SPOILER ALERT!

‘Yellowjackets’ Cast Breaks Down This Week’s Gruesome Hallucinations

Sophie Nélisse (Shauna) and Steven Krueger (Coach Ben) react to Episode 3’s intense manhunt and the creepy hallucination scenes that brought back a fan-favorite cast member.

(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

It can be hard to tell what is real and imagined on Yellowjackets. Communicating with unseen figures and talking to your dead former BFF has become the norm for the survivors of the plane crash, and Season 3 is no different.

A much-needed transition from an unbearable winter to the warmth of spring has mostly improved the mood in the camp in the ’90s-set scenes, but old scores need to be settled. No one knows this more than Shauna Shipman (Sophie Nélisse), who is currently leading a crusade to locate Coach Ben Scott (Steven Krueger). The only remaining adult fled the creepy cabin for sanctuary in a secret cave at the end of Season 2 and is now accused of setting fire to and destroying the main source of shelter.

Ben has seen these girls at their most competitive on the soccer field and their most feral in the woods, so it makes sense that he lives in terror of what they might do next. After briefly holding Mari (Alexa Barajas) hostage, Ben’s worst fears come true when Mari leads the group to where Ben is hiding. But before they locate their coach, the subterranean structure induces some trippy dreams-turned-nightmares. Krueger and Nélisse sat down with The Daily Beast’s Obsessed to talk about shooting these creepy scenes, the return of Jackie (Ella Purnell), and getting back into the actual Canadian wilderness.

While his new abode is underground, Ben spends time foraging in the woods, giving the production a different flavor from winter in Vancouver on a soundstage. “I think it was very refreshing to be able to get back outside in the elements, and there’s a level of realism that I think helps a lot,” says Krueger. For the majority of the first few episodes, Ben avoids most of the adolescent drama, only crossing paths with Mari. “I forgot you guys existed. I thought I was on my own show for a while. ‘This is kind of nice. I can do whatever I want. This is the Steven show,” Krueger jokes.

However, the beautiful and intricate cave set is soon full of mostly vengeful teens looking for Ben. “It was such a tight, confined space, and there were sometimes 12 of us walking through those tunnels. It did get really hectic, cramped, and intense,” says Nélisse. “When everyone brings that full-on energy, it almost feels like it’s real life, and we all start upping each other and panicking for real.”

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The group splits up, with Shauna, Van (Liv Hewson), and Akilah (Nia Sondaya) forming a trio. Quickly, they find themselves alone in a disturbing fantasy. Shauna sees her son as a toddler on the bank of the lake, but she cannot move to reach him. Next, the trio are together again, dressed in their Yellowjackets soccer jerseys in the same classroom setting (“Are you in my dream? Or am I in one of yours?” asks Akilah), with Jackie casually playing with a slap bracelet. Purnell has been busy shooting Fallout and Sweetpea, but she made time to return to see her old castmates. “Having Ella back is always such a treat, and we’re always excited,” says Nélisse.

One benefit of this show is that even with a high body count, the door isn’t completely shut on future guest spots. Plus, the cast encourages any and all ghostly sightings. “It’s nice because when characters die, we’re always like, ‘Come haunt us!’ You know they’ll make an appearance at some point,” says Nélisse.

The shared hallucination turns violent when the bracelet cuts Van’s arm. “That happens sometimes,” says Jackie. But Jackie (who ended up as dinner after she died) throws the quintessential ’90s accessory around Shauna’s throat, causing a deep wound. As blood gushes from her neck, Shauna cannot remove this binding. Nélisse explains it wasn’t too hard to get in the panicked headspace when shooting this distressing sequence: “The emotion is so raw and real because we have limited takes—especially for the bloody stuff because there’s so much VFX—and I was not expecting it to bleed that much. It was a bit overwhelming and felt very, very real.”

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They are not alone in seeing things. Before Mari is freed, she is unsettled to witness Ben conversing with an imagined presence. “It’s a lot of work to figure out, like ‘How are you gonna sell something like this?” says Kreuger. “That’s the stuff that I panic about the most when it comes to just my performance. It’s like, ‘Oh, God, how do I make this look not cheesy, and not fake.’”

For Krueger, scenes like this are all about trusting the writers and the directors: “I think that the way they did it, the way they’re selling the context around those particular moments, it really helped me as an actor.” Previously in Season 2, Ben was chatting up a storm with his boyfriend Paul, but so far, we haven’t seen who or what Ben is currently hallucinating. Either way, Krueger more than sells the delusion.

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At the end of the episode, Ben saves the girls from the poisonous gas that has caused the disturbing dreams featuring dead teammates. But the gun in Ben’s face highlights that he is not about to be hailed a hero, his fate is uncertain. “I thought it was a really cool direction for the story to go and the fact I got to show up, and then all of a sudden it was so adversarial,” says Krueger. “Me versus this pack of rabid young women.”

Emma Fraser

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