Yellowjackets Nearly Killed Off Surprising Character in the Pilot

The first season of Yellowjackets came to an end last week, and fans are eager to find out what's going to happen next. Thankfully, the show got an early Season 2 renewal, and Jasmin Savoy Brown (young Taissa) recently spoke with ComicBook.com and revealed that there's a five-season plan for the Showtime series. A lot happened over the course of the show's first season, including some major character deaths. Warning: Spoilers Ahead! In the show's eighth episode, "Flight of the Bumblebee," Laura Lee (Jane Widdop) attempts to fly the small, abandoned plane they found but dies soon after takeoff when the plane explodes. However, Melanie Lynskey recently spoke with Collider and revealed that Laura Lee was originally supposed to die in the pilot episode.  

"Jane, who plays, played Laura Lee, they were supposed to have one line in the pilot and then they were so good – or like two lines or something. It was a little part – and then, I don't know if this is public knowledge, but they were not supposed to make it past the plane crash and were so impressive in the table read and in the pilot that then they were brought along," Lynskey shared.

She added, "That character became indispensable. But that's just testament to how strong every single one of those actors are. They're all so good. Every time it switches to a scene I was like, 'Oh, a Coach Ben scene. Oh, I'm excited! Oh, a Misty scene. Oh, I'm excited! Oh, an Akilah scene.' Every single one of them I'm excited to watch. There's never a character where I'm like, 'Alright.' They're all so good."

While chatting with Collider, Lynskey also revealed that she almost passed on the show. 

"But it just came to me, I was doing Mrs. America, I had a newborn child, I was exhausted and I had to say to my agent, 'I don't want to work. I can't. It's too hard. I'm feeling like I'm going crazy.' And she said, 'Well, an offer just came in for a pilot. Just read it and I'll respectfully pass.' And then I read it and I was like, 'Well, shit. Well, now I have to do it.' And she was like, 'Are you sure? You just told me you don't want to do anything.' And I said, 'No, I am sure. Let me have a talk to them. If they sound like psychopaths then I'll say no.' But they were awesome. I talked to Ashley [Lyle] and Bart [Nickerson], the creators of the show, and Karyn Kusama who directed the pilot and Drew [Comins], one of the producers, and they just were all so great."

The first season of Yellowjackets is streaming on Showtime.