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Description

In Part 2 of our Yellowjackets deep dive, Hoja, Kiki, and Mohanad sit down with actor Jane Widdop, who plays Laura Lee on the show, to talk about their favorite fan theories, what it was like on set, and which characters need to apologize to Laura Lee the most. They discuss whether or not Jane would survive in the wilderness, who they would want to play the adult version of Laura Lee, and what they’re most looking forward to in Season 2. Plus, our hosts finally get an answer to whether or not there was any seasoning in that cabin in the woods. WARNING: This episode contains spoilers.

Please note, I’m Sorry contains mature themes and may not be appropriate for all listeners.

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Transcript

SPEAKERS

Jane Widdop, Kiki Monique, Mohanad Elshieky, Hoja Lopez

Jane  Widdop  00:08

We’re so excited about the Yellowjackets finale that we cannot stop talking about it so we aren’t gonna stop talking about it. We are doing a bonus episode. We have the actor who plays Laura Lee, Jane Widdop up is here. They are going to be talking all things Yellowjackets. So spoiler alert, if you have not got yourself caught up on Yellowjackets, first of all, shame on you. You need to apologize for that. And also come back after you’ve watched because there’s a lot of spoilers in this episode. We’re so excited. Welcome, Jane. Jane, thank you so much for joining us. I think all of us are kind of like giggly over this because we are so obsessed with Yellowjackets. And I mean, it’s really I didn’t think the three of us actually would all enjoy it because we have such different tastes like I watch a lot of crap TV I’ll fully admit that. But I also watch some really good TV. We don’t align on like the crap TV so much. Hoja and I sometimes but Mohanad we have you know, the fact that Mohanad, Hoja, and all love a show. That means it’s like top notch.

Jane  Widdop

I’m so glad that you guys all enjoy it.

Hoja Lopez 

Oh my god. Yeah, I had a blast watching it. And it sort of crept up on me because a lot of shows I’m like, Okay, I watch one episode. And I’m like, and then I found myself I’m like, I wonder what’s gonna happen with her? Oh, my God is she gonna find and then I found myself in time, loopholes wasting just like, time on my toilet thinking about Yellow jackets. And that’s what I knew. I was like, girl.

Mohanad Elshieky 

I mean, I spent the whole week just reading theory, that’s all I do between episodes. I’m just on Reddit just reading what’s going to happen, which never happens, by the way, which is great. I feel like the show always, you know, suffers those expectations. But yeah.

Jane  Widdop 

We know, I mean, we’ve been following like Melanie Lynskey’s big on like going down the Reddit rabbit holes, and like she talks about it. Do any of the other cast members, are they into the Reddit theories?

Jane  Widdop  02:09

I think I was one of the first like younger cast mates to get really into the Reddit theories, because I was on Twitter, like that was like the big thing when Yellowjacket started happening, I was just like, connecting with a bunch of the fandom because they’re hilarious. Like, you guys are funnier than I could ever be. So I need to be a part of this. So through that, I kind of found the Reddit page. And it was really small. I think at the time, it only had like 2000 followers, and now it’s like, grown. But I love Reddit. I’ve always been like a Reddit user. So I went on there. And I just started going through and looking through all of them. And it was so weird to me how because I think this was only around episode 1 or 2. But all of their theories were so far ahead of what we already knew. And I was like, how are they guessing this? What’s going on? So I think I love how it’s blown up on the Reddit page. I think that that’s what all of those other theories that are like, whoa, I don’t know how they caught on to this. But I think it’s just a lot of people thinking about it, which is crazy, you know?

Jane  Widdop 

Yeah, I felt like I was maybe not like behind everyone, because I would read these Reddit threads. And I’m like, how did I miss that? Now I have to go back and re-watch the episodes over and over because like, am I not smart enough to watch the show?

Jane  Widdop 

There was one thing you know, when they’re talking about the symbol, I had no idea what the symbol meant. I was like, okay, that’s just something Ashley and Bart made up in their head. And then they started talking about how there’s like 90s hobo, like symbols. And this was a thing in the 90s that a bunch of homeless people used. I was like, Well, how did you guys find this? How did you guys find the code to a 90s homeless code that only existed like on the sidewalk? How? But that’s Reddit.

Mohanad Elshieky  04:08

I honestly think if I was like the creator of the show, I’d be like, yeah, that’s actually what we meant by it. You guys caught up? Yeah, everything. Yeah.

Jane  Widdop 

Now you mentioned like the younger cast members and the older cast members, like I’m assuming, like, do you ever film scenes together? Are you on set together at all ever?

