[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Yellowjackets Season 3, Episodes 1 and 2]

Summary

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff chats with Yellowjackets’ Sarah Desjardins and Warren Kole for Season 3.

In this interview, the duo discusses Callie taking on a new role with Jeff, what would happen if the two of them had been on that plane, and who their characters really are.

Desjardins also talks about the energy inside Callie that compels her to reach out to Lottie about the past, and she shares her thoughts on what’s really going on in the wilderness.

The long winter is over, and Yellowjackets Season 3 is back! This means it’s time to catch up after that explosive Season 2 finale. In the past, the team’s cabin was set on fire, and Lottie (Courtney Eaton) passed the Antler Queen responsibilities to Natalie (Sophie Thatcher). In the present day, Natalie (Juliette Lewis) is dead, and Lottie’s (Simone Kessell) retreat is no more. Having been reunited with each other and the wilderness, the survivors now have to reckon with that familiar entity stirring again.
Throughout the series, Shauna’s (Melanie Lynskey) family has offered a unique perspective on how the people around the women are affected by the ripples of the plane crash. In this interview with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, Sarah Desjardins, who plays Shauna’s strong-willed daughter Callie, and Warren Kole, who plays her lovable, “good cop” husband Jeff, discuss their characters’ evolving dynamic and their strengths and weaknesses.
For the full conversation, check out the video above or the transcript below, and find out how these two would fare out in the wilderness, what the energy or entity is that has Callie so determined to speak to Lottie, and who they really believe Callie and Jeff are, deep down, without fear.
What If Jeff and Callie Were on That Plane?

“The blood has run through generations.”

PERRI NEMIROFF: I want to flip this scenario around to start. If your character, not Shauna, was on that plane that went down in the wilderness, what would Callie’s greatest strength out there be and what would her greatest weakness be, and the same thing for Jeff, the strength that would help him survive and the weakness that would do him in?
SARAH DESJARDINS: Yes. Again, I feel like I’m an emotional being, and I feel like I might be able to help hold some space, help everybody process their emotions, and in the actual surviving aspect, I don’t know how helpful that would be.
WARREN KOLE: Well, you’re young. Resilience.
We’re talking about your character here. I trust you out in the wilderness way more than I trust Callie!
DESJARDINS: Oh! Okay, yeah. I don’t know if Callie is going to help people process their emotions.
KOLE: Well, Callie might believe that.
DESJARDINS: [Laughs] What would Callie’s greatest strength be? She’d have great weed for everyone.
KOLE: Callie’s strong. I think Callie is discovering a lot about herself.
DESJARDINS: Yeah, Callie’s pretty resilient, so that’s definitely a skill to have out there.
KOLE: And whether it’s broken inner consciousness or not, she’s certainly capable. The blood has run through the generations.

Image via Paramount+

DESJARDINS: It’s true. She might surprise herself out there. What’s Callie’s greatest weakness?
KOLE: She doesn’t listen to her dad.
DESJARDINS: Yeah, that. I feel like her petulance. She can be quite petulant, and that might be a struggle out there.
KOLE: Obstinate comes to mind.
DESJARDINS: What about Jeff?
KOLE: Eh. In the woods? Eh. Maybe loyalty. That’s a good trait, especially when it comes to survival like that. Like, “Who can I trust?” Well, we know we can probably trust Jeff—aside from that blackmail incident. He’s got a pretty good compass on him.
Every single season I come back and ask everyone, “Who does your character trust the most and trust the least?” I feel like the only character on this show I would really trust is Jeff!
KOLE: Thank you.
Callie Is Taking on a New Role in Season 3

Callie and Jeff have always shared a special bond, but things are shifting now.

Image via Paramount+

Sarah, I wanted to follow up on something you mentioned the other day, that when you first took these roles, you knew the relationship between Callie and Jeff had to be different from the relationship that Callie has with Shauna. Can you tell me what it was like finding what their relationship needed to be in Season 1 and tease how that relationship has changed for them in Season 3?
KOLE: It certainly seemed, with what we had to work with in terms of showing it, that Callie’s a bit of a daddy’s girl.
DESJARDINS: Yes.
KOLE: They go to ball games together kind of thing. Definitely buddies. I’m your bud. I’m the good cop.
DESJARDINS: That’s true.
KOLE: That’s established even to detriment. Then you’ve grown up so fast. There’s a lot of Callie taking care of Jeff here coming up, and that role reversal happening, not just the husband/wife. The male/female dynamic gets turned on its head in Yellowjackets. Shauna’s the cowboy who goes out the door and says, “I gotta do what I gotta do,” and Jeff’s with the bonnet on, saying, “I’ll take care of the house.” You know what I mean?

