Yellowjackets Season 2 Interview: Van's Original Death, Adding New Characters & More
169It is not easy to deliver big with a sophomore season when you’ve set the bar so astronomically high for yourselves with your debut. That’s the exact position Yellowjackets showrunners Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, and Jonathan Lisco put themselves in. But, it seems as though they found the ideal blend of having a strong roadmap but being willing to adapt when unexpected opportunities arise because Yellowjackets Season 2 soars in some mighty satisfying ways, but also in ways I never saw coming.
In Season 2, the 1996 timeline kicks off about two months after Jackie’s (Ella Purnell) death. It’s winter, there’s little to no food left, and the Yellowjackets are starting to succumb to darker impulses. Meanwhile, in the present-day timeline, everyone’s scattered. Natalie’s (Juliette Lewis) just been kidnapped, Misty’s (Christina Ricci) busy looking for her, Taissa’s (Tawny Cypress) struggling to deal with more frequent visits from “the other,” and Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) is trying to keep the cops from finding out she killed Adam (Peter Gadiot). On top of all of that, Lottie (Simone Kessell) is back in the picture.
How’s that for a massive list of storylines to service? There’s no denying it’s a lot, but Lyle, Nickerson, Lisco, and their writing team make it work exceptionally well, building on themes and ideas established in Season 1 while finding new corners to explore in the second season.
With Yellowjackets Season 2, Episode 1 now available to stream on Showtime and set to air on Sunday, March 26th, I got the chance to sit down with the trio for an extended interview -- half for non-spoiler conversation and then the other half to dig into Season 2 spoilers. Of course, this right here is the non-spoiler portion covering what inspired them to pivot and make Liv Hewson’s Van a bigger part of the series, why they had to assuage Warren Kole’s concerns about Jeff’s role in Shauna's storyline, and how they incorporated a couple of new Yellowjackets even though, technically, they should have been there all along.
You can hear about that and loads more in this video interview!
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