Jane  Widdop 

Not really. It really did feel like we were filming two separate TV shows, because we would have one week on, one week off. And the week off, the older cast would be filming. So it really did feel like these two separate camps, even though I mean, we did hang out a couple times, I think with some of the people from the older cast, but I mean, it wasn’t like we were trying to stay away from them. You know? Like, it was just two very different vibes for the show. You know, and I think that that’s, we just kind of ended up staying in these little groups because that’s where we were.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Yeah, and was this actually filmed in Canada?

Jane  Widdop 

Yeah, it was filmed in Vancouver, we filmed from April to beginning of October.

Jane  Widdop

And did they make you take any sort of like wilderness training just as like to get into the spirit or the mood of it?

Jane  Widdop 

I didn’t get any wilderness training. I think the only like wilderness training that they got was everybody who shot a gun, of course, obviously had like so much of the gun safety and went out to a shooting range. Few days before. I think that’s like the only wilderness thing I can think of. But no, it was. I mean, it was definitely, they took care of us so well, at times, it didn’t even feel like we were in the woods, but then we’d walk outside of this tent and we’d be like, oh, no, that’s the woods. But yeah, the woods. I love the woods. I licked a banana slug while I was in the woods.

Jane  Widdop  06:00

Like, did it anything happened? Did you trip?

Jane  Widdop 

Actually, when you lick a banana slug, your tongue turns numb. And so that was like, the whole thing. I was like, with the camera guy. I was like, hey, I dare you at the end of the season to lick this banana slug with me. And it took him the entire filming of that scene for me to convince him to lick the banana slug with me. And then he ended up liking the banana side with me. And it was a really fun, fun memory.

Mohanad Elshieky 

So we know what happens with Laura Lee on the show, obviously. But would you as Jane, do you think you would survive in the wilderness? If you were put in a similar scenario?

Jane  Widdop 

No, not at all. No.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Just immediately give up?

Jane  Widdop

I mean, it’s not like I would immediately give up I would definitely try. But I just I feel like first of all, sometimes I do have my Laura Lee moments. So I think that that would probably not be great for me. And second, honestly, I think if I was in the woods, I would get in a plane and try to go off even if I thought that I would die, because I don’t want my friends eat me like that’s sad.

Mohanad Elshieky

So in a sense, you were Jackie for the most part, because I feel like Jackie was like, I’m not gonna learn anything to survive here. She could not light a fire.

Jane  Widdop 

I think just based off the fact that my family did not go camping when I was younger. And they were not part of that. I think that’s why, I think we can blame it on my parents for not taking me camp.

Hoja Lopez

Let’s blame everything on our parents. But then at the age of 30, you have to start taking some responsibility and that’s when things get very dicey and hard. So me and Mohanad and Kiki took a Buzzfeed quiz to see like which Yellowjacket character we were Have you taken the quiz?

Jane  Widdop 

Yes, I have. I’m Nat.

Hoja Lopez  08:09

Is that the character that you relate to the most in the show? Or is there somebody else in the show? Like out of all of the folks there? Even previous to the quiz?

Jane  Widdop 

I think out of all of them, I would relate the most to Shauna. Just because of kind of her like, I don’t know, it’s that Meredith Grey, like dark and twisty on the inside, but looks like you know, on the outside, not. And I think that that’s kind of a little bit my vibe, but also I really like how very deep Shauna can be. And how she’s always kind of in our head. And I feel like, that’s a big thing with me. I’m always like, you know, contemplating something or just, you know, staring off into space. Um, but that’s, I feel like, that’s kind of my thing. And I write a lot. So, you know, Shauna journals. And so I think that that’s definitely something if I was stuck in the woods, I would be journaling every day.

Jane  Widdop 

Now, for me, like, the reason I love the Laura Lee characters, because like, you know, I didn’t really grow up religious, and like, I don’t really have feelings kind of one way or the other. But like, anytime, like if I’m on a plane, I’m not a great flier, and like it like there’s a little bit of turbulence. I’m like, Okay, God, please just get me in. Like, I need that sort of like routing, right? Yeah. And so I love that Laura Lee, you know, provides that sort of, like, you know what, everything’s gonna be okay. I don’t know what I believe in. But it’s not like, you know, trying to convert me or anything. It’s literally just like, do you need some prayer? Yeah, I think I need some prayer, because I’m not feeling myself. Which I think a lot of people, even if they’re atheists, or whatever, it’s like, it’s a good feeling of just like you’re in the wilderness alone.

