Yellowjackets' Melanie Lynskey breaks down that shocking 'skin-peeling' scene
Yellowjackets season 2 spoilers follow.
Yellowjackets certainly isn't short of shocking moments, and the second season of the popular drama is no exception.
The horror series follows a high school girls' soccer team whose plane crashes in the Ontario wilderness on their way to a national tournament in the mid-1990s.
Yellowjackets shows viewers what happened to the teenagers as they struggled to survive in the wilderness, as well as the tales of the survivors who made it back home, where they're battling to come to terms with their dark pasts.
Related: Yellowjackets' season 2 premiere answers a big question about Jackie
The first series of the show hinted at the notion of cannibalism during the students' desperate attempts to survive, but the second season has confirmed it.
A young Shauna led the pack who feasted on Jackie's body, and the actor behind her adult counterpart, Melanie Lynskey, has spoken exclusively to Digital Spy about the shocking plot twist.
Related: The Last of Us and Yellowjackets star Melanie Lynskey announced for new series
"She, this season, has really been playing around with how much she can get away with, and inviting danger – inviting difficult situations," said Lynskey, when we asked about Shauna talking about peeling back people's skin and killing others in a present-day scene.
"Also, I think for Shauna, when somebody underestimates her, when somebody dismisses her, it’s very triggering. She gets very angry about that."
When asked where Shauna's anger comes from, Lynskey replied: "'I think just being somebody who lived in someone else's shadow for a long time. Being somebody who was ignored or told they weren’t good enough or important enough or whatever.
"I think she takes her power back whenever she can."
This season has seen Shauna in a variety of dangerous situations in both timelines. In the past, she is struggling with the death of her best friend, and the impending birth of her baby.
Related: Yellowjackets boss opens up about the show's planned end ahead of season 2
In the present day, she's desperately trying to live a normal life following the death of Adam, who she'd been having an affair with, and her part in covering up what happened.
Lynskey also spoke to us about her character's reasoning behind her sudden need for adrenaline.
"I think it’s because last season, she got kind of a taste of it. You know, she had an affair, and I think she liked how it felt," she said.
"That’s bad to say, but, you know, the danger and the illicit nature of it – there was something that made her feel very alive. She didn’t know what the next day was going to look like."
Yellowjackets season 2 airs on Showtime in the US and Paramount+ in the UK.
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