I can’t communicate to precisely what occurred behind the scenes, however I don’t doubt that there have been some actual open conversations about what it may possibly imply, what the toll may be to play these sort of characters.

In her last scene, she ends with this deep breath. Sophie stated you filmed an alternate take together with her younger Nat and Javi (Luciano Leroux) laughing at her. Can you inform me why you went with the ultimate shot and what you wished to depart us on with Nat?

There was this idea we have been experimenting with, which was all of Natalie’s guilt, all of her disgrace sort of coming at her from each ghost, together with her youthful self. Mocking her. Laughing at her. But I’ve to say, once we noticed it within the reduce, it felt sort of gratuitous and merciless. It didn’t really feel natural, finally. We have been actually attempting to get to one thing that had some emotional energy and I believe that’s nearly extra like a horror film second, to have Javi and younger Natalie laughing at her. I believe it was determination to drag again on that and make it just a little extra concerning the extra somber model of that surreal second.

With the ultimate shot you probably did choose, I interpreted it as her arriving at a degree finally the place she was prepared.

It’s humorous, I believe individuals take it in a different way. There are some individuals who say, I don’t suppose she was prepared in any respect. And then there are some who say, she’s been actually prepared. It’s been so attention-grabbing, as a result of I believe we undertaking our hopes and fears onto these sort of imaginative areas. Juliette and I talked loads concerning the individuals in our life who we’ve misplaced and the individuals we surprise, have been they prepared? Tears have been shed, as a result of we have been like, you understand what, not everyone was prepared. And that was actually painful to consider. So I believe that was one thing she was holding in her thoughts throughout these scenes.

All season lengthy, I’ve requested the solid predictions about “pit girl.” When you have been directing that first episode, there was story mapped out however nothing was greenlit or written for season two but. So, how a lot have been you winging it with these scenes and the way a lot will they really come to fruition?

Well, I believe that’s truly nonetheless an open query. How to handle the fact of taking pictures a pilot with a solid that’s not essentially going to be accessible two or three years from now, with a narrative that’s not fully beat by beat labored out and having to roll with the punches of constructing episodic tv. Something that I liked about that pilot episode was that it arrange this unimaginable query about what occurred on the market and, are we watching cannibals and, is that this a cult? All of these questions.

But to me, in making the pilot and in studying the pilot, and I hope within the expertise for the viewers watching the completed pilot, the largest transgression is Shauna [Sophie Nélisse] sleeping with Jeff [Jackie’s boyfriend] and realizing that she sort of holds these secrets and techniques, proper? And that to me was the sensible hook of the present. It had loads happening plot-wise that was fairly noisy, however ultimately, the actual nuts and bolts emotional questions have been fairly all the way down to earth.

And within the finale of the second season, what feels so sort of beautiful and full circle for me is that regardless of all the larger plot parts about Shauna’s child and Javi falling by the ice, the factor that basically informs it emotionally for me is the concept that all this time, it was Natalie who was topped the successor to Lottie. And that she’s been carrying this horrible disgrace of taking over that function; not begrudgingly, however with enthusiasm and pleasure, at the very least initially. And, what does that imply? What has she executed in that function? Which I’m certain we’ll discover extra of in season three.

But the truth that was a part of her guilt was such a shock to me, simply one thing I hadn’t thought of as a result of we watched her in opposition to so many individuals that it hadn’t occurred to me. And in fact that’s the beauty of it. Of course she’s a lot part of it that she hates herself for it. And that was one thing that I felt sure the 2 seasons collectively, from pilot to this finale.

Young Misty was the one character we truly noticed within the pilot’s flash forwards. Is there any significance to that?

That is right. And I believe that was simply talking to her stunning powers of survival instincts. That on this horrible scenario, she is likely to be the one who figures out a option to survive and thrive higher than anybody else. And I believe within the second season, we definitely see that she’s all-too desirous to play a loyal lieutenant if it means she will get keys to the again door of the dominion. And so I believe that’s one thing the pilot at all times knew was going to be intrinsic to her character.

I additionally perceive that there have been some scenes filmed that defined extra of the cannibalism ritual that didn’t make the ultimate reduce, and that this season was reduce down from 10 episodes to 9 as soon as the present was renewed for season three. Can you speak about that call and are these scenes that may seem down the road?

Yep. Yeah, I believe there is likely to be some stuff you’ll see down the road that give just a little bit extra of the mythology of the wilderness. And there have been issues within the finale that simply made the finale so lengthy, and we needed to make some laborious decisions. I’m unsure how that’s going to get distributed into season three, however I don’t doubt that there is likely to be a spot for it.

Release one other episode!

(Laughing.) I do know, I do know.

Travis (Kevin Alves) additionally had a giant shocker on this finale: taking the primary chew of Javi after believing his dying was an accident. He is a personality who additionally doesn’t have an older counterpart anymore — it’s devastating that each he and Nat will not be alive in current day. What would you say about the place he ends the season?

It’s so attention-grabbing to look at a personality who begins in a sort of teenage boy opposition by the primary season after which shifts and modifications the way in which that Travis goes into having to type of undergo the logic of the crew and the sort of brutal metrics of this group. It was simply very nice to have the ability to work with Kevin the place he had a lot to do. It was an actual pleasure.

