Yellowjackets Star Samantha Hanratty Tried To Rescue The On-Set Maggots
Showtime's hit series "Yellowjackets" boasts some ridiculously scary characters, but few can hold a candle to Misty Quigley. Played as an adult by Christina Ricci and as a teen by Samantha Hanratty, the eager-to-please outcast is unstable at best, and there's a reason why the first thing Natalie (Juliette Lewis) says to her upon reuniting as adults is, "Hello, Misty. You crazy f***ing b****." During season 1, teen Misty tried to drug her coach with mushrooms — the same one she also amputated a limb off of — in order to sleep with him. The girl is banana pants unwell, and yet we can't help but love her.
During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, some of the "Yellowjackets" cast members were asked which castmate has the weakest stomach, and everyone unanimously pointed toward Samantha Hanratty. She joked, "Does everything upset my tummy? Yes. But not the gore!" Hanratty has been very vocal about living with gastrointestinal issues, eventually learning that she was allergic to, well, just about everything. She's also a proud vegan, so anytime she's seen gnawing on animals or (gulp) humans on the show, she's chowing down on Beyond Meat.
Fortunately, no bugs are harmed in the making of the series, either. All of the insects the cast eats are made from gnocchi or fondant, but as anyone who has watched "Yellowjackets" can attest to, very real worms, maggots, and other types of tiny, many-legged critters are shown in wide shots. Alas, Hanratty's bleeding heart for animals extends even to the creepy crawlies, and her desire to "save them" almost destroyed a forest's ecosystem in the process.
Save the maggots!
"When there's dead animals around, it's not upset stomach, it's upset eyes," Hanratty joked. "That's when I'll like, really get emo, because even if it's a fake dead animal, I'm like, [fake cries] 'That animal had a family!'"
Steven Krueger, who plays Coach Ben, added to Hanratty's story and talked about an incident during the production, where she tried to take a handful of maggots and reintroduce them into the wild. It wasn't until the wrangler informed her that she couldn't do that, because the sudden inclusion of all of the maggots (that would eventually turn into adult flies) runs the risk of screwing up the location's natural ecosystem. Realizing the error of her ways, Hanratty then took it upon herself to fix the issue."I went back and I got every single maggot and I put them back where they were and I literally talked to each one," she said. "I'm a little psycho. I'm a little crazy. I guess I'm Misty 2.0!" Hanratty eventually admitted she has thrown up on set, but it was due to the fake snow ending up in her mouth and getting stuck because it doesn't melt.
"Yellowjackets" returns on the Showtime app beginning March 24 and will broadcast on Showtime beginning March 26 with new episodes to follow weekly.