SPOILERS: This post contains details about the Yellowjackets, Season 3 episode ‘How the Story Ends’
As Yellowjackets fans mourn the Showtime series’ latest shocking death, the loss is especially poignant for the woman behind the team.
Following the death of Adult Van (Lauren Ambrose) in last week’s Season 3 penultimate episode ‘How the Story Ends’, co-creator Ashley Lyle explained to Deadline that “there’s at least a little bit of me” in the character.
“It’s tough. It’s tough to say goodbye to any character, and I think that I relate deeply to Van as somebody who also is obsessed with pop culture, always have been,” she explained. “I spent so much time as a kid and a teenager and a young adult in the kind of video store that [Van’s video store] While You Were Streaming is sort of living vicariously.”
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Recalling her days of perusing the aisles of Kim’s Video in New York City, Lyle added, “That was just such a formative experience for me, so I definitely feel like there’s at least a little bit of me in Van.”
Van meets her fate at the hands of her former teammate Melissa (Hilary Swank), following an emotionally fraught season for the character as she struggled to enjoy what life she had left with a terminal cancer diagnosis. Hers is the latest death after Juliette Lewis’ Natalie in the Season 2 finale, as well as this seasons deaths of Adult Lottie (Simone Kessell) and Coach Ben (Steven Krueger).
“To say goodbye to Van was really difficult, but at the same time, the chickens were always meant to come home to roost—to use one of my mother’s favorite sayings—with this world and these characters,” added Lyle. “She couldn’t cheat death forever, and to our minds, a lot of her story was holding on to who she really is, and her arc this season was about questioning that and really kicking the tires on it for herself in a kind of profound, existential way. If part of her wanted to believe that there was a way to cheat death yet again, the question of whether or not she was willing to do what it takes, was sort of the central question for that character, and I think there’s something really beautiful about her in those final moments deciding, ‘No, that’s not who I want to be.’”
In the scene, Van holds Melissa at knifepoint after the latter tried to kill her friends. Tai previously convinced Van that making a sacrifice might allow her to survive her cancer. “Why can’t I be that?” Van cries as she drops the knife in a heartbreaking performance from Ambrose.
Lyle also praised the actress’ work in the scene as “absolutely stunningly beautiful,” adding: “Because it’s really tragic for her. She understands in that moment that she is making that choice. Whether it’s real or not is almost beside the point for her, it’s about belief. And for her to come down on the side of, I don’t want to be that person, I don’t want to do terrible things if I’m rewarded for them, was the central thesis of her character, and I think it’s really quite lovely.”
Liv Hewson, who portrays Van’s teen counterpart, previously told Deadline “filming this season was very intense” after Lyle and co-creator Bart Nickerson told them in advance that the character would be dying this season.
“It was so significant to me that I knew that’s where we were headed, and I knew that was coming,” explained Hewson. “So, I feel like I really went on a stages-of-grief journey with it as we were filming the season, and then by the time we got to filming episode nine, I was just so grateful to be able to share that with Lauren and to get to say goodbye to Van together.”
The Season 3 finale of Yellowjackets is available to stream Friday on Paramount+ with Showtime, before airing Sunday at 8pm ET on Showtime.
The post ‘Yellowjackets’ Co-Creator Ashley Lyle Says “I Relate Deeply” To Deceased Character: “A Little Bit Of Me” appeared first on Deadline.
