Yellowjackets is back for season 2, with the premiere episode already available for subscribers to stream before airing tonight on Showtime. The supernatural survival series was the talk of the town last season, even earning some well-deserved Emmy nominations, and all eyes are on the next set of episodes to answer questions that have been brewing for months. Each episode continues cutting between the past, which the survivors spent trapped in the wilderness, and the present, which they spend trying to overcome their trauma.
While the undisputed stars of Yellowjackets are the girls themselves, both as teenagers and as adults, some of them have family members or other loved ones who play important roles in the unfolding story. Shauna (played by Melanie Lynskey as an adult), in particular, saw her husband Jeff (Warren Kole) become an accessory to her murder of Adam in Yellowjackets season 1. In season 2, they must both deal with the fact that their daughter Callie (Sarah Desjardins) is catching onto the secrets they’re keeping.
Screen Rant spoke to Kole about how his onscreen partnership with costar Melanie Lynskey has evolved as Jeff and Shauna grow closer in Yellowjackets season 2, what dimension adding daughter Callie to the murder mystery mix adds, and what he thinks of Shauna’s wilderness baby.
Warren Kole Talks Yellowjackets Season 2
Screen Rant: I know you’ve said that Melanie likes to discover things on set on the day, so has there ever been a scene that was most surprising or exciting to you because of what you discovered on the day?
Warren Kole: The best lesson for me was when we first stepped on set together, because we hadn’t really met. We met on set, and that scene was the role-playing scene in episode 2 in the bedroom. That’s a really intimate scene, and we’re just meeting. I’m just like, “Let’s just lean into the fact these two have been married, but they’re still kind of strangers to each other, and let’s see what happens.”
I was so pleasantly surprised by how generous an actor Melanie is. She’s got this casual confidence; she’s very graceful with her craft and her talent. It’s seemingly very effortless, and whatever process she’s mastered there is very impressive. She helped me a lot, so I knew I had a good playmate and a good scene partner almost immediately. She’s very present and doesn’t like to rehearse, but once she goes, I see why she’s able to just be present there on the day and be alive; to just react and trust her intuition.
That was the first introduction, and she’s continued to do it, which gave me a lot of permission to relax and see how these two naturally get along and what the chemistry is here. And it turned out to be very satisfying.
We learned last season that Jeff is actually pretty ride-or-die for Shauna, but how is he grappling with not only her lies and betrayals but also his own sense of guilt for blackmailing this season?
Warren Kole: I think that the two of them are really familiar with sharing guilt together because of the Jackie situation. I think it was episode 7 last year, where Jeff and Shauna were at Jackie’s parents’ house for this annual party that turns out to be this self-flagellation event. It’s a long line of [emotional] beatings, probably, every time they go there. So, guilt is common ground for the two of them.
When we left them, that’s a whole new ball of wax because they really aired out a lot of their secrets. They’re really revealing themselves to each other, because they’re forced to, and they have to galvanize themselves. They’re seeing each other a little better as they’re clearing the smoke, and maybe partners in crime is an even more honest profile for the two of them to run with.
But I think Jeff is feeling okay with Shauna — better than before. But he’s certainly insecure, and his ego is definitely damaged. She’s clearly unsatisfied by him, and she might be manifesting back into this savage that he only read about in her journals before, which is very stressful. He’s simple enough to be able to shake it off and keep going forward, but I think he feels he’s got to prove himself to be worthy as a man. That he’s worthy as a man who can satisfy Shauna and excite her; who can rescue her and save the day.
Because he certainly wasn’t there in those journal pages that he read. He may have fantasized he was, but he was absent until now. He is here, and now he can be that guy. The question is, are his expectations of himself and the reality of who he is as a man at all in the same ballpark? That’s where it can get really fun.
Speaking of fun, the premiere makes it clear that Callie is going to get mixed up in the dirty dealings of her parents. How’s Jeff going to react to that, and what’s it like working with Sarah Desjardins more?
Warren Kole: Sarah is fantastic. I’m really happy to see her have an expanded role in season 2. She certainly deserves it; she’s great on the screen, and she is very much integral to season 2. She and I are buddies up there, and she was game to build this relationship with me. It almost regresses into that of peers, once the two of them really have to start leaning on each other to try and save their own household.
What would you say has been the biggest difference you noticed going from Yellowjackets season 1 to season 2?
Warren Kole: What’s really good is that it’s a clear vision on the part of the creators. Now that we’ve got a season under our belt, they know where their strengths are, and they can lean into them. They can draft all of these great performances based on what the amazing talent has put forward in season 1. All those performances give each of those individual characters more shape, and now that they get a better sense of the shape, they can lean into that a little bit more.
