Sophie Nélisse on Stepping Out of the Shadows in ‘Yellowjackets’ — and That Jaw-Dropping Episode
[This story contains major spoilers from the second episode of Yellowjackets season two, “Edible Complex.”]
Yellowjackets has challenged Sophie Nélisse in her role as young Shauna. As many of the stars who play their adult counterparts have remarked, it’s the younger ensemble that has the harder job on Showtime’s hit survival series. And nothing makes that more apparent than the show’s latest visit to the wilderness, which puts young Shauna front and center amid that shocking fleshy feast.
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When chatting with Nélisse on Zoom ahead of the release of the episode, the 23-year-old who plays the younger version of Melanie Lynskey’s character, is cheery and forthcoming. It’s nice to see her happy and smiling. “We definitely do not look like that by the end of the show, I can promise you that,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter.
The season two premiere opened the door to cannibalism when young Shauna (Nélisse) ate the ear of her dead best friend, Jackie (played by returning star Ella Purnell). The second episode, “Edible Complex,” written by co-showrunner Jonathan Lisco, showed a grieving teen Shauna who is starving, pregnant and wracked with guilt over her role in Jackie’s death. When Shauna is encouraged to let go by her teammates, they decide to cremate Jackie’s corpse, which Shauna has kept around for more than two months.
But the wilderness has other plans and, whether by a stroke of fate (perhaps sparked by Courtney Eaton’s spiritual leader Lottie?) or from a series of fateful circumstances, snow falls on Jackie’s body during the process. With her body then all-but served up to be eaten, one belly rub from Shauna and a few approving glances gives the team the go-ahead to feast on Jackie’s cooked body.
Yellowjackets has long prepared viewers that cannibalism was on the horizon ever since the opening scene of the series, but that doesn’t make the Jackie feast any less shocking. The ending scene is split into two sequences, as viewers watch the Yellowjackets eating Jackie in reality, while also having a meal fit for godesses in a heightened dream sequence, which the showrunners referred to as “the feast and the bacchanal.”
When it came to filming, several of her cast members found themselves physically sick. “When we shot it, it was so much. We were literally digging in her face; like in her cheek,” says Nélisse, referring to the edible dummy that was created for the Jackie feast.
Below, in conversation with THR, Nélisse opens up about relating to her teenage character, what it was like to reunite with Ella Purnell to film the scenes with Jackie’s corpse, what really motivated the team to feast on Jackie and why Shauna’s decision was made the second she put Jackie’s ear in her pocket: “The more you try to push an idea away, the more it kind of gravitates towards you.”
You and Melanie Lynskey are so in sync as Shauna. Did you prepare any differently for season two? Did you pick things up from each other after watching the first season?
Not really, honestly. When we started the first season, we just sat down and talked about the character and made sure we had the same vision for her. But we never really got into specifics when it comes to body language or mannerisms. And I really don’t know what it was, maybe because we both related to Shauna in a lot of ways and we had a lot of things in common with the character — at least, I do. And I would say it’s way harder for her because I’m kind of laying out the ground work or the basic structure, and establishing all the trauma that she has to deal with later on. After the first season, all the reviews we were getting was that it just works and it’s so great and, we don’t really know what we did. So I think we just kept that for the second season.
I actually tried watching [her in] the first season. She bites her lips a lot and I tried to re-create that and incorporate that in the character. But I did it in front of my mirror and it did not look natural at all, it seemed so forced. So I stopped (laughs). I find that older Shauna has, probably because of all the trauma, a very dark sense of humor as her coping mechanism, which I wish I got to do more. But because our story [in the past timeline] is so dramatic, there’s not really a lot of place for humor.
I’m curious, how do you relate to Shauna?
I think it’s her sort of inner confidence. I see it a lot in older Shauna. There’s that quirkiness or awkwardness that comes out on the outside. But I think deep down, she really knows her worth. And in the first season, with Jackie around, I think Shauna has kind of accepted that she’s settled in the role of Jackie’s sidekick and kind of lives in her shadow. And I think she’s OK with that because she knows her worth and her value, and she knows how interesting she is, even if other people don’t see it. As opposed to Jackie, who very much needs the approval to find her self-worth. I relate to that, just because I was to some extent bullied in high school. Because I was traveling so much, I was kind of always on my own and I’ve always had a hard time making friendships, especially with girls. I feel so tiny when I’m in a group of girls; I can’t really speak up or find a voice. But I’ve always had that inner confidence where I don’t need other people to like me to like myself, so I think that’s how I relate to her.
The relationship between Shauna and Jackie was pivotal in the first season. The finale saw Shauna finally speaking up for herself, only for that to end tragically with Jackie’s preventable death. You didn’t know when you wrapped season one that Ella Purnell would return. How did you react when you saw that Shauna and Jackie got more time together, via Shauna’s hallucinations?
We knew Ella was going to die [in the first season]. So, we were expecting that. But it hit us both when we got on set, because Ella and I had grown so close during the first season. We were like best friends, and very close to our characters. I put Ella on such a pedestal. She was kind of my bigger sister, who has a little more life experience, and could be a guide and someone I looked up to. When we shot the [finale], I was like, “Oh, shit, you’re not going to be there next season.” And to some extent, she was going to leave my life for a while, because I live in Montreal and she lives in L.A. I was so emotional that last episode; I was crying. She would say, “You’re just sad we’re getting separated.” It was really just hard. Then with the makeup and seeing her lying there, it was very emotional. Even the arguing scene; Ella and I have never really fought. She would scream at me and apologize!
