‘Yellowjackets’ Star Courtney Eaton Teases Season 3 Character Deaths: “We Bawled Our Eyes Out”

Yellowjackets star Courtney Eaton is closer than ever to cracking the curious case of Charlotte “Lottie” Matthews. 

Now that the third season of Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson’s hit survival drama is in the can, Eaton has a firmer handle on the many questions that the series has raised about Lottie. Is she clairvoyant? Is she uniquely connected to the mysterious power in the wilderness? Or is it all a result of her now-unmedicated mental illness being compounded by the immeasurable trauma that she and her Yellowjackets teammates have endured following their plane crash in the most remote corner of the Canadian wilderness?

Admittedly, the Australian native has always struggled to offer explanations to the press, dually because she didn’t know the actual answers yet herself and she also didn’t want her interpretation to take away from the audience’s own theories. But season three has only underscored the gut feeling she’s long had about her character.

“Deep down, I’ve always known which way Lottie leans; I don’t want to give it away. But this year definitely cemented it more toward the way that I lean,” Eaton tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I feel like I always piss people off when I can’t answer those questions.”

Whether it was Ella Purnell’s Jackie in season one or Juliette Lewis’ Adult Natalie in season two, Yellowjackets is known for its gut-wrenching character deaths that routinely shake up the status quo. The cast and crew cope with such losses by hosting “funeral parties” for each outgoing actor, and Eaton is already making it known that season three has a lot more heartbreak in store.

“There’s a really hard one this season. I won’t say who, but Sophie Nélisse and I, we bawled our eyes out. They’re never easy,” Eaton shares. “We try to have fun by covering the sadness with a party and funeral-themed decor and being morbid by having everyone dressing in black. But every time someone leaves Yellowjackets, you can really feel it. So I don’t want to say who has hit me hardest, but there are some hard ones this year.”

Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Eaton also previews Lottie’s season-three role now that she’s no longer in a leadership position following season two’s finale. Then she reflects on her film roles in George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, as well as Brittany Snow’s 2023 indie gem, Parachute. 

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You shot the Yellowjackets pilot in 2019. Following the series’ pick up, COVID delayed production on season one for another 18 months. Season three was then delayed by the strikes in 2023. Thus, a lot of time has passed since the cast first met each other. Can you recognize how much you’ve all changed as people in that time? 

It’s funny because we have probably changed more as people than we have physically. We’ve known each other for over five years now; we know everyone’s ins and outs and what people need from each other and how people like to work. It’s like a fully functioning little family. People are married now and have kids, so we’ve definitely grown a lot. 

I suppose Mad Max: Fury Road gave you a preview of working with a predominantly female cast, but Sophie Thatcher once told me that all the female energy makes for a pretty chaotic set. Is that still the case? 

Yeah, I would say so. Our characters bleed into us. We were cast for a reason, and that’s very evident when you’re on set. It just brings some juiciness. It’s fun. 

Overall, how much did season three compare to the experience on the first two seasons? 

Season three might’ve been my favorite season to film so far. We’ve spent so much time with our characters now, and we had some new exciting directors. Bart [Nickerson], the show’s co-creator, also got to direct this year, so it just felt like everyone was having fun. During the second season, everyone felt this immense pressure to meet the first season. But this current season, everyone was like, “You know what? We’re just going to do what we want to do. We know how it works.” So it’s like a well-running machine now, and it felt really good.

Was everybody glad to have the cabin in the rear-view? 

Yes! Steven [Krueger], Sophie Nélisse and I designed a deck of cards that says, “Fuck this cabin,” on it, and we gave them to the crew as a wrap present. Everyone was just very over that cabin, and it was cathartic watching it burn down. But I missed it slightly [in season three], I must say.

Currently, what percentage of the exteriors are shot on stage versus on location?

I would say it’s 95 percent on location. We went back to how we shot the first season, which brings its own magic. We shot at this paintball field or forest, and once you start filming there at 2 a.m., it has its own magic and creepiness. There’s howling and the wind is speaking, so it felt really nice to be out there this year. Season two [on stage] was definitely a fun challenge, especially with the snow and having to add another element to our acting and being like, “Okay, we’re freezing. We’ve been stuck in this cabin for however long.” But I personally loved being out on location this season. Throw me in a lake anytime. (Laughs)

You could’ve been a series regular in season one, but you opted to be recurring due to some nervousness over a long-term commitment. Of course, you didn’t know there’d be a season two at that time. But when the show became a smash hit, were you worried that you’d put your spot on this popular show at risk? 

Yes, it was hard because I knew the murmurings of what Lottie was going to become once we started filming season one. And as we went into season two, I was like, “Oh, they really could just recast me.” But there’s always been an understanding, and I love [co-creator] Ashley [Lyle], Bart and [producer] Drew [Comins]. I can’t thank them enough. As an actor, it’s really daunting to sign your life away for however many years on a show. You don’t know where the character is going to go and if they’ll still resonate with you five years into it. Luckily, Lottie is a character that I am excited to come back to and dive deeper into every year, and that’s just because our writers and creators are so hungry for it, too. But, yes, there was a time that I was really scared about not getting to come back, and that was my own fault.

