Yellowjackets editors Kevin D. Ross and Jeff Israel talk to The Contending about working on some of your favorite scenes from Season 3. *Spoilers ahead*
Like the Yellowjackets team themselves, the show’s editors have to work together to survive.
“Each of the four editors is working on their episodes,” says Kevin D. Ross, who cut episodes 1, 5, and 9. “And then as you get farther in, you have to rely on each other to say, ‘Wait, that’s something that came up in my episode.’ We have to address things like that.”
“Like the frog sound was a big one that started in Kevin’s episode,” says Jeff Israel, who cut episodes 3, 7, and 10, “and then ended with Episode 7, and it changed throughout. But I remember it started out quite differently in Episode 1.”
Ross and Israel discuss how they cut some of the most memorable scenes of Yellowjackets Season 3.
Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 1 – “It Girl” Opening Scene
Co-showrunner and co-creator Bart Nickerson directed the first episode of the season as well as the finale.
“We really strive to make that first episode a callback to the pilot,” says Ross. “And I’ve cheated in the sounds of the hoots and the hollers and things that try to make you feel like [Mari] was in jeopardy. And then it has that great payoff where it’s a game, and there’s a great chase. When we when we cut it, we weren’t privy to the season arc. We didn’t know who Pit Girl was at the time.”
“Once Hannah (Ashley Sutton) showed up, everyone thought, oh, it’s going to be Hannah,” says Israel. “Especially when they set up that she dies.”
Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 9 – “How the Story Ends” – Natalie Learns The Plan is Off and Winter is Here
Director Ben Semanoff revealed to The Contending that the script evolved to include a zoom-in on Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) as she learns the revolt against Shauna is off. It ends up being one of the most moving scenes of the season. Ross says that even though there’s not a lot of cutting in this scene, the holding was important.
“I think Sophie nails it,” says Ross. “I love editing her. She is such top-notch talent. And she really brought it on that. So it’s if it’s keeping your interest and the viewer is still with it, I think you can hold indefinitely. And I thought that was the right amount, basically, to hold on that. There isn’t a lot of editing. There’s the cut that’s supposed to be a time passage when she looks up and now the snow is coming down. And then we come back. But I just love the design of it. Just the push in past the girls right into Natalie. It worked.”
Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 9 – “How the Story Ends” – Van Dies
Ross says it’s finding that balance was key for when Melissa (Hilary Swank) stabs Van (Lauren Ambrose).
“I thought that was a nice reveal,” says Ross, “because you’re trying to make it subtle. She’s really actually caressing her. But her hand goes down and grabs the knife.”
Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 10 – “Full Circle” – Pit Girl Reveal
Originally, they weren’t going to use much of the pilot footage to reveal how Mari became Pit Girl.
“We were trying to stay away from it because we were wondering how well it would match up because that was shot five years ago,” says Israel. “We ended up leaning on it and got it and used those dailies, and it worked great. We started out using none of it, and then using a few pops of it. It all matches perfectly.”
Israel says the entire run of Mari taking off and the team chasing her was also a challenge.
“The balance of intercutting and telling all the smaller stories as the ladies are going through the woods and having their own battles, like Melissa and Shauna have their own thing because Melissa attacks her. Trying to keep the proportion up on all of that and to keep it moving, and the final stage of that was really the score that made it work perfectly. Because that had to evolve to the end and then the payoff of Mari. Because it’s nine minutes of score and running and cutting away to the battle.”
Yellowjackets Season 3, Episode 10 – “Full Circle” – Shauna Becomes Antler Queen
Melanie Lynskey’s adult voiceover times the haunting score and costuming equals an incredible denouement following the death of Mari, with the girls adorning Teen Shauna in her queen garb.
“Any time we have voiceover, we often rework it from the script where the lines lay,” says Israel. “Because I think it started out where we’re on Melanie or on a door, Shauna, and then we go to the feast or then we go to them dressing the queen. We have a lot of footage for that. So at that moment, it’s like not overdoing it, but telling the story enough. There’s a lot of jump-cutting. And with that, as it evolves, then it leads to us revealing her as the Antler Queen. And that’s really fun because she says, ‘And I was a fucking queen.’ It hits so hard, but you want to nail the images and do the reveal at the same time.”
Yellowjackets is streaming on Paramount+.