Image via Paramount+

DESJARDINS: I wish you had an actual bonnet in Season 3. That would be so amazing.
KOLE: But also with the parent and the child.
DESJARDINS: It’s so true. I do love the juxtaposition. We finally get to see more clearly, I feel like, at the end of Season 2, really what the dynamic is when we have that scene where you tell me about the baby, and you hold that space for me, and you hold Callie. Then I think Season 3 develops. We definitely get thrown together a bunch more, which has been so much fun. And then also, yeah, there’s a bit of a role reversal.
KOLE: And shared task. How much better of a way to learn about each other than in a shared task with real stakes?
DESJARDINS: Yeah. I’m excited for the audience to see how their bond is strengthened, as well.

Related

‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 Just Nabbed This Oscar Winner

She’ll be in a recurring role for the third season.

Admittedly, this question comes from a line that happens in Episode 3, but it’s spoiler-free, so I’m going to ask it anyway! There’s a moment in the show when someone is asked, “If you could describe yourself without embarrassment or shame, and especially without the fear you might say something that scares you, what would you say?” I was wondering, what would Callie say and what would Jeff say?
DESJARDINS: The first thing that came into my mind, to be honest, is like, “I don’t know who I am,” which is so sad.
KOLE: That’s very existential.
DESJARDINS: But when I think of Callie, that’s the first thing that I think.
KOLE: Not knowing yourself—that might be at the foundation of anything if you weren’t too scared. Maybe for Jeff, “I’m afraid. I’m scared. I’m scared that I’m not enough.” Maybe that’s it: not enough. “I’m not enough.”
My heart for this family.
DESJARDINS: [Laughs] Enjoy!
Is There Really Something Supernatural Happening on ‘Yellowjackets’?

“There is this energy that is inside of Callie.”

Image via Paramount+

I’m going to go into theory territory now. So Callie has her sleepover and she has that conversation with Lottie, but Lottie stops short of explaining what “it” is. Maybe they have this conversation off-screen and it’s just not for us viewers, but what do you think Callie thinks “it” is at the end of Episode 2?
DESJARDINS: I think that she still really doesn’t know. Again, at the end of Season 2, I feel like when Lottie is acknowledging, “This is your daughter. She’s so powerful,” it’s like acknowledging this energy. I think that there is this energy that is inside of Callie, and she has no idea what it is, but she recognizes something similar in Lottie and is hoping that that answer can come from her. So I think what Callie hopes “it” is is whatever this energy is that’s bubbling up inside her, because she wants to know what that is. Does that make sense?
It does! I also just like that you phrased it as “she hopes it is” because I feel like hope is a positive word that I haven’t quite used to describe “it” over the course of the show’s run.
What about you two personally? One of the biggest questions with this show since day one has been, is whatever is going on out in the wilderness supernatural or is it all a result of just being human? Where do you two personally stand on that right now?
DESJARDINS: Real me, I’m a big supernatural girly, so I believe that there’s something else going on in there, especially with everything I’ve read in the scripts and everything that’s taken place. Again, for me, I think part of what scares Callie so much is the energy that she’s feeling is like, “What is that?” There’s no way there’s no supernatural element there. It feels like a foreign body within her, like a foreign energy.
KOLE: Absolutely. No, I know what you mean. That’s a good question because this is such a great exploration of, let’s just say, the feminine and just put it on that dimension right now—the complexities, not afraid to go to the dark shadow side, and whatever “it” may be, is it just an expression of the internal in some way? And if that’s the case, I think that’s badass.
The first two episodes of Yellowjackets Season 3 are available to stream on Paramount+ and Showtime. Subsequent episodes will be released on Sundays.

Yellowjackets

Release Date

November 14, 2021

Network

Showtime, Paramount+ with Showtime

Showrunner

Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, Jonathan Lisco

Directors

Benjamin Semanoff, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Deepa Mehta, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Liz Garbus, Scott Winant, Eva Sørhaug, Jamie Travis

Writers

Liz Phang, Sarah L. Thompson, Ameni Rozsa