The Contending talks to Samantha Hanratty about Misty’s first kiss, Yellowjackets Season 3 finale versus the pilot, and her character’s alternative path as a lawyer.
Just before filming for Yellowjackets Season 3 started, Samantha Hanratty found out she was pregnant with her first child.
“Being pregnant while running through the forest and screaming and doing all of the things was wild,” says Hanratty. “Some of it was good because it got out that pregnancy rage, but then the other parts, there definitely came a time when I said, ‘Hey guys, I’m entering my third trimester. I don’t think I can enter the woods at night with my dark contacts I can hardly see out of.'”
Luckily, Hanratty’s Teen Misty got to flex her mock trial muscles instead of her running ones this season when she served as Coach Ben’s (Steven Krueger) lawyer in the girls’ case against him and whether he burned down their cabin. Did the experience of losing her one and only case ruin a budding law career?
“I think she should have won the case obviously. I honestly think she would be a great lawyer but would have punished people if she wouldn’t have won, which would have not made her a great lawyer. She knows not to get too involved with law enforcement. It probably wouldn’t have been the safest bet for her. Keeping it lower key is better for her.”
A fan-fiction spin-off we can all dream about!
Misty’s First Kiss Yellowjackets
When Coach Ben ultimately dies at the hands of a mercy killing by Teen Natalie (Sophie Thatcher), Teen Misty is devastated, resulting in a creeptacular kiss between her. . .and a dead Coach Ben.
“With the kiss, I found it at the time to be a sweet thing and not a sexual thing at all. It was purely a goodbye. I think she always hoped her kiss would be Ben, so I do think part of her took the opportunity. For me, it was very sad and very heartbreaking. As Samantha, it was also very sad because I lost an incredible scene partner that I’ve been able to do so many amazing things with. And when I say amazing, I obviously mean crazy things! I’ve never taken somebody’s leg off before on a show. Or in real life!”
So was Misty’s first kiss Yellowjackets’ Coach Ben?
“Yes, absolutely. As long as we’re not talking about animals or a smooch with a pup. This was her first kiss for sure.”
Is the Yellowjackets Pilot Through Shauna’s Eyes?
Hanratty had the distinction of being the only main cast member featured in the pilot episode (the rest were stunt performers), so it was a weird experience for her to refilm bits of it with the cast for the Season 3 finale, “Full Circle.” Like so many fans, she, too, thought Lottie was going to be Antler Queen.
“There were things I really did not know at all. There were so many things in the pilot that were completely different. In the Season 3 finale, there’s so much sadness going on because of Mari. Hopefully the audience
picked up on the fact that they sat there for hours from night to morning before going back to camp with nobody talking. I think it was this moment of processing and disassociating from what is happening.”
Many Yellowjackets fans speculate that the pilot’s cold open, with the girls chasing Pit Girl and Teen Misty’s sinister smile, was through adult Shauna’s (Melanie Lynskey) point of view and memory of the event. Hanratty agrees.
“That’s how I personally view it, especially because of what Melanie says about how much fun they were having. And then you see all of us, and we’re not having fun. In the pilot, it was more fun. It’s this hunt that’s in all of us. When in reality, I think Shauna was really the only one who was hunting there. I think Taissa was to a degree, but for the most part, it was to appease what was happening with Shauna.”
Even though she admits there’s certainly a degree of feral madness that emerges when they hunt. She doesn’t know what would have happened if they had caught Natalie in Season 2.
“With Misty, I’m always questioning it. There’s a scene where I scream and run with an axe. I really don’t know what she’d actually done had it come time. There’s peer pressure and this group mentality. Even though with Mari, nobody stopped and was like, no we’re not going to do this. They all went with it.”
Yellowjackets Season 4 and Fan Theories
At the time of this interview, Yellowjackets has not received a Season 4 renewal yet. However, Hanratty looks forward to concluding this story as it heads toward rescue.
“I love the beginning of the story and the middle. We’re in the middle right now, and I want to have that bookending. People keep discussing this final girl thing, and I’m so curious. Is it going to be girls (plural)? Now that you have all seen this season, I know nothing passed this. That’s why I’m so interested in fan theories. My TV show is scrolling.”
Yellowjackets is streaming on Paramount+.