Jane  Widdop 

Yeah. And I feel like with that, I really wanted to play a Christian character. That wasn’t the stereotype. And wasn’t the I’m gonna judge you because of how you are because she’s not like that. She’s read the Bible. She understood Jesus loves everyone. And for me, I grew up super Christian. I grew up in the Episcopal Church, which is an amazing church. They allow anyone and everyone, I think like on our welcome page, it says like homeless, housed, gay, straight, whatever you are, you’re welcome here. So that’s kind of always the relationship I’ve had with Christianity. So I just decided to bring that into it. I’m less so Christian now, I’m very much more Wiccan. But that was one thing that I really took from church, that was a really great lesson for me was the fact that even though my church was completely different for what my friends were, you know, doing, I was always presented with this notion that you should love everyone. And that’s what I took with Laura Lee is that she loves everyone. And if you send in her eyes, that’s okay. Because God forgives everyone.

Jane  Widdop 

That’s so cool. Now, I think all of us are like, not wanting to believe Laura Lee is actually dead. Like, we want to believe that like there is this the foreshadowing that happened with jumping into the pool and hitting, you know, her head that that means like, maybe she jumped out of the plane, and maybe she survived. I mean, who knows. But I think that’s what’s interesting, you know, in reading the Reddit threads is this comparison, obviously, this show gets compared a lot to Lord of the Flies. And this comparison of like Piggy who was a character and Lord of the Flies and when his glasses are broken, and sort of how when that plane exploded, it was like symbolic of how we knew everything was gonna go to shit, basically, because, obviously, Laura Lee would have never let Jackie stay out in the cold and die. Right. And like, that was such a turning point. And it was almost like, you know, Laura Lee had to go. But like, is she really gone? I mean, we hope not.

Jane  Widdop 

Yeah, I saw this one theory on Reddit that was really hilarious to me is, and it was one of everybody, every single day that they’ve been here since like, they found the plane, and they were foraging. What if Misty has been dosing them mushrooms, the entire time? And what they’re seeing is not real. And Laura Lee is still alive. Like that was a theory.

Mohanad Elshieky  12:24

You know what, I’m gonna go ahead and believe that.

Jane  Widdop 

I love how the mushrooms are so central. And like, I was like, I had a great conversation because I was like, I hope that people who haven’t shrooms don’t take that, you know that one episode of shrooming, and like, you know, make it but I’m like, let’s remember, they drank moonshine. The moonshine is what made them loose.

Jane  Widdop 

Also, the fact that you’re starving in the woods, you know, that’s gonna make you think some things along with a hallucinogen and alcohol like that’s a bad combo.

Hoja Lopez 

And Lottie just drop it in little droplets of insanity.

Mohanad Elshieky 

And I mean, this shows is about apologies. And like, I feel like this show owes us an apology for one thing, which is, we did not get to see Laura Lee on shrooms, because that’s one thing I would love to see.

Jane  Widdop

You know, everyone keeps on bringing this up to me. And I can definitely agree. I would have loved to play Laura Lee on shrooms. She definitely would have seen God come down from the heavens, like for sure. I definitely think that an apology is owed for that one.

Mohanad Elshieky 

I mean, let’s pretend Laura Lee is alive because in my world she is. If you get to choose who plays an adult, Laura Lee, who would you pick?

Jane  Widdop  14:08

I have like three that always run around in my brain. First one is Reese Witherspoon because I love her. We’re both from Tennessee. Well, she’s not originally but she grew up in Tennessee. So that’s my southern girl that I would pick. But then also I think, Gillian Jacobs. And maybe Cameron Diaz. But that depends on like in older versions, like it would depend on how they took the character. You know what I mean? Yeah, for those three options, in my opinion.

Hoja Lopez 

Right. There’s so much room because she could change completely from the moment she’s in high school until, do you guys have any pics for who you think would be a good Laura Lee grown?

Jane  Widdop 

I like all of those. I’m really interested by the Cameron Diaz though but I haven’t seen Gillian Jacobs in a while either. So I like this too.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Yeah, I guess with the Reese Witherspoon. I mean, I don’t know, Jane, how tall you are? Because I feel like there’s a white belt. I think she’s 5’1 or 5’2. Like, yeah, something happened.

Jane  Widdop 

When she jumped out that plane, she just yeah, it stretched her up a bit.

Hoja Lopez

You know who I could see I thought maybe Alicia Silverstone might be a good one. Yeah. And she’s doing like a lot of TV. So I thought like that that actually could happen, or Rachel McAdams, I thought might be a really good way to. But those were the two ones that I was like, Oh, I would love to see them in like a soapy horror TV show would be so good.

Jane  Widdop 

Yeah. And I love how they’re bringing back all of these, like 90s icons I hoped for, you know, older Lottie that we might see. That is that’s kind of the one casting that I’m really looking forward to because Courtney is of Maori descent. And so finding an actress to play that I think is going to be really, really important. And I want to see who they pick. Because I think that they have that in mind. And they really want to go that direction. But yeah, I think it would be amazing. Maybe if we had an up and comer that really wasn’t, you know, a bigger star yet. And I think that that would be a cool mix to add in. But also they could do somebody that is super famous, a 90s icon, you know?

