‘Yellowjackets’ cast reunites for Season 3 finale and reveals which scene made one of them ‘immediately sick’

The cast of Yellowjackets was buzzing as they hit the red carpet to celebrate the Showtime drama's Season 3 finale Thursday night.

After an FYC screening of the episode "Full Circle" held at the TV Academy in North Hollywood, the cast joined a supersized panel moderated by Variety's Emily Longeretta. "No recording!" they instructed the enthusiastic audience, who was privy to some early spoilers and behind-the-scenes chatter.

Due to the large ensemble, the younger cast took the stage first: Sophie Nélisse (Shauna), Jasmin Savoy Brown (Taissa), Sophie Thatcher (Natalie), Samantha Hanratty (Misty), Courtney Eaton (Lottie), and Liv Hewson (Van). They were joined by creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson as well as executive producers Jonathan Lisco and Drew Comins, who remained on stage for both discussions.

The second set of panelists included the present-day cast: Melanie Lynskey (Shauna), Christina Ricci (Misty), Tawny Cypress (Taissa), Hilary Swank (Melissa), Sarah Desjardins (Callie), and Warren Kole (Jeff).

The cast all agreed that one of the season highlights was the addition of Swank. The two-time Oscar winner revealed that she was told very little about her character, Melissa, when Lyle and Nickerson initially approached her. When she asked, "When do we start?" Swank was taken aback when the response was, "Two weeks." The writers also left out that she'd have a piece of her arm bitten off and fed to her by an enraged Shauna.

(L-R) Melanie Lynskey and Hilary Swank (Photo credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Lynskey was "so excited" to hear she got to face off with Swank, but admitted she was a bit apprehensive. "I just hoped that she would be cool," she said with a laugh. "This was a really intense way to start. Half the script was just us talking across a table. The other half was us rolling around the floor in a crazy fight. Thank God it went really well."

The epic fight scene in Episode 8, "A Normal, Boring Life," was a shock to the entire cast. "That was one moment in this entire three seasons that I audibly gasped," Ricci said. "I was immediately sick."

(L-R) Samantha Hanratty and Christina Ricci (Photo credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Lynskey also addressed Shauna's dark turn this season: "It's always been there, it was just hidden under layers of her pretending everything's OK. We had a really good talk at the beginning of the season. [The writers] told me it was going to get very dark for Shauna and I thought, 'It already was.' Yes, taking bites out of people. But it was fun. She's been so invested in keeping things locked up, so it was fun reading the script to see how this version of Shauna was converging with Sophie's version and sort of becoming the same diabolical creature."

(L-R) Sophie Thatcher, Courtney Eaton, Sophie Nélisse (Photo credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Speaking of that diabolical creature, when asked if Shauna's emergence as the Antler Queen surprised her, Thatcher responded, "I knew that Natalie was too good to be the Antler Queen. There was too much humanity within her. You need to be darker. She's dark, but Shauna's evil. She is truly evil."

Nélisse responded, "It's been really fun because every season has been so different. Last season, [Shauna] had gone through so much grief and loss. To be able to convey all of that into anger this season [was gratifying]. There's a lot of dark humor in a lot of the lines. I'm not a method actor so I don't know where all of this rage comes from, I just think, 'What would someone really mean sound like?' And then I replicate that."

(L-R) Tawny Cypress and Jasmin Savoy Brown (Photo credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

The writers were firm that they know where this story is headed next, but they haven't told the cast anything yet. They joked that the two Tais, Cypress and Savoy Brown, hassle them the most for answers, which Lyle chalks up to "Good casting." Hanratty also admitted she's desperate for answers, but the rest of the cast seems content to be surprised. Showtime has not yet confirmed if Yellowjackets will be renewed for Season 4.

(L-R) Warren Kole and Sarah Desjardins (Photo credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

All episodes of Yellowjackets are now streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime.