There’s a big new addition to the Yellowjackets ensemble in Season 2. We get to meet adult Lottie, or Charlotte rather, played by Simone Kessell.

Yellowjackets Season 1 ends by heavily teasing teen Lottie’s (Courtney Eaton) belief in whatever forces in the woods she believes she’s tapping into and also her growing influence on her teammates. In Season 2, it’s confirmed that Lottie did indeed survive the wilderness, but a lot must happen between her rescue and the present day because Kessell’s Lottie is in a completely different headspace. Yes, Charlotte still has a knack for amassing followers, but this time she’s doing so via a wellness facility designed to encourage personal growth.
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With Season 2, Episode 1, “Friends, Romans, Countrymen,” now available to stream on Showtime, I got the chance to chat with Kessell about bringing adult Charlotte to screen in the series.

Image via Showtime

Kessell began by highlighting the similarities between Eaton’s Lottie and her own:

“What I wanted to hold on from Courtney’s performance was the stillness. She has this beautiful, nuanced stillness to her, and then those eyes, I fall into them.”

She then shifted gears and teased the difference between the two versions of the character, and that’s where things get especially curious. Here’s how Kessell put it:

“What I did differently was that we recreated Lottie that she’s come into the light, or Charlotte, and she is a spiritual leader and she is a guru in her own world, so I got to then play in the lightness. And I think there’s nowhere to go if you start her in the new season as being dark and full of pain. So I created this beautiful love and light in Lottie, and that was so much fun.”

Image via Showtime

Yes, Kessell did mention a “beautiful love and light” in the character, but Yellowjackets characters are always bursting with a curious complexity that challenges viewers to constantly assess and reassess their intentions and actions. So, does Charlotte’s “beautiful love and light” mean she’s pure of heart? Did she start that wellness facility simply because she wants to help people? “Yes. That’s such a good question.” Kessell also added, “She is pure! She is pure as the driven snow.”

Looking for even more from Kessell and her Yellowjackets co-stars, Tawny Cypress, and Juliette Lewis, on what to expect from the new season? You can find just that in the non-spoiler half of our interview at the top of this article! We’ll share the spoiler half of the conversation closer to when Episode 6 drops on April 30th.

In the meantime, you can also catch the non-spoiler half of our interview with Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, and Lauren Ambrose below: