As Yellowjackets fans brace for the beginning of the end, the cast came together to celebrate and mourn the series at the final season premiere.
On Sunday, the stars of the supernatural survival thriller shared with Deadline that it’s been “quite heartbreaking” and “bittersweet” concluding the show with Season 4, which premieres Nov. 20 on Paramount+ with Premium Plan. Watch the trailer below.
“It’s been wonderful. I mean, I was not ready for it to end,” said Melanie Lynskey, who stars as Shauna Shipman. “I didn’t want it to end, but here we are. So, I was grateful when we were going through it that we knew it was the ending, that it wasn’t just, we were filming and thinking we were all gonna reunite in another year. I was grateful that we knew.”
Sophie Nélisse, who plays her teen counterpart, agree that the final season has been “bittersweet,” adding, “I think we were all looking forward to seeing what this show will bring us in our future careers, and everyone finding their niche and finding what speaks to them after this. But also, just really weird. I feel like I grew up with all of these coworkers.”
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“And so it feels like we’ve all evolved so much, both as actors and as humans,” she added. “So, it felt weird because I think every time we wrapped a season, there was this reassurance that would see each other again. We’re like, ‘It’s a goodbye, but not really.’ And this feels very final and decisive, and that’s quite heartbreaking.”
Sophie Thatcher, who is back as teen Natalie Scatorccio, found the experience “really surreal, but it was nice that we knew going in. We could kind of process things as they were happening. I felt like I wasn’t ready to let go of Natalie, and I waited to read the last episodes, because I didn’t want it to be real.”
Jasmin Savoy Brown, the actress who plays teen Taissa Turner, noted that the foresight of the final season “made every moment extra heightened. It’s seven years of our lives. Some of these girls are the age now that I was when we shot the pilot. They were literally 17, and now they’re 25, 26. They came of age… it’s crazy.”
Liv Hewson, who plays Van Palmer, explained that they “really wanted to be as present as possible, and I wanted to make the most of it. This show is so unique and this opportunity is so rare, and I just wanted to make the most of this opportunity, make the most of the time we had together, and make the most of getting to live in this world with these characters. I wanted to do as much as possible. And I think I did everything I could have done, and I’m proud of that.”
Samantha Hanratty, who stars a Misty Quigley agreed with her co-stars that it was “a huge gift to know that we were gonna have an ending.”
“I feel like so many shows nowadays never get answers, and unfortunately they don’t get to finish. Well, we got to have our start, our middle, our end, and I’m really excited for everybody to see,” she continued. “I’m just proud, honestly. I’m so sad to say goodbye to these characters. I’m not ready, I don’t think I’m there yet, and that’s OK. Maybe when the finale comes out, I’ll be a little bit better to say goodbye. But it was a very tearjerking ending for all of us.
Nia Sondaya, who plays Akilah, said she “was really able to make the most of every moment this season, and I really got to savor spending time with all my castmates and just really enjoying this season. So honestly, it was bittersweet but overall a great experience for me going in and getting to do this.”
Jenna Burgess, who plays Melissa, is still adjusting to the end, “I mean, it hasn’t even hit me that we’re not doing this again—oh my god, maybe it just hit me right now. But this show will always challenge you as a person and as an actor, because we’re telling the story of real people and humans and just trauma, lots of trauma. So just taking care of yourself, knowing that it’s going to be wild.”
Elijah Wood, who reprises his role as Walter Tattersall, felt “so privileged” to join the show in Season 2. “I really genuinely am a fan of the show, I loved that first season. It was a treat to be asked to come and join and play in that sandbox with this extraordinary cast, to work with Christina [Ricci] again,” he said. “So, going back with a real satisfying way to say goodbye to the character was just a joy, a real joy. And again, it’s bittersweet. I think for everybody involved, it’s been a real fun ride, and I don’t think anybody wanted to see it go. But all great things must come to an end, you know?”
Following last year’s news that the show’s fourth season would be its final season, co-creator Bart Nickerson explained that he and Ashley Lyle “had always given the caveat that we felt like the show would tell us when it wanted to end.”
“And just in the breaking of this story, it started to feel like we were sort of moving toward the end more rapidly,” added Nickerson earlier this week. “So then, the decision became, ‘OK, do we try to squeeze a lot into Season 4 or run the risk of overstaying our welcome with a fifth season?’ We chose to try to squeeze it in.”
In Yellowjackets, a 1996 New Jersey soccer team’s plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness, where they struggle to survive while they’re stranded for 19 months as a dark supernatural force seemingly lurks in the woods. Meanwhile, their adult counterparts cope with the memories of what went down in the wilderness.
Premiering Nov. 20, the fourth and final season sees the Yellowjackets rescued and returned home, where they must adjust to civilization and take their secret to the grave.