And I loved the way the showrunners wrote the beginning of the second season. I was expecting just the typical mourning period where Shauna’s sad. Obviously, she is. I think there’s a lot of remorse and guilt towards what happened. But I think you get the sense that a weight has been lifted off Shauna’s shoulders a little bit, and I think she feels conflicted because I think she’s trying to hold onto Jackie in some way by trying to keep her alive in her imagination. But, as you can tell, every time she has conversations with Jackie, it ends up with a fight. I think that’s her other side that’s pushing her and wanting her to let go of Jackie. And I think she feels very torn between those two emotions.
What was it like to then film with Ella Purnell?
We reunited, which was nice. It was so fun to have her for a little bit. But it was so weird, because she was only there for two days and only in scenes with me. And Ella as a castmate, I think everyone can tell, off and on set, was just so important to the group. Ella is the kind of person where she walks into the room and grabs everyone’s attention. And we really felt like when we walked in for the second season, there was such a core element missing to our cast. It was just really weird not to have her around. And then she was there, in and out for two days. I got a glimpse of having her again and then her being ripped out again; it was very strange.
For the scenes with Jackie’s corpse, how much was that Ella in makeup?
It was both. It was sometimes Ella in makeup, and then sometimes it was a body double, and then Ella would say her lines beside the double.
Showrunners Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson and Jonathan Lisco spoke to THR about diving into cannibalism in the premiere. Why do you think Shauna ate her ear at the end of episode one?
I think it’s partially survival, because I think she has the baby, and I think they all know that cannibalism is coming; it’s crossed all their minds that they might have to get there. And I think what’s so interesting about the ear and not going for the full body immediately is that the second the ear falls off, Shauna doesn’t even think about it. And then as soon as the idea crosses her mind, it’s kind of like an itch that you can’t get rid of until you actually scratch it. It’s like the idea — that’s so twisted — but it keeps lingering and I don’t think she can quite get rid of it.
And that’s what I think is so interesting about our show. As a society, we’re so attracted to what you can’t do, what you’re not allowed to do; what is out of our comfort zone and what is unknown. That’s why we watch crime; you’re not a killer, but you’re yet interested to see how you would do it if you were to do it. It’s kind of the same. No one is thinking about eating each other. But, it is meat. So there is that intriguing aspect to it and I think that’s what happens. The more you try to push an idea away, the more it kind of gravitates towards you, and I think the second the ear has been planted in her pocket, she’s doomed.
What conversations have you had with the showrunners, and also your castmates, about what’s motivating the girls when they make this collective decision to eat Jackie? Is it that they are starving and this meat is there — or is there another force driving them, referring to the wilderness and the mystery element of the show?
We haven’t really discussed it, because I think it’s to some extent left to interpretation. I like to think that, — again, that’s why I like our show — it’s a combination of so many things. It’s a combination of hunger and how they knew at some point it would have to happen. It’s also the falling down of hierarchy. Jackie was the leader. A lot of people envied her. And I think it’s partly this weird kind of revenge/payback almost situation. I think there is partially the supernatural. Before the scene, I look down to my belly. It’s at night. We wake up and we’re all kind of in this dream sequence.
I read this thing when I was doing research on how your brain works. And I heard that when you’re tired… you know how when it’s past midnight, you start confessing things? I remember being in high school and confessing to all the guys that I liked them when it was nighttime. And then I’d wake up the next morning being like, “Why would I do that?” Almost like you feel drunk for a second. And it’s because of what happens when your brain is tired. Your brain has three main parts, and the one that’s your rational side is the first to shut off, because it’s the least important one, apparently. So I thought it was interesting that the feast happens at night, almost like we’re slowly losing touch with reality and what’s acceptable, and what’s right and wrong. They all kind of go for it, and then I think in the morning, they all kind of regret it a little bit.
Did you also research into the trauma that would come up from… eating your best friend, for Shauna particularly?
I don’t think there’s a lot of research you can do! I don’t think if I were to type, “How does it feel…” that people would say, “Well, last Friday…” I’m kind of thinking about Googling that, actually. (Laughing.) But I think, naturally I would assume [how it affects her]. In the next episode, [one of the characters] gets sick. That’s such a natural response; you can’t even ingest it properly. I think Shauna’s driving force is really the baby. I think she tries to legitimatize everything she’s done because not only does she have to survive, but she has to provide for another human being. And I think that’s partially what she tells herself to make herself feel better. But, I don’t think that’s something you ever really get over. If you think about people who have lost their kids or anyone close to them, it haunts you forever. You carry this sadness. Most likely, you just learn to live with it. But it’s inside you forever. So imagine to some extent committing murder, eating your friend. I don’t know if it gets any darker than that.
Interview edited for length and clarity.
Yellowjackets releases new episodes weekly on Fridays for Showtime subscribers, and airs on cable Sundays at 9 p.m. Keep up with THR‘s Yellowjackets season two coverage and interviews.
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