Yellowjackets Star Opens Up About Jackie’s Twisted Season 2 Return

Jackie may have died at the end of the first season of Yellowjackets, but that didn’t mean her story was over. The Season 2 premiere of the hit Showtime series brought Ella Purnell’s character back into the fold, with Shauna spending a lot of time with her late best friend’s frozen body. The hallucinations began, causing Shauna to have full conversations with Jackie, leading to her braiding her friend’s hair and doing her makeup. Of course, it all came crashing down with the entire group feasting on Jackie’s body at the end of the second episode.

Sophie Nelisse, who plays the young version of Shauna on Yellowjackets, recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the twisted scenes with Purnell’s Jackie in the first couple episodes of Season 2.

“I loved the way the showrunners wrote the beginning of the second season,” Nelisse said. “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.”

The actress went on to explain that she and Purnell have formed a very close friendship while filming the show, and the return of Jackie in Season 2 was a pleasant surprise for both of them.

“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,” she said. “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!”

What have you thought of Yellowjackets Season 2 so far? Let us know in the comments!