Five awesome new school scream queens (and five old school)
By Carla Davis
Moving on to “new school” Scream Queens, let’s start with a bit of a cheat: the main female cast of Yellowjackets. Season two of the addictive horror series has just rolled out on Showtime, and fans have been chomping at the bit to see what is going to happen to those teen soccer players who survived a plane crash.
Season one introduced us to the teen and adult versions of our main group, and Showtime did an excellent job casting these actresses. The resemblances are uncanny, and the younger cast emulates their older counterparts perfectly.
The story begins in 1996, when a high school girls’ soccer team travels by plane for a tournament in Seattle. Their plane crashes, and the survivors end up trapped in the wilderness for nearly two years.
From there, we skip back and forth between 1996 and 2021, where the surviving girls are now adults living with the trauma from that time. It’s heavily insinuated (and confirmed in season two) that the survivors had to resort to cannibalism to stay alive.
Melanie Lynskey and Sophie Nelisse play the shifty Shauna, who was supposed to be popular Jackie’s best friend in high school. But the seemingly sweet Shauna was actually sleeping with Jackie’s boyfriend Jeff.
Tawny Cypress and Jasmin Savoy Brown (Scream VI) appear as Taissa, who was so determined to win the soccer tournament that she purposely injured an untalented player. As an adult, Taissa is married to a woman, and they share a troubled son.
Ella Purnell plays Jackie, the popular girl who pretty much leads the Yellowjackets’ soccer team. But once the group is stranded in the wilderness, she struggles to hang on to her role as leader, and has hostile relationships with the other girls.
Christina Riccie and Sammi Hanratty get the great pleasure of playing Misty. Meek and pretty much bullied by the players, Misty didn’t even play on the team, she was the equipment manager. Oh, and she is also very weird. As an adult, she is a somewhat frightening nurse.
Juliette Lewis and Sophie Thatcher play Natalie, who regularly abused drugs and alcohol when in school. Though she seems strong and touch, the adult Natalie is trying to get (and stay) sober.
Coutney Eaton is Lottie, who starts to have frightening visions after the crash. As it turns out, Lottie is schizophrenic, and uh-oh! She doesn’t have enough medication to get her through the 19 months the group is stuck after the plane crash.
Liv Hewson is the tough and funny Van, the Yellowjackets’ goalkeeper and Taissa’s girlfriend. Though she suffers a horrific injury, she manages to stay resilient.
There is not a weak actress in this bunch, so the Yellowjackets are all Scream Queens.