Part survival story, part coming-of-age drama, part horror saga, Showtime’s yellow jackets After a 1996 plane crash that leaves a high school women’s soccer team stranded in the Canadian desert, as do the lives of survivors 25 years later.
Karin Kusama, who directed and produced the pilot, said the intention was always to have two parallel timelines.
Contenders TV: The Nominees – Full deadline coverage
“A lot of great television still has a very linear path, and this was a great script that didn’t work out that way,” Kusama said during a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Television: The Nominees awards season event. “It was much more a fusion of past and present, almost like a continuous thread, and tonally it was just a stormy time.”
Kusama was joined on the panel by series co-creator Bart Nickerson, showrunner / executive producer Jonathan Lisko, and actors Christina Ricci and Melanie Lynskey.
The first season of the cult favorite premiered in November and ended with a series of cliffhangers that Lisko and Nickerson said added to the show’s appeal.
“We always wanted there to be a little bit of tension and a little bit of mystery,” Nickerson said.
The series features an all-star female cast led by Ritchie, Lynskey, Juliette Lewis and Tawny Cypress.
Ritchie plays the annoying Misty, a role she doesn’t come across very often.
“He was a completely different character than I had ever played, and I didn’t feel like I had seen so many versions of that character before,” Ritchie said.
Lynskey plays Shona, who 25 years after the accident is a housewife trying to protect her dark secrets. The younger version of Shauna is played by Sophie Nellis, who worked with Lynskey to bring the character to life.
“We focused more on doing well as a person,” Lynskey said. “For me, as the season went on, I could see what Sophie was doing and I stole a lot, to be honest.”
yellow jackets Nominated for seven Emmy Awards, including Best Drama Series.
Watch the panel video above.
Source: Deadline
