Yellowjackets actors on the ‘incredible significance’ of show’s queer cast and characters: ‘It’s never been lost on us’
Liv Hewson and Jasmin Savoy Brown, who play Van and Taissa on the show, spoke of how their characters' romance is "a bright spot in a show about trauma"
By Gary Grimes
Yellowjackets cast members Liv Hewson and Jasmin Savoy Brown have spoken about the show’s important representation of both queer actors and queer characters on television.
In a recent interview with Tracy E. Gilchrist (of “holding space” fame) for The Advocate, Hewson and Brown were asked what it means to them to be representing the queer community at this moment in time.
“It’s incredibly significant. It’s not lost on either of us and it never has been,” offered Hewson, who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. “It’s always mattered to us both very much.”
“Right now, I’m conscious of my own determination to be present and front-facing and very grounded and calm about that, where it’s like I am here,” they went on. “Here is my work, and here is my life, and this is what I offer. And I’m not going to entertain arguments about it or limitations on it. Here it is, and there’s no debate about it.”
The actor plays Van in the Lost-esque 90s thriller series which follows a teenage girls soccer team who end up stranded in an unknown land after surviving a plane crash. As the series, now in its third season, has progressed, Van has entered into a romance with her fellow survivor Taissa, played by Brown.
Brown, who also appears in the upcoming queer road trip drama Dreams In Nightmares which is screening at BFI Flare this month, echoed Hewson’s sentiments and noted how their characters’ storyline offers rare moments if levity in a show about trauma.
“Our characters are the bright spot in a show about trauma. And we are the queer characters,” Brown explained. “So often the queer characters are the trauma or going through the trauma of coming out, the trauma of overcoming a parent who kicked you out of the house, whatever,” the actress, who indentifies as both lesbian and pansexual, went on to say.
“But the trauma is this plane crash, and these girls are in love, and that’s lightness within that darkness. I am really grateful to the writers and showrunners for that and really grateful for what that means for fans who get to watch the show and see themselves on some level.”
Yellowjackets, which also stars Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci, is available to strea on Paramount+ in the UK.