Warning: This post contains spoilers from the first three episodes ofYellowjackets.
What exactly happened in those woods?
And who can be trusted?
Christina Ricci as Misty in ‘Yellowjackets.'.Paul Sarkis/SHOWTIME
EW spoke with Ricci about creating Misty and whether she can be trusted.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: My first reaction to this show was: I love how dark it is.
CHRISTINA RICCI:Yeah.
It’s for all the women who lovedReservoir Dogs.
It’s such a great metaphor for so many other things.
Like, children who go through trauma end up allowing that trauma into their life as adults.
Which is really fascinating to me psychologically.
So it does kind of play with all of that stuff.
What was the process like of working with another actress to build one character?
We discussed how we were playing her.
I saw the pilot and I saw how she was playing her.
It all made sense to me.
But yeah, it went really well.
How do you feel like the plane crash experience shaped Misty as an adult?
The question always with characters is like, well, what is it they’ve always wanted in life?
What is their drive in life?
And we get to see what it is.
It’s like how they always say teenagers are so vulnerable because they want so many things.
So she’s always wanted power and acceptance and social currency.
This culture doesn’t value a woman like this.
No one’s going to give her anything.
That’s not what happens.
So she is destined to repeat that and seek it the rest of her life.
Even the caring for old people, these are people she can control and manipulate and dominate.
They’re dolls to her.
This is a show where I don’t trust anyone, especially not Misty.
It’s very precarious.
Nobody is a safe person.
They all do really horrible things.
They’re not trustworthy.
You wouldn’t be emotionally safe with any of them.
It’s great, because this is a space that was formally only reserved for men.
So it’s really nice.
How much did you know going into it?
Were you able to know the entire arc of your character?
A huge part of it is who your character is.
And then that’s really helpful, because then there are very specific rules you might follow.
You have to come to a conclusion at some point.
The process is really trying to come to your own conclusion.
With a character like Misty, the rules are very important.
So that was a little difficult.
I could watch her road trip with Natalie (Juliette Lewis) for hours.
Probably none of that ever happened to her.
And I think that’s probably why Natalie has such a hard time with her.
Did you have a say in her physical look?
So for me, it was about grounding even her appearance in some sort of reality.
She knows she doesn’t fit in, though.
So it’s that idea that she dresses in an innocuous way, looks as harmless as possible.
She appears so harmless, but then we watch her do some pretty bold things.
Well, I think she’s a person who at her core is someone who wants to be happy.
And Misty doesn’t need anyone to enjoy her life.
And I love people like that.
That’s my favorite.
Those, to me, are survivors.
Yellowjacketsairs Sundays at 10 p.m.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
