Yellowjackets S2 Finale: [SPOILER]'s Final Scene Was Almost Much Darker
Contains spoilers for "Yellowjackets" Season 2, Episode 9 — "Storytelling"
Among numerous plot twists throughout the "Yellowjackets" Season 2 finale, perhaps the most shocking is the unintended murder of adult Natalie (Juliette Lewis) by her self-professed best friend Misty (Christina Ricci) with a syringe full of an unnamed drug likely to be fentanyl. Between the needle's impact and her officially losing consciousness, as one of the "Yellowjacket" Season 2 finale's tragic needle drops plays, Natalie sees herself in a version of the plane that crashed and stranded her teen soccer team in the woods. At first Natalie's alone, before visions of young Lottie (Courtney Eaton), Javi (Luciano Leroux), and even her teenage self (Sophie Thatcher) appear, urging her to willingly cross over to the other side.
In an extensive Hollywood Reporter interview about her role in the season finale, Thatcher described a scene she, Leroux, and Lewis filmed that didn't make the final cut and would have rendered Natalie's plane crash vision much darker. "They cut this out — it went maybe too borderline on creepy — but at the end of that sequence, me and Javi start laughing at her. And the scene ended with her screaming and crying, and us laughing at her. Filming that felt so wrong. And so terrible," she said.
Thatcher went on to share that she ultimately understands its removal, given that their laughter may have undercut Natalie's acceptance of her death, which the final edit ultimately depicts in a calm, albeit somber manner.
Sophie Thatcher had a difficult time filming Natalie's death vision
As she detailed over the course of her Hollywood Reporter interview, Sophie Thatcher had no idea adult Natalie would die in the "Yellowjackets" Season 2 finale until Juliette Lewis confirmed the news to her privately during a press event. Thatcher had developed a meaningful bond with Lewis through their shared work on two versions of the same character, making the process of filming the cut portion of her adult counterpart's death scene particularly hard on her.
"It was a sad day. And I just wanted to give her her space because you're going to such an insane place of terror and screaming and getting there emotionally is hard, especially when my character isn't helping and I'm laughing at her," Thatcher said.
Christina Ricci, notably, was another cast member emotional about Natalie's death in the "Yellowjackets" Season 2 finale. However, whereas Misty is devastated by her role in the incident, allowing Ricci to express her emotions on-camera, Thatcher recounted having to laugh manically on set that day, effectively allowing her no space to send off adult Natalie's character other than in between takes.