Spoilers Ahead For Yellowjackets Season 2
Fans knew exactly what to expect from Yellowjackets Season 2... and that would be cannibalism. Well, as soon as the second season fo the hit series aired in early 2023, viewers were treated to some pretty gruesome scenes. Particularly involving Sophie Nélisse's Shauna and the corpse of her best friend, Jackie (played by the incredibly private Ella Purnell). Of course, much of the first season is based around the relationship between Shauan and Jackie. So, the cannibalistic payoff in Season 2 is fraught with emotion.
Sophie Nélisse, of course, is just one part of Shauna. The older version is played by Melanie Lynskey, who is also one of the supporting cast members of The Last of Us. This makes both Lynskey and Purnell the two most important actors Nélisse has to consider when developing her truly impressive performance.
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sophie Nélisse revealed just how much she factors in Lynskey and Purnell when crafting her character as well as what she actually thinks of them as co-stars...
Are Sophie Nélisse Friends With Her Yellowjackets Co-Star, Ella Purnell?
Sophie Nélisse admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that she was well aware that Ella Purnell's Jackie wouldn't last by the end of the first season. At that time, it wasn't clear that Purnell would reprise her role as a hallucination (and corpse) in the second season. This made it even more difficult for Nélisse given the fact that she and the Sweetbitter actor had become exceptionally close during filming.
"[Jackie's death] hit us both when we got on set, because Ella and I had grown so close during the first season," Sophie Nélisse said to The Hollywood Reporter.
"We were like best friends, and very close to our characters."
Nélisse went on to say, "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 the wrapped the finale, Nélisse worried that Purnell would be leaving her life. After all, the two live quite far apart; Nélisse in Montreal, Canada, and Purnell in Los Angeles.
"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!"
Fortunately for both actors, the Yellowjacket showrunners found a way of bringing Purnell back for the second season.
"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."
Nélisse then admitted that because of Purnell's limited role in the second season, she and the rest of the younger cast felt there was a void
"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."
Much of Nélisse's performance was impacted by Purnell's presence and lack thereof. While she was originally expecting Shauna to go through a short mourning period for her best friend, Nélisse didn't initially comprehend the weight of guilt on her shoulders.
"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," Nélisse said to The Hollywood Reporter. "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."
Sophie Nélisse And Melanie Lynskey Play Shauna On Yellowjackets
Since Sophie Nélisse and Melanie Lynskey both play Shauna at different ages, it makes sense that they don't share the screen. But the Yellowjackets cast members do consider each other when crafting their performances.
"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," Sophie Nélisse explained to The Hollywood Reporter of her working relationship with the Two and a Half Men star. "But we never really got into specifics when it comes to body language or mannerisms."
Nélisse went on to say that both she and Lynskey related to Shauna in similar ways. But they portray her at different times in her life, therefore the performances are supposed to be different.
"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," Nélisse admitted to The Hollywood Reporter. "But I did it in front of my mirror and it did not look natural at all, it seemed so forced. So I stopped. 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."
Nélisse, of course, had nothing but kind things to say about the actor who plays the older version of her character. And, according to an interview with Collider, Lynskey shares these feelings. Not just about Nélisse but about Ella Purnell as well.
“I just adore [Sophie and Ella] both. I think they’re so good. And it was making me very emotional watching them playing these little versions of themselves, and the purity," Melanie Lynskey said to Collider.
"Just watching them and being like, ‘Oh god, these people are miracles. They’re these beautiful human begins. They’re amazing actors. We’re making something that I believe in so strongly."