There’s been many ongoing questions about Lottie: Is she gifted? Is she truly connected to this power in the wilderness? Or is it all a byproduct of trauma, starvation and schizophrenia? You didn’t know the answers throughout the first two seasons, but do you now have a clearer picture? 

Yes, deep down, I’ve always known which way Lottie leans; I don’t want to give it away. The magic in Lottie is that she is the one that walks the line, and while people want to know the answer, I don’t think they really want to know my answer of what I think Lottie is. But this year definitely cemented it more toward the way that I lean. I’m more of an intuitive actor. I don’t really plan too much ahead, especially with Lottie. We’re very in tune that way. But there are times where she swings another way and I’m like, “Oh, this actually does make sense and goes against what I thought.” We’re still very similar. But I feel like I always piss people off when I can’t answer those questions.

I’m a big fan of letting the mystery be, so I don’t mind if we never receive clarity. But I also know that the majority of fans want those answers.

It’s more fun to come up with your own answer or interpretation. Once something gets put into a box, you can’t take it out of that box and you can’t see past it. That’s why I find it fun to keep it to myself. I also don’t commit hardcore to one side, because then I don’t get to see the full magic of where it could go.

To start season three, Lottie is no longer in a leadership position, having given it up at the end of season two. She’s lurking in the background as a type of consultant or recruiter. Is that a fair preview of Lottie’s role starting out? 

Yeah, Lottie struggled a lot with having power, and it might not have always seemed like she struggled with having power. But she’s so conscious of wanting the best for people, and as someone who doesn’t trust herself, how could anyone else trust her if she doesn’t know which direction she’s going? So that’s how she looks at it, and she intentionally takes a big step back going into season three. She is isolating herself from the group. She’s not doing it in an unhealthy way, but just knowing what has gone down when she’s doing her thing, maybe it’s better to just let the others decide their fate.

The end of season three’s third episode is bonkers in classic Yellowjackets fashion. What was your reaction upon reading it? 

We were all really excited because [co-showrunner] Jonathan Lisco was going to direct that episode, and it just goes bonkers like you said. That episode just made me hungrier for what was to come. I remember talking to Jonathan during prep for that episode, and he gave me some tidbits of what was going to come. Normally, we don’t get any of that. We have to figure it out along the way or until we get a script, and I was so excited.

Simone Kessell was cast as Adult Lottie in season two, so she probably studied your performance. Have you noticed anything specific that she likely adopted from your take on the character? 

I didn’t really have much to do with the costume choices in the pilot. But by setting Lottie up as rich, I can see how Simone implements that into older Lottie. She reverts back to her younger self. 

It’s hard because a lot of people on Yellowjackets have this experience where we talk about everything but the characters with our “olders.” We’ll instead have dinner and catch up and have a drink. Casting did such a good job. The thread that ties each actor together makes sense when you see them in the different timelines, and Simone does her own magic with Lottie. That’s the only way you can really do it.

“Funeral parties” are hosted for departed cast members. They’re all tough, I’m sure, but was there one that was especially hard? 

There’s a really hard one this season. I won’t say who, but Sophie Nélisse and I, we bawled our eyes out. They’re never easy. We try to have fun by covering the sadness with a party and funeral-themed decor and being morbid by having everyone dressing in black. But every time someone leaves Yellowjackets, you can really feel it. It’s as if we were really in the wilderness and we’re now missing that teammate. Truly, when we’re all together, there’s such a team dynamic. After Jane’s [Widdop] character [Laura Lee] passed away, we were like, “We miss them in the tent.” We missed their dynamic on set and the things that they would bring out in us. So I don’t want to say who has hit me hardest, but there are some hard ones this year.

There are some famous method actors who have starved and dehydrated themselves to portray a character in those circumstances. Do any of your castmates go to those extreme lengths? 

No, at the beginning of the series, we had a talk with Bart and Ashley about how far they wanted us to take it. Honestly, if that’s what people are paying attention to, then I think we aren’t doing our jobs well enough. But I will say that Steven Krueger was very much committed to his disheveled look this year. He had a full beard, he lost a lot of weight and it really did play into how fragile Coach Scott comes across. Everyone has their own little tricks of getting into that mindset, but I don’t think we have anyone on set that goes full method. If you’re going full method on Yellowjackets, I don’t know how you’d do that. (Laughs)

Shifting gears, I love movies or shows about the making of famous films, and I think it’s a foregone conclusion that someone will dramatize the behind-the-scenes story of Mad Max: Fury Road someday. Do you expect this to happen on screen at some point? 

It’s possible. Because there’s already been the book, my brain has kind of let that go, but it would be really interesting. Looking back on it, I’m not sure I will ever have an experience like that again, in a positive way and in a crazy way. George Miller is an incredible person, and to slightly see the inside of the mind of someone who made completely opposite movies in Happy Feet and Mad Max would be cool and insightful. He’s like a big teddy bear. He’s so kind and sweet. So I do think it would be really cool to see how Mad Max: Fury Road came together. They had such a struggle with getting it up on its feet due to the floods [in Broken Hill, Australia, moving production to Namibia in Southwest Africa]. There was a lot going on in that movie. (Laughs)

If they were to cast a behind-the-scenes movie or show right now, who would you want to play you/Cheedo the Fragile?

