Juliette Lewis & Sophie Thatcher Brought An Obsessive Level Of Detail To Their Yellowjackets Character
Great news for our hive of "Yellowjackets" fans: season 2 is almost upon us! That's right, Showtime's multi-timeline cannibal thriller returns next month and after waiting over a year for some answers, viewers are ready to head back into the wilderness. The fact that the series centers on a group of teen girls in '90s New Jersey (the time and place in which I grew up) was enough to pique my interest, but nothing could've prepared me for the wild ride this show would take me on. If you've not yet tuned in, all I can say is, what are you waiting for? Season 2 promises to be even more shocking, so catch up!
"Yellowjackets" partially takes place in the '90s, focusing on a girls' soccer team after their plane, which is headed to Seattle for a tournament, crash lands in the Canadian wilderness, leaving them stranded for 19 months. The show also follows the survivors 25 years later, with plenty of mysterious threads left dangling in between. Even better still, it stars Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, and Tawny Cypress as the adult versions of our main characters. Other exciting performers have been added for the show's sophomore outing as well, including Lauren Ambrose.
Casting the younger and grown-up versions of someone can undoubtedly be difficult, much like two people playing one character could be. "Yellowjackets" really excels in this area and it's easy to imagine these girls growing up into their onscreen adult counterparts. 1996 Natalie Scatorccio, for example, is played by Sophie Thatcher, and in 2021, Nat is portrayed by Juliette Lewis. The transition between the two is seamless and it turns out both performers worked hard to create that illusion.
'There's so much to study'
During a Showtime panel, Sophie Thatcher discussed the process of playing Nat alongside Juliette Lewis in "Yellowjackets." She explained:
"I think the table reads really helped with seeing each other and just, like, staying on tact with that and studying each other's mannerisms and just making sure that everything was in line. I think everyone had conversations from the get-go, and me and [Juliette Lewis] were very much on the same page which was really f***in' nice.
Tawny Cypress, who plays adult Taissa Turner in the show, then interjected that Thatcher had done vocal work to match Lewis. Thatcher continued:
"Well, she has so many movies that I can watch. Like, there's so much to study. So, that itself was a lot to take in. But, I mean, I think from the get-go we were very much on the same page. But you were always just really specific with just costumes and everything. I remember one of our first conversations you talked about what she would wear and how she would be, like, too hungover to wear or to choose certain outfits. Like, 'That was too put together. That wouldn't have worked.' You were so specific, and I want to take that with me. I love that, I think that's so f***in' cool. No, just, your attention to detail is so cool."
It's all in the details
It is pretty awesome that Lewis had an opinion on outfits that would be too well put together for a hungover teenage Nat to wear. As someone who also very much stumbled my way through high school, I can definitely relate. It's apparent that both actors took their job of playing the same character quite seriously (they weren't the only ones) and also that Thatcher admires Lewis. Who wouldn't? I grew up obsessed with her in films like "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," "Natural Born Killers," and "Strange Days" — which remains underrated. Watching Lewis' movies to prepare for a role is undeniably a pretty cool homework assignment.
One of my favorite aspects of "Yellowjackets" is the way it reminded everyone that '90s staples Lewis, Lynskey, and Ricci are even more impressive today than they were when they first made their respective marks in Hollywood. Seeing them in this series has been truly remarkable and their onscreen teen counterparts are amazing in their roles as well.
Season 2 of "Yellowjackets" can't come soon enough but will buzz onto Showtime beginning March 26, 2023.