The vibe is one of confidence. It’s a show that seems very sure of itself, which is a tall order, because it’s so complicated. There’s a lot of storylines, and it’s a mishmash of genre and style that they just really masterfully embroidered. When you’re filming, it’s like, “This is two or three shows that we’re shooting. Is this going to work?” They prove that it totally can work in a real, singular, unique experience. I think it’s going to be everything it was in season 1, but even more confident and more powerful.
Everyone knows that Callie can’t be Shauna’s wilderness baby. I know you are not going share with the class just like that, but let me ask: do you know what became of Shauna’s baby, and do you think Jeff knows?
Warren Kole: This is when being an actor on a show can be daunting. I let the writers know early on, “You don’t have to tell me everything. But if Jeff knows it, I’d like to know it.” Because there’s so much mystery, and that’s great. There’s a lot of tension in that. But you can get surprised when you’re playing it one way, and it turns out you didn’t know that all along.
I think that Jeff knows. I think that Jeff could pull just about everything out of those journals that we’re watching as an audience. She was probably pretty detailed with those journals. She keeps them in a safe; they’re her prized possessions, and all of her dark secrets are in there. And that implies a lot about him too; the fact that once that’s revealed, this guy is still fiercely loyal and emotionally in love with Shauna.
Is that how you always approach things like character backstories and mystery boxes?
Warren Kole: That’s always how I approach it. Sometimes, you will read the script, and they’ve already laid it out. It’s like, “I didn’t need to know that.” I prefer to keep it fun and spontaneous. No matter how much you work on it, and how much work you do as an actor, sometimes just knowing can affect your performance. Maybe I’m a little simpler as an actor than others, but what I don’t know can’t hurt me! I can’t play the ending or ruin the story that way.
On another note, you were in The Avengers many moons ago. But did you actually play Galaga Guy?
Warren Kole: I need to put this to rest once and for all. I was in The Avengers. I was there for about a week , and it was great. I was asked to do it, I said, “Of course,” and it was a really cool experience. I had a couple of scenes there, but I was not the guy on the Galaga! I don’t know if the fans want to hear that or not, but this poor actor out here was pouring his heart out playing Galaga onscreen, and he’s getting robbed.
Maybe we should get you back in the MCU to play your own defining game.
Warren Kole: Maybe I will.
You have been in the industry for two decades now, though. As an actor, what are the changes in the industry that you’ve observed with the most pride or surprise?
Warren Kole: Boy, how do I not stir up any trouble answering that question? I don’t know if I’d use the word proud, but I think it’s really exciting that the television terrain is changing from when I started. It’s bigger. The talent is really better than ever. If you go back to the ’80s and ’90s and look at television shows and the crop of talent, it’s top-notch right now. There’s a lot of content out there, and there’s a lot of opportunities.
The other side of that coin, though, is that it’s tough to get recognized. You could have a really good show out there, but no one knows about it. Yellowjackets was really fortunate to be able to rise through all of that noise to get an audience and get some recognition. That’s tricky. I think certain media might need to catch up to make sure writers and creatives, actors included, are getting their fair shake. Hopefully, that will happen, and everyone can participate in ways proportionate to the roles that they play in creating content.
Finally, you also do voiceover work and motion capture, especially for video games. What is your favorite thing about video game performances?
Warren Kole: Video game work is really cool. I think the technology is what drew me in. I didn’t know anything about it, but I brought it up and just started asking to go in and work on video games. I don’t know if you’ve seen some of these workspaces, or the outfits that the performers wear, but it’s really intense in terms of technology. You could take someone from 35 years ago and plop them in one of those studios, and they’d be like, “What kind of sorcery am I looking at?”
It’s like theater in the round. There’s none of the pretense or the pomp and circumstance that can come with television and film. You’re going in there, you’ve got a vision, you’ve got a story you want to tell, everybody’s on board, and you put on a play. You don’t have to worry about where the cameras are or about resetting them, you just go. That’s kind of freeing. It scratches an itch that you might not be able to scratch doing a lot of television. And then you get this product that you can play! It’s so nuts and bolts when you’re doing it, and then you see the finished product, and it’s a mind-melting extravaganza.
About Yellowjackets
Equal parts survival epic, psychological horror story and coming-of-age drama, “Yellowjackets” is the saga of a team of wildly talented high school girls soccer players who become the (un)lucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the remote northern wilderness. The series chronicles their descent from a complicated but thriving team to savage clans, while also tracking the lives they’ve attempted to piece back together nearly 25 years later, proving that the past is never really past and what began out in the wilderness is far from over.
Yellowjackets season 2, episode 1 is currently available to stream on Showtime Anytime and will officially air at 9pm ET.
