Earlier this year, married couple Melanie Lynskey and Jason Ritter worked together on the five episode Hulu mini-series Candy (read our review HERE), where Lynskey played one of the lead characters and Ritter appeared in two episodes as a police officer. Now Variety reports that they’ll be sharing the screen again in the Showtime series Yellowjackets, as Ritter will be making a guest appearance in one episode of Yellowjackets season 2.
On Yellowjackets, Lynskey plays the adult version of the character Shauna, who is played as teenager by Sophie Nelisse. Variety didn’t reveal who Ritter will be playing on the show.
Christina Ricci and Juliette Lewis star in Yellowjackets, which is is described as “equal parts survival epic, horror story, and coming-of-age drama.” The story centers on a team of wildly talented high school girls soccer players who become the (un)lucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the Ontario wilderness. The series will chronicle their descent from a complicated but thriving team to warring, cannibalistic clans, while also tracking the lives they’ve attempted to piece back together nearly 25 years later, proving that the past is never really past and what began out in the wilderness is far from over.
Created, written, executive produced by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson (who serve as showrunners alongside executive producer Jonathan Lisco), the series also stars Tawny Cypress, Ella Purnell, Sammi Hanratty, Sophie Thatcher, Steven Krueger, Amy Okuda, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Liv Hewson, and Courtney Eaton.
New cast additions in Yellowjackets season 2 will include Lauren Ambrose (Servant), Simone Kessell (Obi-Wan Kenobi), and Elijah Wood (the Lord of the Rings trilogy).
Ricci and Hanratty play the present and teenage versions of Misty, “the Yellowjackets’ equipment manager. Eager to please and easy to overlook, Misty’s abundance of team spirit belies a hidden dark side.” Lewis plays the present day version of a character named Natalie, with Sophie Thatcher playing the teenage Natalie. “Despite her natural talent, Natalie’s punk rock spirit and habit of finding trouble make her the unlikeliest member of the team. As an adult, Natalie struggles to quiet the demons that still haunt her from her time in the wilderness.” Purnell’s character is Jackie, “the Yellowjackets’ magnetically charismatic, effortlessly popular, occasionally entitled team captain.” Lynskey and Nelisse are the present and teen versions of a character named Shauna. “25 years later, Shauna is on a mission to reclaim her agency — her life — while doing everything in her power to keep her darkest secrets safe.” Krueger plays Ben Scott, “the assistant coach and the object of many an unrequited crush.” Okuda is Cat Wheeler, “a history teacher recruited to bolster the female presence on the coaching staff, despite knowing literally nothing about soccer.” Cypress and Brown are both playing the character Taissa, “the star player on the Yellowjackets squad; now, 25 years later, her political ambitions threaten to derail the survivors’ pact of secrecy.” Hewson and Ambrose play Yellowjackets team member Van. Eaton and Kessell play team member Lottie, who was forced to go off her anti-psychotic medication after the plane crash. And Wood will be playing a dedicated Citizen Detective.
Ritter has over 100 screen acting credits to his name, but for a lot of viewers he’s best remembered for getting stuck in between two horror icons in the slasher crossover Freddy vs. Jason. Lynskey had this to say about working with her husband: “He’s such a wonderful actor and a really nice person. When I came back to work, everyone was like, ‘Your husband is the nicest person!’ It makes me look smart, like I chose a great partner. He’s so good, and it’s really fun to get to work with somebody who is creative and interesting and does something different every take, which is what he does. He’s also so good at improv. It’s hard though because we try to support each other when the other one’s working. If we both were working on something full time, that would be tough. I already feel like our nanny is working so hard when I’m at work!“
Are you looking forward to seeing Jason Ritter show up in Yellowjackets season 2? Let us know by leaving a comment below. The season won’t begin airing until March 26th (or you can catch it streaming and On Demand two days earlier, on March 24th), but Showtime has already ordered season 3.