'Yellowjackets' Season 3: Melanie Lynskey details how Shauna is 'threatened' by Lottie
"She sort of feels like the memory of the child, and even the body of the child, was stolen from her," Lynskey said
It's been almost two years since the Yellowjackets Season 2 finale, and the wait is finally over for the premiere of Season 3 of the beloved psychological thriller, survival drama (on Crave in Canada, Paramount+ with Showtime in the U.S.). One of the show's stars, Melanie Lynskey, who plays Shauna, highlighted that the cast came into the new season with a "renewed energy."
"We were all very, very ready to get to work," Lynskey told reporters. "After Season 1 I was in a very new position, ... to be suddenly offered a lot of different jobs, and they're all really good. They're all things I wanted to do. ... Two weeks after we wrapped Season 1 I started doing Candy, I think, and then I just went from one thing to another, ... and I was so tired. There had been all these different characters inhabiting me for that time and I wished I had given myself a little more breathing room."
"I was very mindful of that before [Season 3] and I just said, I need to clear a couple of months before so that I can take the time and sit with myself, ... and be really ready to go back to work. And by the time I got back on set, I could not wait, and I felt really prepared. And ... I'm very grateful for the opportunities I had, but I do need to give it some breathing room."
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Watch Yellowjackets Season 3 on Crave in Canada, Paramount+ with Showtime in the U.S.
How does 'Yellowjackets' Season 3 begin
Yellowjackets Season 3 returns after teenage Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) was appointed the Antler Queen, leader of the group, while in the modern day timeline adult Natalie, played by Juliette Lewis, died after being accidentally stabbed with a syringe of fentanyl by Misty (Christina Ricci).
In the first episode of the season we see teenage Van (Liv Hewson) hosting a summer solstice celebration, recounting their almost unimaginable story, but Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) doesn't want to hear it. She's not in a celebratory mood and writes in her journal about how much she hates everyone talking about "miracles" when both her best friend and baby are dead.
Moving to the modern day timeline it's time for Natalie's funeral, but Misty can't bring herself to attend, trying to live with the guilt of her death. Walter (Elijah Wood) tells Misty he found a storage locker that belonged to Natalie, leaving her the keys. When Misty goes and looks through Natalie's belongings, she takes out her iconic leather jacket and goes to a dive bar with a Natalie-inspired look, and personality. But ultimately, she can't escape her grief.
With Shauna, her daughter Callie (Sarah Desjardins) gets in some trouble at school. We won't spoil it but it's a pretty gross and hysterical way to get suspended, but that's also when Lottie (Simone Kessell) shows up at Shauna's door.
'She's so threatened, she doesn't even know what to do'
Early on in Season 3 of Yellowjackets there's an interesting tension explored between Lottie and Shauna in the modern day timeline. Not only does Lottie bring up Shauna's trauma of losing her child in the wilderness, but when Callie shows interest in getting to know Lottie, Shauna quickly feels threatened.
"Shauna is not always crazy about seeing anybody from that time in her past, because she's very easily triggered and she has not resolved very much of it," Lynskey said. "Lottie represents ... the most painful thing for her, which is that she lost her baby. It was a very, very painful time, and she sort of feels like the memory of the child, and even the body of the child, was stolen from her."
"I think the most threatening thing about Lottie showing up for Shauna is that [Shauna's] doing her very best to connect with her kid. She's not doing a very good job, she knows that she's not, and then Lottie is like cool and mysterious, and Callie's very excited by her. So that's threatening. And then also it's like, 'Well, you took my first baby, and now you're here to take my other child.' And she's so threatened, she doesn't even know what to do."
While we see the character Shauna work through her trauma, and her emotional response to her trauma, on the show, Lynskey said that it's also impacted her responses to real-life situations, particularly in moments when things make her angry.
"There are some things in my life that I'm still working through and the interesting thing about Shauna, I think, is that she processes her grief through anger," Lynskey said. "She doesn't really cry. She's definitely not like a sit in the corner and have a little cry person. She gets very, very angry, and that's something that I'm not good at in my life."
"I have a very hard time with anger. I have a very hard time saying that something's upset me in that way. So it's kind of been a little bit of a learning experience, because I've had to learn how to truly access that, and then it's become easier for me in my life, sorry to my husband, but it's definitely easier to get to that place, which I think is healthy. Not like I'm yelling at people all the time, but if I'm feeling angry about something I'm like, 'That made me angry.' And there was a time where I just couldn't even say that, I would just sort of shrink back and disappear, and try to run away from the problem."
Melanie Lynskey on losing Juliette Lewis on the show: 'I miss her. We all miss her'
With such a beloved series, when Yellowjackets promotional videos were posted online before the premiere, notably ones where the actors playing the teen and adult versions of a character were paired, fans were quick to share that they were sad to not see a Natalie pairing for Season 3.
Reflecting on Lewis leaving the show after her character's death, Lynskey stressed that the cast loves her and they all just want her to be happy."
"She seems so happy. We were talking about it, ... Sophie Thatcher and I were talking about it at dinner, and ... she saw her a few weeks ago and she said she is glowing right now," Lynskey shared. "She's so happy. She's working all the time. She's going from one thing to another. She needs to move, she's a very active person, and I'm so thrilled for her, because things seem to be so great, and that's my number one concern, is everybody's happiness."
"She's a beautiful human being. I miss her. We all miss her. There were some late nights that we had and we were all like, 'Oh, imagine if Juliette was here.' She was always the most fun. She would get very candid. She would get very funny. She's a real middle of the night person, that's where she comes alive. ... I missed her."
Lynskey went on to say that she appreciates how the story moved forward without Lewis' character in the modern day timeline, with a large cast full of robust storylines to work with in Season 3.
