‘Yellowjackets’ Star Ella Purnell On Jackie’s Destiny In The Season 1 Finale

After a season of darkish omens, close to loss of life experiences and many theories, Jackie’s destiny on “Yellowjackets” was lastly revealed. And whereas it’s one which some viewers could have predicted, how issues unfolded was nonetheless very a lot a shock. Actress Ella Purnell in addition to creators and government producers Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson break down Jackie’s journey, the finale episode and what’s to come back in season 2.

[Warning: Spoilers for “Sic Transit Gloria Mundi”, written by Lyle and Nickerson, and directed by Eduardo Sanchez.]

On the finish of season 1’s final episode, Jackie died after being pressured to outlive exterior on her personal. “This was an concept that existed from the very starting. It was a part of the pitch,” Nickerson tells ET. “The character of Jackie, in a variety of methods, form of symbolizes one thing endowed by a form of society. And so, to have that fall away over the course of the primary season, her loss of life represents a form of slipping away of residence in a really possible way. That was one thing from the start that we began with.”

Again in 1996, within the Canadian Rockies the place the surviving Yellowjackets are nonetheless stranded, members of the group begin turning on one another. And it’s throughout the episode’s ultimate moments that Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) and Jackie lastly confront one another over every thing that has occurred between them since they’ve survived the aircraft crash. The emotional and sport altering struggle, with the remaining survivors taking Shauna’s facet, results in Jackie getting kicked out of the cabin and freezing to loss of life within the snow.

“We felt like her character deserved a extremely emotional loss of life. That was actually necessary to us,” Lyle says, explaining that a lot of season 1 is constructed round Shauna and Jackie’s friendship. And the truth that they couldn’t discover a strategy to resolve their points — with Shauna turning into pregnant after sleeping with Jackie’s boyfriend being one main one — “was simply actually heartbreaking to us,” she provides.

“It was unhappy,” Purnell says of studying the ultimate script, particularly given the arc that her character went on over the course of the season. And due to that, one of many issues the actress needed to do was to ensure “that the loss of life was impactful, if not divisive for the viewers.”

From the premiere, Jackie was admittedly not essentially the most likable character, described on paper as a stereotypical queen bee who has all of it, however she had her optimistic traits. She was the soccer staff’s captain, finest pals with Shauna, whom Jackie helps calm her worry of flying by lending her her necklace earlier than the 2 get on their ill-fated aircraft.

However on the identical time, Jackie typically rubbed the remainder of her staff the improper means, didn’t contribute to the group’s survival in a significant means and even attached with Travis (Kevin Alves) regardless of figuring out that Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) likes him.

“Jackie is just not essentially the most likable character,” Purnell says of getting to fastidiously toe the road together with her evolution of the character from episode to episode. “However technically talking, by the finale, she’s finished nothing improper. Whereas Shauna, who’s the likable one, has finished issues improper.”

In fact, the actress is referring to Shauna’s betraying Jackie by sleeping with Jeff and threatening to slice up Travis throughout Doomcoming. She provides, “Once you take these ladies out of civilization, a standard, sensible society and you set them within the wilderness, the rights and the wrongs don’t matter.”

Earlier than Jackie does succumb to the outside, there’s a dream sequence that leads her again into the cabin. However as soon as she’s inside, issues rapidly flip right into a nightmare when she’s confronted by the group, together with Laura Lee (Jane Widdop) and the thriller man from the opening credit. “It’s a extremely tender second for a second, after which it received actually f**king creepy,” Purnell says.

Forward of the finale, the creators instructed ET audiences would see the unidentified man within the episode however didn’t supply any extra particulars. When requested if she knew something particular about who he’s, Purnell was fast to say, “I can’t let you know.”

Given the variety of useless our bodies which have piled up together with an rising variety of unanswered questions, it’s any surprise in the event that they or Jackie will seem once more sooner or later, whether or not in flashbacks or one other type. Whereas Purnell claims she has no concept what’s in retailer for her character, she’s hopeful she’ll flip up once more. “I maintain attempting to persuade the writers. Like, I’m attempting to provide you with all these totally different the explanation why they need to write me within the subsequent season,” she says, joking followers ought to begin a petition to deliver her again as a ghost.

If nothing else, Jackie’s loss of life will weigh closely on Shauna, who’s going through a reckoning in season 2, with the creators acknowledging that it’s one thing “that might arguably be her fault.”

Till then, one other lingering query is what occurs to Jackie’s physique. Whereas the finale didn’t go there when it comes to the cannibalism teased within the season 1 premiere, may she be the primary particular person the remaining survivors eat? “I don’t know. However I imply, it’s going to occur sooner or later,” Purnell says, earlier than teasing, “Let me put it this fashion: it’s going to be an extended, chilly winter.”

Season 1 of “Yellowjackets” is now streaming on Showtime.

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