Yellowjackets Star Ella Purnell Tried To Change One Major Thing About Jackie Taylor

Ella Purnell tried to change Jackie Taylor's fate on "Yellowjackets." The actor, who has since gone on to star in "Fallout" and "Sweetpea" (which has been renewed for a second season), has said she struggled with letting go of the character and pushed back against how Jackie's story ultimately ended.

Making her debut in the show's first season, it was revealed in the cliffhanger that Jackie was one of the teenage soccer players who did not make it back to civilization. After being forced to spend the night outside, she met one of "Yellowjackets'" many brutal ends when she froze to death. According to Purnell, the actor tried everything she could to change her character's fate but was unsuccessful. Instead, she found herself quite literally frozen out of the future plans of the show.

"I knew with my first audition. I knew that was always the deal. I was pretty cautious about TV, and so, at the time, that seemed really appealing." Purnell told The Hollywood Reporter. "And then when we started filming, I didn't want to die. I really liked everyone, and I really liked my character, and I tried to convince the writers to keep me on the show a bit longer." Purnell's negotiation efforts briefly prompted the writers to reconsider Jackie's future, but they ultimately reached the same bleak conclusion.

Plenty of characters have lasted longer than originally planned on television. Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) was originally set to get his time card clipped at the end of "Breaking Bad's" first season, and Jack Shepherd (Matthew Fox) was supposed to be offed in the pilot episode of "Lost." For Jackie in "Yellowjackets," however, everything went according to plan despite the star's efforts to delay her exit.

"So they thought about it," explained Purnell. "And then they called me and were like, 'She's got to go. We tried. We did our best.'" With that, Jackie Taylor was no more and instead became a meal for the survivors and a ghostly presence of guilt for Shauna (Sophie Nélisse). From there, Purnell moved from stranded teen to post-apocalyptic explorer in "Fallout," though she still missed the gang of cannibal girls she had grown close to on "Yellowjackets."

"It was hard watching everyone go back for season two, even though I was doing 'Fallout' and was busy. I wanted to be there," the former Yellowjacket confessed. "We really formed such a close bond, partially because of the nature of the very intense scenes that we did. There were a lot of heavy scenes, and you bond with your scene partners when you're doing heavy stuff." The FOMO was not overwhelming, though, given that Purnell still appeared in Season 2 as both a meal and a ghost. High school reunions really can be full of surprises.