Steven Prusakowski
If you needed more evidence as to how remarkable of an actress Melanie Lynskey is, all you need to do is watch her work in Yellowjackets season three. Follow that up with her recent interview on TV Topics podcast. The person you will find on-screen and off are day and night.
The Melanie Lynskey we see as Adult Shauna is starting to show cracks in the facade, her rage and paranoia from wilderness trauma beginning to show, spiraling into violence and self-destruction. In contrast the woman I spoke with was sweet, charming, thoughtful and could really not be nicer. Getting that glimpse of Lynskey only made me appreciate her work even more than I already had.
While some viewers are quick to judge Shauna, dismissing her as “crazy” and even giving her unflattering nicknames, on closer analysis there is much more at play when it comes to her descent into rage. Lynskey’s transformation into the character is not just about making her angry or insane, it is about analyzing the pain she has dealt with in the wilderness and even before. She is a damaged human being and while her actions are not very compassionate, perhaps the character deserves some.
The wounds Shauna has never had a chance to heal only fester inside her until they cannot be contained. Lynskey’s work on Yellowjackets is layers on top of layers, with some of them only existing to protect herself and others from the raw pain and grief she has dealt with for decades.
Lynskey discussed the damage done to Shauna’s psyche and much more about Yellowjackets as my guest on TV Topics podcast. The fun and fascinating conversation covered questions about her work on the series, the TV that influenced her life and career, and even had a surprise guest – her husband, the talented Jason Ritter (whom I hope to have on as a guest in the near future.)
The conversation covers a lot of ground and provides some great insight into the actress who disappears into her many roles, covering an array of genres and personas along the way. From Two and a Half Men and Togetherness to Yellowjackets and The Last of Us, Lynskey does an incredible job letting us forget the nice and thoughtful her so she can make us laugh, cry, and cover our eyes – as she did during the much talked about scene she shared with Hilary Swank this season that had Shauna taking a bite out of an old friend. Some things never change.
Below are some highlights of the episode, but I highly recommend listening to it in its entirety. It is a laid back conversation that you will hear nowhere else. Thank you to Melanie (and Jason) for being a spectacular guest.
On playing Shauna’s unapologetic nature:
I have not seen a character like this before. I really appreciate getting to play somebody who’s just kind of unapologetic. As a woman there’s a lot of expectation that comes along – and also the fact that she’s a mother people are very judgmental. Like, ‘Oh she’s a bad mom.’ There are some bad moms in the world a lot of people had kids who probably should not have had kids a lot of people had kids before they had healed their own past traumas – it’s a thing that happens. There’s a strange thing where people seem to want their television characters to be palatable or softer or somebody that you can root for, like morally good. I’ve seen a lot of men like this on television, but I haven’t really seen a woman like this. I love playing her.
On Shauna’s rejection of healing:
She’s been kind of existing in the space of like ‘I don’t think I’ll ever be okay again’ and just so afraid of what that means for the rest of her life of carrying around this trauma and guilt and then I think that’s just become so painful that she just out of necessity has shifted to what if I don’t need to be okay what if I don’t need to heal from it and get better what if that was actually the greatest version of myself because I was definitely surviving a lot better then than I am now.
On Shauna’s impulsive and feral behavior:
She’s always been a person who acts impulsively like she never makes sure she has all the information before she acts she gets some pieces of information she’s incredibly paranoid she pieces things together in her brain she jumps to the worst conclusion and then she acts on that this is who she has established herself to be it’s very unpredictable it’s very dangerous and then I think when she’s triggered it just she becomes kind of feral and I think in that moment there’s it’s like a little bit sexual it’s like very you know needing Melissa to know that she’s dominant.
Her response to the TV Topics question, ‘What primetime show do you remember first loving?’
That’s the first show that I remember being like, I cannot wait for this to come on. I loved it so much. And my parents were kind of like, ‘what is it about this show?’ I was about 10 or 11 or something. And there was just something, I just believed it. I think there was something about really like losing myself in the world. And the actors were so good. And I just, I felt like I was in people’s homes. And I was always like a child who would rather be an observer.
For more of the conversation, listen to the full interview where as she answers and array of questions, from the sentimental to the hypothetical and many in between, she brings up numerous TV series including Six Feet Under, Matlock, The Traitors, I Think You Should Leave, Abbott Elementary and many more. Plus she shares who would win a no holds barred fight between Shauna and her tough as nails character from The Last of Us, Kathleen Coghlan. Who do you think? Find out only on TV Topics.
Watch all of Melanie Lynskey’s work as Shauna on the first three seasons of Yellowjackets on Paramount+. The series was just renewed for season four.
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