WARNING: The article contains spoilers for Yellowjackets season 1
Yellowjackets star Ella Purnell defends the actions of her character, comparing what she did to fellow teammate Shauna across the series. Purnell stars as Jackie, the soccer team captain, alongside Sophie Nélisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Sammi Hanratty, Ben Scott, and Jack Depew as the younger 1996 versions of the main cast. After season 1 received huge critical praise, Yellowjackets season 2 was confirmed at Showtime in December 2021.
Divided between 1996 and 2021, Yellowjackets follows a New Jersey high school soccer team forced to survive in the Canadian wilderness after their plane crashes in the earlier timeline, with the series also following the survivors in the present day. Jackie Taylor (Purnell) is the popular and successful captain of the team, who slowly begins to fall apart across Yellowjackets season 1. Following the crash, Jackie struggles to adjust to the new dynamics she and her fellow survivors resort to in order to survive, ultimately resulting in her falling out with them and perishing in the wilderness. Despite Jackie's unfortunate fate and the events leading up to it, Purnell defends her character's actions throughout the series.
Speaking to ET Canada, Purnell opened up about Jackie's arc throughout the series, her fate, and her deteriorating relationship with her Yellowjackets teammates. In the interview, Purnell admitted that Jackie wasn't likable when compared to other Yellowjackets characters, especially as the series revealed more about her true self. However, Purnell insisted that when compared to what Shauna (Nélisse), who is seen as more likable and committed, Jackie had really "done nothing wrong." Check out Purnell's response below.
“Jackie is not the most likable character. But technically speaking, by the finale, she’s done nothing wrong. Whereas Shauna, who is the likable one, has done things wrong.”
Jackie fell out of favor with her teammates for numerous reasons across their ordeal. While she tested her fellow survivor's patience with her lack of survival skills, ultimately, her refusal to accept the other's actions of killing Travis (Kevin Alves) and Shauna's affair with her boyfriend Jeff (Warren Kole) sealed her fate. Yellowjackets creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson discussed Jackie's legacy following the finale, and how Shauna's actions lead to Jackie's death. The pair suggested how not only could Jackie's death would weigh heavily on her former best friend in Yellowjackets season 2, but that her surviving teammates may be forced to do the unthinkable in future seasons, following the show's previous hints towards the group resulting to cannibalism to survive.
Despite straining relationships with all her teammates, especially Shauna, Jackie's fate is one more tragedy on top of Yellowjacket's already bleak events of 1996. Despite their broken bonds, none of her teammates intended to cause her death by the cold environments, and the events would remain with them for many years following as they grapple with what they did to survive. Despite this, many mysteries linger around the late captain, with her movie diary filled with films released after her death. With many more unanswered questions about the once-close camaraderie between the survivors, Jackie Taylor is sure to loom over Yellowjackets going forward.
Source: ET Canada