[Editor’s note: The following interview contains spoilers for “Yellowjackets” Season 3, Episode 10.]
“Yellowjackets” fans are still hard at work choking down that devastating Season 3 finale. But for Showtime‘s favorite frog scientist, Ashley Sutton, more theories about the cliffhanger episode — and the popular series’ shadowy future — are as welcome as free samples in a field study.
“My intention the last year and a half has been to really dive into every character and work on auditions,” the actress told IndieWire. “Just fully lean in and create these people’s lives from scratch, so you can really find the human connection with them. I did that with Hannah, and I actually got the opportunity to play her and this crazy arc that she’s on.”
“She’s kind of all over the place,” Sutton admitted, describing a rich relationship with the material first imagined by series co-creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson. The duo share executive producer and showrunner duties with Jonathan Lisco. “But you don’t often get opportunities to fall into a character so deeply,” Sutton said, “and work with so many other people who are doing such deep character work.”
A fan of “Yellowjackets” long before she got cast, Sutton auditioned to be one of the teen soccer players years ago — but missed her flight, so to speak. After getting the chance again in Season 3, with a part she felt was even more right for her, Sutton was “just happy” to learn that Hannah, her research partner Edwin (Nelson Franklin), and wilderness guide Kodiak (Joel McHale) were going to find the soccer team and the site of the Flight 2525 plane crash. Getting to play that poor woman, she said, was a bonus.
“I felt like we would be a little delusional to think that there’s nobody else in the wilderness,” Sutton said — taking the classic “X-Files” approach to a question about “Yellowjackets” believability. “That just seems closed-minded in some sense. Of course people would be out there and of course they stumble on this wilderness camp. That just makes good television. And it could really happen!”
Speaking with IndieWire, Sutton further unpacked “Yellowjackets” world-building, teased her other projects (did you know she was in Ryan Murphy’s “Monsters”?), and shared her hopes for a version of the hit cannibalism dramedy featuring a rendition of Hannah — from before or even after she’s croaked.
The following interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
IndieWire: Tell me about your reaction to the finale script and the role your character played in ultimately getting the rescue across the finish line. What did you make of that reveal?
Ashley Sutton: I read the script four times. I read it the first time all the way through, and then I was like, ‘Wait a minute, I need to read this again.’ As a fan of the show, this is a pivotal moment that we’ve all been wanting to know how it played out and how they make connections to the outside. So I was really excited that it was happening in general, just in the “Yellowjackets” world. The fact that Hannah got to be a part of it was cool because she’s new. She kind of messes up by murdering Kodi, and now she has a little bit of a redemption to help the Yellowjackets go home, which I really felt in Episode 10. That moment with Sophie Thatcher at the tree. Hannah would sacrifice herself to save all of these kids, because at the end of the day, they’re just kids that are trapped in this really traumatic experience.
Hannah does choose to “fall in” with the Yellowjackets and their society as it exists. What did you make of that characterization, playing an adult woman and mother who falls prey to teenagers?
I really focused on how traumatic it would’ve been for Hannah as a young kid to have been pregnant and dealing with real adult issues at such a young age — where that didn’t really give her the chance to grow up. She’s maybe living a little sheltered of a life, and so when she’s thrown back into this high school-esque environment, she gets to relive that experience again in a different way, in a more powerful way, because now she has so much life experience and she’s learned so much and she’s grown and she’s really, really smart. She’s always been really, really smart, so this is just a chance for her to relive it. I also think part of her wants that acceptance because maybe she didn’t get it when she was in high school.
The reveal that it’s Hannah and not Natalie standing in front of Shauna during the finale is such an amazing moment, and I love that smirk that you do. How did you prepare for that beat? Was it something that came together in the moment, or did you think about it ahead of time?
It came in the moment working with [showrunner Bart Nickerson], who was the director for the finale. We did it a couple of different ways. He was like, “Lead with you being shocked that she found out.” We started to take over again and then that smirk is just kind of what came out. Internally, I was feeling like it was a, “Checkmate, Shauna” moment. “You think you can boss all of these kids around and control them and not let them go home, but I’m not going to let you do that. Checkmate, we’re coming for you.”
That moment is a long time coming, even if Hannah is a newer addition to the “Yellowjackets” universe. Tell me about your history with the show.
I was lucky enough to audition for [co-creators/showrunners Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickers] for a few different projects that they’ve worked on over the years. It’s a special thing when people believe in you and believe in your art and the timing works out and the character works out and it just is all so right. I auditioned for the pilot five years ago and I remember reading the script, just laughing. It’s so dark and spooky, but also funny and campy, and I love that as an actor and as a fa. It’s the stuff I’m most drawn to because I think we’re all both of those things — funny and dark, serious and silly.
I didn’t end up booking for the pilot, which was sad at the time, but I became a huge fan of the show. When Hannah came out, my manager was like, “Hey, there’s another opportunity. It really fits you. It fits you more than the other one. I’m going to try to get you in front of casting.” And she did. I auditioned a couple of times through self-tape. Then, Ashley and Bart called me and they were like, “Hey, do you want to come to Canada?” And I was like, “Yes, immediately. Please.” [Laughter.]
I was shocked to find out that the frog scientists were in Ashley and Bart’s original series pitch to Showtime. Did you know the specifics of the part when you were going out for?
