Meet Showtime's Yellowjackets

Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, Melanie Lynskey and Tawny Cypress tell us about their characters — and tease what's to come — in Season 1 of Showtime's new drama, Yellowjackets.

MISTY

PLAYED BY: Christina Ricci (The Lizzie Borden Chronicles) and Samantha Hanratty (Shameless)

BACK THEN: As a teen, Misty is Yellowjackets-adjacent (she's the soccer team's equipment manager) and just enough of an oddball that she's always on the fringe. "I see her very much as... somebody whose value is so specific that people who are obsessed with being cool, being pretty, being sexy would immediately dismiss this person," Ricci says. "That is very much who Misty is."

AND NOW: For reasons we won't divulge in order not to spoil you, Misty experiences the plane crash and its aftermath in a way very different from her teammates. And when we catch up with her as an adult, she — at least at first — doesn't seem to carry the baggage that Shauna, Tai and Natalie do. "I think she doesn't actually expect to ever have the things in life that everybody else has, after 20-plus years of being rejected and told she's not going to have them," Ricci says. "When you don't actually care that much whether you get things or not... You know, a nihilistic life is in some ways so much more enjoyable."

TEASE IT OUT: Beyond the premiere, "Yes, she does things that are really shocking," Ricci says of her alter ego. "She does things were you're just like, 'No, we don't do that in normal society.' She does not have any problem crossing the line when she needs to. And again, it just speaks to the extreme experience that she's had."

FAVORITE SONG FROM THE SOUNDTRACK: "The Liz Phair song in the car," Ricci says, referring to "Supernova," which plays during Shauna and Jackie's ride to school in an early episode.

IN HIGH SCHOOL, MISTY WOULD'VE BEEN VOTED: "Most Enthusiastic."

NATALIE

PLAYED BY: Juliette Lewis (Secrets and Lies) and Sophie Thatcher (Chicago Med)

BACK THEN: Natalie as a teen is a leather jacket-wearing, class-skipping, illicit substance-ingesting rebel who is also a key member of the Yellowjackets girls' soccer team.

AND NOW: When we meet Natalie, she's about to check out of rehab... where even her fellow group-therapy members don't exactly know what happened to her during her time in the woods. "There's a numbness, and a void," Lewis says cyrptically. But don't let the character's chaotic nature lead you to believe she doesn't have a plan for her re-entry to normal life. "You're going to be shocked where it all goes," Lewis adds with a grin.

TEASE IT OUT: "It gets funny, this show," she previews. "There's a whole other flow to it in [Episodes] 4, 5, 6. You have all the drama and tension, and then there's some really funny stuff." She points to one of her co-star's performances as Exhibit A: "I think Christina Ricci's just a revelation in this project. I told her, 'It's Misty's world.' I just love her."

FAVORITE SOUNDTRACK SONG: "When I first heard the Tracy Bonham 'Mother, Mother' song, it's like, 'F—k, yes!,'" she says, laughing. "I'm losing my mind!"

IN HIGH SCHOOL, NATALIE WOULD HAVE BEEN VOTED: "Most Likely to Have the Most Amount of Ditched Days," Lewis says, after careful consideration. "Least Likely to Succeed."

SHAUNA

PLAYED BY: Melanie Lynskey (Togetherness) and Canadian actress Sophie Nélisse

BACK THEN: Shauna is a quiet and very intelligent teen, though she sometimes is overshadowed by her vivacious best friend Jackie (played by Sweetbitter's Ella Purnell), who's also the team captain.

AND NOW: In the series' premiere, Shauna is a suburban wife and mom whose ennui covers the aftershocks left from the plane crash and everything that happened after — not that she'd admit to that. "Things just keep creeping back in for Shauna like they do if you don't deal with trauma. It's going to keep coming back," Lynskey observes. "She's just still not at a point where she's realized that. 'If you ignore it long enough, it will go away.' It's like, no, that's not how it works!"

TEASE IT OUT: Watch a few scenes set in Shauna's home, and you'll soon notice a rabbit motif emerging. "It's very weird, and it comes up later in the season in a funny way, why she has so many rabbits around," Lynskey previews.

FAVORITE SONG FROM THE SOUNDTRACK: "Isn't that great PJ Harvey song 'Down by the Water' — I think that's in the show," Lynskey says. "I'm so obsessed with PJ Harvey. I remember I was 14 years old, and I was watching late-night music television in New Plymouth, New Zealand. And 'Dress,' the PJ Harvey video, came on. I just said, 'Oh my God.' Like, life-changing, forever."

IN HIGH SCHOOL, SHAUNA WOULD'VE BEEN VOTED: "Most Likely to Move to Paris or something like that," Lynskey says. "We don't have that in New Zealand, so I'm not sure."

TAISSA

PLAYED BY: Tawny Cypress (Unforgettable) and Jasmin Savoy Brown (For the People)

BACK THEN: The highly competitive Tai "has a very strong Black mother that gives her strength in being a brown girl herself, so it starts there at home," Cypres says. "So I think it starts at home. And then being a competitive spirit, I believe, drives the character of Taissa. It just makes everything into a sport."

AND NOW: That high level of motivation manifests in Tai's pursuing political ambitions as an adult; Cypress sees the choice as just another step along a continuum. "Her life is a sport, even when she's doing politics," she says. "It's the sport of it." And her relationship with the rest of the Yellowjackets? "They go out of their way to avoid each other... at least publicly."

TEASE IT OUT: Watch for Taissa to experience what Cypress deems "a very Stephen King-esque storyline that unfolds a little slower."

FAVORITE SONG FROM THE SOUNDTRACK: "I particularly like the cover of the INXS song ['Never Tear Us Apart']. It's by Paloma Faith. Amazing. I love it so much."

IN HIGH SCHOOL, TAI WOULD'VE BEEN VOTED: "Most Likely to Succeed. Hands down!," Cypress says. "Most Likely to be on an Olympics Team. I would be one of those very successful ones."