Director Pete Chatmon reveals what it was like saying goodbye to [Name Redacted] in Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 6 “Thanksgiving (Canada)” and whether there were any hints for that epic twist.
*Spoilers ahead!*
Director Pete Chatmon has been sitting on two big secrets for a while. And if you’ve watched the latest episode of Showtime’s Yellowjackets, you know what they are.
“You make a thing and you don’t know how it’s gonna land,” says Chatmon. “This was the first episode I’ve done where two different executives at Lionsgate reached out and said, ‘Whoa, you really pulled this off.’ I’m excited to see what fans of the show experience because there’s a lot on the plate.”
Boy, is there ever!
Yellowjackets Episode 6 “Thanksgiving (Canada)”
While we’ve experienced a lot of death on this series, Episode 6 might have one of the most emotional climaxes to date. There’s a loss of innocence at play as the girls spiral farther and farther away from their original selves.
“When I read the script, I was really excited [that it was going] to have such a pay-off for the series and the season and these characters. I really wanted to honor that and do something that elevates it. I was also excited about the first time-lapse montage of six weeks of summer into fall. You see the evolution of Ben (Steven Krueger) and his hunger strike and Teen Nat (Sophie Thatcher) of it all. That part was one page, but it took me eight hours to shoot it.”
Watch my full conversation with Chatmon below where we talk about heads on spikes, creating an environment of emotional reality for actors, and his upcoming live podcast of Let’s Shoot! with Pete Chatmon featuring the Yellowjackets cast and crew.