Kevin advised me what the guts was manufactured from (test again with THR on Sunday for that chat). Did you all take a chew out of the guts after you wrapped…

Nope. Nope. But it regarded fairly gross whereas I used to be watching it.

The youngsters dedicated to the hunt once they went after Natalie (Thatcher) after she drew the Queen of Hearts card. Then in present-day within the finale, their “hunt” turns fairly actual as they go after Shauna (Melanie Lynskey). Similar to Shauna, I used to be considering: Wait, are they really going to kill her? As director, what have been you taking part in round with in the case of the bigger query of if one thing is admittedly occurring, or if it’s solely occurring of their minds? And, is Shauna probably the most unreliable narrator of the present?

Ha! Well, that’s attention-grabbing. That’s definitely one option to learn it, as a result of I do suppose the extra we find out about Shauna, the extra you would argue it appears extremely unlikely that you would be a useful grownup with out being in hardcore remedy and getting actual assist! But the present in some methods is testomony to the way in which we make coping a full-time job, and you would argue that’s undoubtedly one thing Shauna is aware of the way to do. But, it’s laborious. I had an extended dialog with the solid the place I needed to speak about this transition into “the hunt” changing into one thing extra actual, and extra mysterious on an emotional degree the place we’re watching characters appear to actually lose their grasp of the plot. They have been there to do one factor after which all of it begins to go sideways, proper?

All of those endeavors that we do as administrators, writers, actors, it’s like we’re attempting to make these actually refined issues actual. And it’s like a step to your left or a step to your proper that it doesn’t fully work. I can’t communicate to the success of the finale, to be trustworthy. I don’t have that perspective on it. But I can say that all of us tried to make it actual within the second, that some primal, reactive fight-or-flight intuition kicks in for them emotionally, psychologically; and so they tried to make that actual for them. But it’s a problem. It’s a tough one.

The present has continually been taking part in with whether or not or not there’s something mystical or magical within the wilderness, and asks a few increased energy. When Shauna says there wasn’t another affect, “It was us,” and Lottie asks her, “Does it matter?” that answered it for me. Do you are feeling that answered it?

I do, I do. But I believe in the identical means I’ve individuals in my life who haven’t but determined to get their shit collectively in the way in which I would really like for them to, when she says that, I discover it so sort of chilling and disappointing within the character. Because what it’s a must to do is then reckon with the fact of individuals doing and performing in dangerous methods. Being actively damaging. And I do know that’s one thing the present has been grappling with from the very starting, nevertheless it’s a darkish conclusion to attract. Don’t all of us want there was a mystical or supernatural or, for need of a greater phrase, some non secular, religious part to all of it? But, what if there isn’t? How does that reply to millennia of dangerous habits and horrible stuff acted upon people by different people. That’s one thing I grapple with, simply usually. And so I really feel like that’s a number of the stuff the present is attempting to unpack.

This leaves the adults fairly fractured, and viewers like to see them collectively. But with the massive gap of Nat being gone and the fallout of what occurred on the market, together with Lottie (Simone Kessell) headed again to an establishment, how will season three maintain the adults in one another’s lives?

Certainly loss goes to be an preliminary sort of emotional glue, and the fallout from that. But I additionally suspect there’s loads to discover concerning the real-world ramifications of the previous two seasons. I believe that’s going to get additional addressed and additional checked out. I believe it’s going to be a query about the way to convey everybody again collectively when it’s the correct factor to do or is smart narratively.

Like, if Taissa (Tawney Cypress) goes to get booted from workplace?

Yeah, completely! (Laughing.)

In the 1996 wilderness, their cabin simply ignited in flames. My speculation is that Coach Ben was concerned within the hearth and that the ladies will discover Javi’s cave to attend out winter, and search vengeance on Coach Ben. What are you able to say about that?

(Laughing.) I definitely perceive how you’d get there, and it undoubtedly looks like many seeds are planted in the direction of that. But I can’t communicate undoubtedly as to if or not you’re right.

Showtime has stated they need to develop the Yellowjackets universe and Paramount’s Chris McCarthy stated spinoffs are brewing; creators Ashley and Bart stated they’ve concepts. Is there something you’ll be able to say concerning the spinoffs or increasing the present?

I can’t. I want I might. Until the strike was referred to as, I do know that Ash and Bart and Jonathan have been undoubtedly placing their heads about it. But I don’t actually know.

Are there concepts to discover the third timeline that was launched into the present, of when the teenagers have been rescued? Even in the event that they aren’t linearly rescued but within the present.

That’s attention-grabbing. It’s a very good query. I do know that’s one thing that has been on the market and talked about, and I personally suppose there are unimaginable potentialities in that third timeline which are weirdly as ripe and attention-grabbing because the wilderness timeline or the modern timeline. I don’t doubt that they are going to be turning over each stone as soon as they will.

Going up in opposition to the ultimate season of Succession has stored loads of TV writers busy these previous couple of weeks. Have you gotten any indication of how the season is performing, and the way do you are feeling concerning the total reception to season two?

You know, I don’t truly actually know. I’m not nice at being attentive to that stuff, and I’m not on social media by design, however then additionally by type of sheer incompetence I’m simply not in that dialog. I don’t know the laborious numbers. But I hope the present is doing effectively!

Interview edited for size and readability.

The second season is now streaming, with the finale airing Sunday at 9 p.m. on Showtime. Keep up with THR‘s Yellowjackets season two protection and interviews.