Sophie Nélisse Is Still Rooting for Shauna on <i>Yellowjackets</i>

Spoilers below for Yellowjackets.

Despite being an ensemble show, Yellowjackets solidified its main character—and, arguably, its antihero—in season 3: Shauna Shipman Sadecki. The ’90s timeline carefully tracks Teen Shauna’s (Sophie Nélisse) overwhelming grief from the loss of her best friend Jackie (Ella Purnell) and her stillborn baby as it transforms into sadism and cruelty. It ultimately results in her donning the mythical Antler Queen garb in the season finale, “Full Circle,” making her the de facto leader of the group.

Shauna’s anger about her specific circumstances is palpable all season, but her quest for power evolves slowly. She first challenges Natalie’s (Sophie Thatcher) authority when the group is deciding Coach Ben’s fate, believing he burned down their cabin in season 2; she then interferes with their chances at rescue by capturing the frog researchers (guest stars Ashley Sutton and Joel McHale); and later, she encourages the team to hunt one of their own, Mari (Alexa Barajas), as a sacrifice. As she ascends, she begins pushing her allies away—most notably Melissa (Jenna Burgess), her former flame whom she almost fatally shoots in the penultimate episode. A silent opposition led by Natalie takes form and while the team feasts on Mari’s remains in the finale, Natalie makes contact with the outside world, threatening the power Shauna has consolidated this season.

Still, Nélisse has a lot of empathy towards her character. “Shauna just needs to be held and loved and told that it’s going to be okay,” she tells ELLE.com in a phone interview. “I’m a strong believer in [the phrase] ‘hurt people hurt people.’” Ahead, Nélisse breaks down Shauna’s season-long descent into villainy, why Shauna doesn’t want to be rescued, and how she maintains her sanity while inhabiting this dark material.

We had been hinting towards it all season, so I wasn’t that surprised; I was more excited. What is very interesting is that her role as the Antler Queen is very different from Lottie’s version or Natalie’s version. With Lottie, it was her own doing. For Natalie, in that position, she wanted to find a way to rule as peacefully as possible. Shauna is a different kind of ruler, because she’s feared. I don’t think she has the best way of having power over the group, and I think her being in that position is a bit scary because now she’s somewhat unstoppable. So I’m very terrified to see the extent of what she’ll do next season.

It’s been really fun. Shauna has had such a complex and wide arc every season, but what’s interesting is that she’s always been the one that really didn’t believe in anything, especially this higher power or force. By the end, like you said, she’s the representation of someone that is not grounded and that is unhinged, but in a different way. It’s not because she’s now a believer, but rather because she has no sense of morality whatsoever and is so caught up in this life that they’ve created that she can’t decipher the right from the wrong. She’s the most scary by the end because she’s so unpredictable.

I’m a strong believer that “hurt people hurt people.” This show is so beautifully crafted because it shows the complexity and the nuances behind all of the actions. Although Shauna commits really bad things this season, I still root for her because I’ve seen what has brought her to this point. I’ve seen all of the loss, all of the grief, and I know that what she’s doing doesn’t necessarily come from a place of malice, but rather from a place of so much hurt. She’s had too many things to cope with and she has so much pressure on her shoulders, and she needs to find a way to let all of these emotions out. She has no help around her and she’s so isolated that letting all of her anger out on other people seems like the best way. She just doesn’t know any better.

I think it is both. I don’t think her nature is to be cruel, but I definitely do think that there’s a sense of darkness within her. There’s something that’s so dull about her life before the wilderness—and probably what will be her life after the wilderness—and I think she feels a lack of inspiration. It’s not necessarily that she loves to be mean or hurtful, but it’s what makes her feel alive. Transgressing those rules of society and normalcy is what makes her feel alive. I don’t think her intent is ever to be harmful, but rather just to feel something again.

I think it had some realness to it. The way I see Shauna is that she just needs to be held and loved and be told that it’s going to be okay. If the circumstances they found each other in were different, I think that relationship would have probably blossomed into something beautiful because Melissa sees Shauna for who she really is. Shauna can let her guard down around Melissa and be herself truly. That’s what she needs.

I also think that Shauna sees a lot of herself in Melissa, but she carries so much hate towards herself that she’s not able to be loved by anyone. So when everything starts to spiral towards the end of the season, she starts seeing Melissa as a pawn on her chess board and as someone to start toying with in order to get what she wants.

Yeah. Shauna was in a position where she was put on the spot in front of the entire group, which she’s not used to. Her confidence faltered a little and she felt completely out of her comfort zone in front of all these people, and she wanted to find a way to regain a sense of control and fear over the group. I think deep, deep down, she cares about Melissa and doesn’t want her to suffer, but she can’t show that to her or the group. So I definitely think she misses on purpose to instill fear, but I don’t think she ever intentionally wanted to kill Melissa.

Shauna is at such a low point in her life where nothing scares her anymore and she has nothing to lose. At this point, it’s all about the thrill and the game of it, pushing herself and others to an extreme state of mind. At that moment, her natural human instincts are that she doesn’t want to die, but she’s almost not scared of it at the same time. She wants people to feel as bad about themselves as she feels about herself, so when Melissa doesn’t go through with it, she feels disappointed. I think she wants to see people as cruel as she’s been—or as she can be—so when other people don’t live up to the expectations, she’s upset.

The way that I had read [the card dealing scene in the script], Shauna feels like people are ganging up against her and she’s sussing out whether they were plotting to get her killed. Shauna switching the dealing of the cards around is a power move. I think she sees it all as a game, but I don’t think she has a death wish. She is just on adrenaline. Everything that they’ve done has become normal to them. They’re kind of immune to fear at this point—or maybe just Shauna is—because they’ve dealt with so much by this point. This has become their new reality: killing people and hunting each other. They lack fear and she just wants to feel alive and have a thrill. I don’t think she actually wants to die; she’s just not scared anymore.

Shauna feels somewhat proud that this was her doing. She’s so desensitized and doesn’t really see how cruel she’s gotten. A lot of the events in the past were nature unfolding itself, so even though she feels a lot of guilt, I don’t think it was actually her fault. But this is really her own doing, and these are the events that will haunt her the most in the future.

It’s the only place where she’s ever been able to be truly herself. She’s never gotten to experience these sides of herself, or fully feel confident and embrace this darkness. There’s this sense of liberation for her. It’s so thrilling and exciting and she’s terrified of going back to a life of normalcy.

Courtney [Eaton, who plays Teen Lottie] and I live together when we’re shooting in Vancouver, and that has been the most helpful. On our drive from set, we debrief about the day and vent to one another. We have this perfect relationship where we can also both sit on the couch and say absolutely nothing—just being in each other’s presence is comforting in itself. We share so many interests, we love watching the same movies, and we love to cook. We’ll take her dog out for walks and do activities that take our minds off of things, like saunas and pottery. It’s very calming.

It’s very clear where Shauna’s stance lies in terms of whether they should stay or leave. I think she will be mortified about the idea that they’ve made contact with the outside world and that they might get rescued. She’ll feel not only betrayed but also realize that she doesn’t have power over the group the way she thought she did because clearly there was a whole scheme to get Natalie up on that mountain. Her authority is clearly wavering over the group and I think it will put a lot of things into perspective in Shauna’s mind.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.