‘It divided us as a cast’: Simone Kessell gets real about the biggest twist in ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 2 finale

Now that the Yellowjackets season 2 finale has come and gone, the actors in the show have had some time to reflect on “that” surprise death in the finale. Cast Member Simone Kessell, who plays adult Lottie in the show, recently shared some insight on just how difficult it was to deal with the death. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

In an interview with ET, Kessell explained that killing off adult Natalie (Juliette Lewis) really divided the crew.

“It divided us as a cast because we were looking at it and it’s so big and it’s emotional,” Kessell said, adding that the moment felt “very real” and that even after all this time the crew’s thoughts and feelings are “still very raw.” 

Considering this is coming from a show that regularly features cannibalism, that’s really saying something.

Kessell said that when all of them finally unite at Lottie’s compound, “the women are at odds.” They are purportedly there “for teaching and healing, it actually turns out they still have some other issues to work through. And it’s a lot,” she said.

As for Natalie’s accidental death, Juliette Lewis, who plays the character as an adult, said Natalie becomes the ultimate sacrifice after initially pulling the Queen of Hearts card 25 years before, and then going through a “journey of healing.”

“Natalie’s on this journey of self discovery, which is quite subversive for that type of personality. So, that was really interesting,” she said. What really made her death that much harder to deal with was the fact that she tried to kill herself at the end of the first season but grew a lot from that point.

 “It’s funny because she’s playing with externally how to trust and not trust,” she said about Natalie. Kessell said it was extremely difficult to film scenes with Lewis because of all the emotions involved.

“The hard scene for me to film was pretty much every scene with Juliette Lewis because the two of us had so much love for each other but we also were fighting as characters so on and off… [But] it was worth the ride.” 

The complete Yellowjackets season 2 is now streaming on Showtime. The final episode airs on TV on Sunday.