Those were the sides I got! So, the side that I got for the audition was the tent scene with Hannah and Kodiak (Joel McHale) and Edwin (Nelson Franklin) — and I believe that’s what Nelson auditioned with as well. So I knew she was a frog scientist. I didn’t really know anything about what was going to happen with the wilderness timeline, but I assumed that they would cross paths with them. At that point, though it really was just that she was a scientist, and she was a little naive. She was with these two guys in the wilderness, and they had the satellite phone, so I did know that they had this device that could lead to communication to the outside world, but that was about it.
How was working with Joel McHale and finding your characters’ dynamic ahead of Episode 9?
Joel just kind of showed up and he was Kodi. He just had this arrogant standoffishness about him in the character — not as a person! He’s the most lovely, funniest person in real life. But as a character, he just nailed Kodi. So it was easy to play off that and the little flirting with him because he is the definition of wilderness mountain man.
Edwin is the complete opposite of any of that and really not dealing very well with the wilderness aspect of everything well. So as we’re moving through the story, and we’re running, Kodi’s trying to save Hannah, she realizes, “I can only save myself.” And so, she runs off in a different direction. There’s also a gunshot in Episode 7, when Hannah think that Kodi has died and she’s all alone — but he comes back.
I think Hannah is just dealing with so much doubt with because of Edwin and he’s playing in her head over and over and over again. I really think that’s a part of grief. When you lose someone, you often think about the last things they’ve said to you over and over and over again, and Hannah’s really doing that and trying to come to terms with Edwin not being there anymore, but also really trying to listen to him just in case he was right.
That’s what places all this doubt in Kodi. She just doesn’t trust him. She doesn’t know him. When Shauna finds them with the knife in that moment, for Hann, it’s really, “Either it’s going to be him, or it’s going to be me and Natalie. And I can’t let it be me, and I definitely can’t let it be Natalie.” Because Hannah sees that she is clearly the other leader in this group, the leader of the people that actually want to make it home. So she makes a snap decision that Kodi has to go.
And he, uh, calls her such a derogatory word in that moment too. She’s pretty angry.
If Hannah makes it back for “Yellowjackets” Season 4, what are your hopes for the character?
I would love to explore the past of Hannah. I think it would be really interesting to see some flashbacks, maybe with her and Edwin, kind of how we saw with Coach Ben and his partner in Season 2. I think it would be really cool just to see where she’s come from a little bit more. So that people understand why she is the way she is now and why she has so much grit and why she’s fighting so hard.
It’s so beautiful to see these characters and what makes them them. As artists, we understand it sometimes on a deeper level, but I think it’s beautiful for the fans to experience that too. So I would love to see more past stuff. It would be really cool to see her in the future too, but whether or not she makes it out of the wilderness, that’s not necessarily up to me. That’s up to the writers and we’ve already seen her obituary, but I mean… she could haunt somebody. That would be extremely fun to haunt someone in the present-day timeline. I know I would really enjoy that.
Crawling through your IMDB, it’s fun to see you were in “Monsters” recently. What’s next for you?
I have some things in the works that I can’t really talk about. I know, I know, everything is so secretive. It’s such a hard job sometimes. But I loved working on “Monsters.” I love working with Ryan Murphy. I’ve auditioned for so many of his shows, and that’s just another genre world that I love to fall into.
I just love spooky horror-esque type show and psychological thrillers. So, more of that murder mystery stuff would be so up my alley, and I really can’t wait to get back on set. It’s such a beautiful experience to create art with hundreds and hundreds of people. At the end, audiences see the actors on the screen, but so many people have put their art there to produce what is on the screen — whether that’s hair, makeup, wardrobe, props, the people that are working with the camera, and feeding us. All of these people, they’re at the peak of their art form, and it’s really beautiful to be in that creative space.
That overlap, between horror and camp, is very much a Ryan Murphy thing and very much a “Yellowjackets” thing. Why do you think that blend is working so well for audiences right now?
Man, part of me feels like the world is kind of scary, so sometimes watching horror and scary stuff on the screen, it makes it easier to deal with the horrors of the world that we’ve going on right now. And the campiness just brings a silliness to it. We’re so complex. We’re like an onion. We have so many layers to us. And there’s so much darkness and light in each of us, and I think it’s important for projects like this to exist so we can understand that we’re not just all good things, and that we’re not just all bad things. We are this balance of both things.
I can’t believe you just paraphrased “Shrek” to me.
[Laughter.] Look, I use it all the time because it’s so true! These kinds of projects really highlight the true humanness to us. They don’t sugarcoat it with “Yellowjackets.” This is real and raw, and yes, it’s a little bit of female rage, but it’s also just rage at its core. We all have these complex emotions inside of us, and I think these storytellers in particular really highlight the balance of what it is to be a human being.
That’s really fun to watch because I think the perfection — or, at least, I hope that the perfection that has been pushed in our faces for years and years — is kind of dying off. People are realizing that we don’t have to be perfect. We just have to show up as we are, who we are, and that is important. That’s what the world needs is for each of us to be who we’re supposed to be.
So, in your case, a frog scientist. What’s the most fun frog fact you learned while making the show?
Oh my gosh. Wow. Oh, man. I don’t know if I learned any fun frog facts! I was just reading a book on cannibalism. I found this book that’s not about human cannibalism. It’s just cannibalism in the animal kingdom, and I was just shocked that a lot of animals eat the weakest of their kind. That’s so messed up in so many ways. It really helped me get into the scientist brain of like, “OK, well this is normal in the animal world, and they’re all very primal right now.” Yeah, animals have been doing this forever.
“Yellowjackets” Season 3 is now streaming with Showtime and Paramount+.
