Riverdale and Night Agent alum Sarah Desjardins says her Yellowjackets character Callie is trying to figure out what kind of person she is as her mom Shauna's shocking secret past is revealed.
Now in its third season, the series follows members of a high school soccer team who survive a place crash, but turn to murder and cannibalism in the Canadian wilderness when they are teens in the 1990s.
Melanie Lynskey plays Shauna, the adult version of one of the athletes, who seems like a normal suburban New Jersey wife and mom until her past comes back to haunt her, prompting her to be more candid with Callie and Callie's father Jeff (Warren Kole).
"Season 2 was about being more curious and trying to understand her mom more," Desjardins told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
"That's definitely still an aspect, very much so in Season 3, but in Season 3, it's turning a bit more inward and Callie's really just trying to understand herself and what's going on and what has happened to her mom, so she can better understand herself.""Nature vs. nurture" is an important theme in Yellowjackets, the actress noted.
"At the end of Season 2, we're kind of hinting at Callie herself is questioning: 'Am I like my mom? How much am I like my mom? How does Callie feel about that?'" Desjardins said.
The family dynamics shift as Shauna becomes more honest, vulnerable and unhinged, driving her closer to Jeff, the well-meaning owner of a furniture store, who is unsure of how to save his family.
"At the beginning of Season 3, it becomes more apparent to Callie that my parents are just like: 'Everything's going back to normal. Everything's fine,'" Desjardins said.
"And Callie's just like: 'What? we can't do that!' Callie is a bit more of a voice of reason, a driving force to confronting reality and kind of has to mature and become more of an adult this season."
Kole agreed with Desjardins' analysis of the Sadecki family friction.
"Going into Season 3, I think Jeff is still trying to hang on or get back to the insulated, provincial normality that he's comfortable with," Kole said.
The trio's reactions to each other's decisions also make for some pitch-black comedy.
"That might have been something that got discovered as we went along," Kole recalled.
"There's a lot of potential and sort of this kinetic energy that's available for humor," he said. "I know Melanie's got wonderful comic taste and I was certainly willing to play along with that and encourage it because I'm a goofball."
Desjardins added, "Both of you definitely encourage me to play a lot more and experiment with that side of it, which is really fun."
"The timing has always been there with the three of us," Kole continued. "As Callie asserts herself more and explores the shadows of herself a little bit more, it's funny. It's tragic, but the stakes are high... so why not throw a little bit of humor in there?"
Since Shauna and her friends Misty (Christina Ricci), Taissa (Tawny Cypress) and Van (Lauren Ambrose) are navigating extraordinary circumstances that are definitely illegal and could be supernatural, ordinary folk like Callie and Jeff are the characters that resonate with many viewers.
"The Sadeckis aren't exactly the Gambinos," Kole joked about how out of their depth this father and daughter are.
"Things aren't exactly clear-cut over there in Sadecki world," Desjardins added.
The show is also streaming on Paramount+