Oh my god … [Eaton ponders].

Riley Keough told THR that she would want Odessa Young to play her in a biopic, so I’m assuming she’d also nominate her to play her/Capable in a movie about Fury Road.

Oh, I could see that! [Eaton continues to ponder]

It’s an impossible question because you were a teenager at the time, so it doesn’t have to be an exact one-to-one comparison. This is just a fun hypothetical. 

It’s really hard. Who played Joan Baez [in A Complete Unknown]?

Monica Barbaro.

I’ll take her! 

Like you mentioned, the drama on that set has been well documented, and as your first movie, it must’ve been quite the trial by fire. Did you ever turn to one of your more experienced castmates and ask, “Is every set like this?” 

(Laughs) You know what? No, and I think it’s because I’d had experience with that growing up. It almost felt like I was meant to be there, even though the acting side was completely unknown to me. I got told to stand on my mark, and I had no idea what that meant in the workings of any set. But I was really lucky to have the other girls, like Riley and Abbey [Lee]. They guided me through, and I was just so hungry to soak everything in. 

I think you can see why people got on people’s nerves or how the story [on screen] bled into people as well. But I didn’t take it at face value and think, “Oh, this person is that way.” I just found it interesting.

When you saw Furiosa last year, did you experience some very intense flashbacks whenever there was a shot inside the war rig? 

Well, I wasn’t going to watch Furiosa. There was something in me, saying, “Maybe we don’t need to watch this just now.” But everyone kept texting me, “You’re in the end.” And I was like, “Okay, I have to watch a bit of it.” [Writer’s Note: Immortan Joe’s wives, including Eaton’s Cheedo, are portrayed by stand-ins in silhouette, while the closing credits include highlights from Fury Road.] 

So I did have flashbacks, but honestly, I wouldn’t change anything for the world. I’m really proud of that experience, and I would go back and do it again with George. I’d put myself back in that crazy world because it was just so interesting.

I thought Anya Taylor-Joy was great in the part, but I still feel for Charlize Theron, because she once told me how “heartbreaking” the recasting situation was for her. To create such an iconic character and not reprise her in some way, shape or form is almost unprecedented.  

I know. Charlize is so in the bones of Furiosa. I also think Anya did an incredible job, but I would just die to see Charlize’s version of that. I just know it would be incredible.

Nick Hoult told me that he’d already read a version of Furiosa during the making of Fury Road. Did you already know the majority of that story as well?

No, I don’t even think I got [any] script before I left [for filming]. I had no idea about the Mad Max world, so much so that I thought I was doing Mad Men. (Laughs) My dad had to sit me down and be like, “No, no, no. This is an Australian cult classic. You need to know what you’re talking about if you’re going to do this.” So, no, I didn’t really have much background on it at all, and I really went into the film blind, both story-wise and the whole Mad Max world-wise.

At what point into production did you confess your Skins fandom to Nick?

(Laughs) I freaking love Skins. I’m a hardcore Skins fan, but I don’t think I ever did. In Australia, it’s a giant show, and I guess it’s the equivalent of Euphoria nowadays. But I’m sure he could tell, because I was 15 or 16, and shy. Nick is the sweetest, and he just felt really down to earth and chill. So I was like, “Okay, it would be weird if I bring this up. You want to be friends.”

I watched Brittany Snow’s Parachute last night, and I heard your song “Growing Pains” in the credits. I thought the lyrics were quite clever. 

Thanks, I forgot I did that [song]. (Laughs)

Do you have any more music on the horizon? 

It’s a tough one. I have a whole EP that’s recorded. I’ve always gravitated towards music since I was young, and it’s a good way to express myself. But I am so brutally honest in my songs. I’m surprised I let myself [release “Growing Pains”]. I had been sitting on “Growing Pains” since I was 18 or 19. So I can just tell how naked I’ll feel if I put the EP out, but maybe I just need to get over that and do it. I haven’t decided yet.

Was your character, Riley, difficult to rinse off at the end of each day? 

Riley was a tough one. It’s funny you ask because I was thinking about her today. She was the brainchild of Brittany and I, and she was a big lesson for me. I can see her reflection in myself even now. I’ll be like, “Oh, I have learned from that,” or, “I haven’t learned from this and I’m having a Riley moment.” But I don’t think I ever thought that I would be ballsy enough to commit to that and be healthy while doing it. So I’m really proud of that film. [Writer’s Note: Parachute is about a young woman who struggles to reintegrate into her day-to-day life after seeking treatment for a complex eating disorder.]

After watching it, I became a little apprehensive about asking the Yellowjackets method question. Perhaps eating disorders of any kind shouldn’t be talked about so flippantly. 

No, you’re fine. The good thing about Bart and Ashley is that they were like, “We’re never going to ask you to become uncomfortable or bring pain on yourselves. It’s not that serious, but it’s serious.”

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Yellowjackets season three streams the first two episodes on Feb. 14 on Paramount+ and Feb. 16 on Showtime, followed by a weekly release.