‘Yellowjackets’ Director Karyn Kusama on How the Showtime Drama Depicts the “Hell We Put Each Other Through” as Women

Karyn Kusama is one of many executive producers on Showtime’s blockbuster dual-timeline drama about the survivors of a plane crash, but she also has a very singular connection to the series: She directed both the pilot and the most recent season finale. Two years ago, she was tasked with introducing the world to the group of teenagers and their present-day adult counterparts, laying the groundwork for a show full of pathos, mystery and needle drops; this year, she shepherded the death of a beloved character (played by Juliette Lewis). She called THR fresh from a much-needed summer vacation to discuss some select season two moments and what she’d like to see for the future of Yellowjackets.

Today you’re representing the show, and its creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson are striking along with their fellow WGA members. I’m curious what is top of mind for you right now with regard to this process?

Longevity and sustainability, even on a really micro and personal level, is something a lot of us are thinking about. I’ve personally been thinking a lot about to what degree will I tolerate a dysfunctional work environment going forward. It’s been really interesting to have to face all the things that this business can take from you. It’s a business that demands a lot of compromise and sacrifice, along with a sense of fortitude.

I’m curious about how the necessary world-building of Yellowjackets affects your work on the show — are you constantly aware of what sorts of foundations you have to lay for future episodes and seasons?

I’m lucky as a director, because I’m an EP and I have such a close relationship with the creators, so I can pick their brains and I have the ability to ask pretty pointed questions. One example is that it had been understood that the character Natalie would be one of the characters who doesn’t make it through all five seasons of the show. So the dread we felt about that character from the pilot to the finale of season two was meant to be an arc, to some degree. She was one of these people for whom you get a really bad feeling that they’re not going to be in this world forever, and it was important that we thread that needle and plant some clues about her being a character who cheated death many times.

There’s a fan theory that her cheating death was more specific — that when her younger self drew the Queen of Hearts death card in the wilderness and was spared by Javi falling through the ice, she was marked and it was a desire of the wilderness that needed to be fulfilled.

That’s interesting. I could totally see that interpretation. I see it a little differently: To me, the “mark” is more the moment that she is chosen to be the new leader of the cult in the wilderness. That mentality is her true downfall. It’s her biggest shame, and biggest source of regret and sorrow. She’s wearing a heavy crown that comes with a terrible price on a moral and ethical level.

When you watch the episodes of the show that you didn’t direct, are you able to step back and experience it purely as a viewer? If so, what sticks out?

The episodes I’ve connected with the most have been those in which I’m able to forget my own involvement with the show — even though I’ve read the scripts and the outlines. For instance, watching the first cut of episode six, when Shauna [Sophie Nélisse] gives birth, I was so shocked by how emotional it made me even though I knew exactly what was coming. I had a major lump in my throat.

Were there other moments this season that surprised you in terms of seeing them go from the page to the screen?

I guess it would be episode seven, when teen Shauna beats the crap out of teen Lottie [Courtney Eaton] and we’re seeing it juxtaposed with the middle-aged women dancing and getting fucked-up together [in the present day]. I was really pleasantly surprised to see how much emotion they elicited by putting these two realities up against each other. I thought about that in the context of women’s lives, and the hell we put each other through and the selective memory we apply to those relationships. That was very moving to me.

It’s funny, when I watched it, I think I romanticized the trauma bond the adult women had together. I was thinking, “They know each other in this really dark but deeply intimate way, and they really see each other’s flaws. That looks nice.”

Both things can be true. You have to choose to forget certain cruelties that we can inflict, particularly as females. You can be bonded by the contortions of your very young lives together. It’s really beautiful and really painful. What you mention and what I mentioned are, weirdly, two sides of the same coin.

That scene had an incredible use of a needle drop, with “Lightning Crashes” by Live — are you ever directing with a specific song already in mind?

The pilot script was extremely literal, with quite a few needle drops written into the script, and the irony was that I don’t think we could have used a single one of them because they were too expensive. But when we were working on the season two finale, there was a scene with Lottie standing in her office and feeling like somebody had been in there going through her stuff, and I thought of this old folk song by Buffy Sainte-Marie. We were able to start the process of getting that song much earlier.

You have an interesting perspective having directed the pilot episode, when the young cast was both new to one another and new to starring in what turned out to be a cultural phenomenon. What has struck you most in terms of their evolution between that period and episode nine of season two?

Mostly how they have developed such deep friendships with each other — and such incredible skills. Though when we filmed the pilot, they were all really wonderful actors already. I’m quite fascinated by how Liv Hewson continues to grow the character of [teen] Van; I think it’s a beautiful thing to watch.

I know that we’re still waiting for the writers to get their fair deal before everyone returns to work on season three, but is there anything in particular that you’re most looking forward to seeing happen with a character or storyline?

The way that the teenage girls enter the world after leaving the wilderness was briefly introduced in the beginning of season two, and I’m so excited by the possibilities of seeing more of that. That storyline offers such an enduring emotional mystery. It’s a question of, when you’ve gone through something like that, how you ever come back to any shred of normalcy. Imagining the way they’ll cope with being survivors is really juicy and interesting to me on a metaphorical level.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.