Jane  Widdop  16:35

I mean, I love how they’re doing the casting. I mean, you know, like I love every single person they picked for now and then and like it’s funny because Christina Ricci was in that movie, and it was it now and then or then and now it was funny like she was playing the kid in that movie, and now she’s playing me adult. It’s so funny. I mean,

Hoja Lopez 

Yeah, the caliber of like, actors and actresses that they found for this show is crazy. Like, I feel like yeah, I’ve seen them in amazing things. And then to have Melanie kind of play also in don’t look up and then also in this at the same time. And it’s just such a cool juxtaposition because I didn’t realize she was in that movie at the same time. And it’s just as great. It’s a very, it’s a really, really rich cast of people. So I guess just to go back to, you know, what the podcast is about? It is called I’M SORRY. So we wanted to kind of ask you like, Who do you think needs to apologize to Laura Lee in that group of people, because you kind of are like disparaged a little bit or people are kind of calling you out. But who do you think needs to apologize to Laura Lee in the show?

Jane  Widdop 

I think Okay, so we’re gonna go off who I ended like terms with, you know, I think she’s good with. Surprisingly she’s good with Jackie. She’s always good with Jackie, like, Jackie just like, takes her under her wing. Definitely good with Lottie, I think this seems kind of out of left field, but I feel like Misty might need to apologize to her for not packing her with shrooms

Hoja Lopez  18:13

You really took me there.

Mohanad Elshieky 

The reason that they’re in the woods to start with.

Jane  Widdop 

Exactly. Yeah. No, no, that doesn’t count. Just the shrooms.

Mohanad Elshieky 

I also love that Laura Lee scene with the coach. When like, you were about to get on the plane and you’re like, what are you gonna do to stop me? And I was just like, okay, yeah, that’s she literally said. I mean, what are you gonna do? Run behind me or something? You’re not gonna do that. Yeah, it’s so funny. Cuz I was like, when is someone gonna bring that up? Because he’s like, keep saying like, I’m the adult in the room. And they’re like, okay, maybe, maybe sit down a bit. Stop.

Kiki Monique 

Okay, so if you had to make some predictions for season two, what would be some predictions you might or even to some theories that you’ve read about what other people are predicting?

Jane  Widdop

Well, I think I think Lonnie is gonna be the big antagonist for season two for sure. That’s like, definitely one of my top theories. Um, and I’m saying this is theories. I don’t want anybody watching this to be like.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Of course, of course.

Jane  Widdop 

I think that I’m really interested to see where that pregnancy goes with Shauna because I think that it would be too on the nose for them to eat the child. Okay, you know, a bit on the nose and it’s not a lot of neat if you think about it, which is like terrible to think about but that is no there’s not a lot of, yeah I don’t think that that’s going to happen but she does in Episode 10 and 9, she does seem pretty far along. So in my opinion if she does have like a miscarriage is she too late in the term? You know what I mean? Like I feel like late in the term when you have a miscarriage there’s like less likelihood that you survived you know what I mean? Like there’s like a lot going on. But I think that a really interesting scene would be her giving birth and starting to raise this child and then just not being able to in it like dying I think that you know, probably would do a lot to her. So I’m really interested to see Shauna  and the baby and what happens with that. I’m also really excited to see Van and Taissa kind of like little flourish a little bit more because they’ve been through some shit, this past season they need like a honeymoon.

Jane  Widdop 

Well yeah, I mean van has been burned alive like twice.

Jane  Widdop 

Van has nine lives, go off girl. But, I really think that they need like they need at least one episode where they feel settled down. They deserve that.

Jane  Widdop

We have to ask one important question, our producer wanted to make sure we asked this, also I was reading to came up in a Reddit thread about like in that cabin. Why is there no fishing equipment when there’s water around? We were really curious about when the bear was caught like was the bear able to be season because most you know houses have like seasoning in their cabinets like if I go to my parents’ house now they’re seasoning from the 80s that is still in the back somewhere like seasoning never gets thrown out no matter how hard it is like was anything seasoned in over the fire?

Jane  Widdop

I’m sure we season stuff and they do there were like fishing nets I think that they put out since we found the cabin they just don’t show them that are not that interesting, you know fishing scenes. But I think in that scene with Jackie and Travis and Eight he is like […] fish traps.

Mohanad Elshieky  22:13

Yeah, that is true.

Jane  Widdop

Yeah, I’m sure we seasoned it. It’s not they gotta have some salt and pepper, right?

Mohanad Elshieky 

I really hope so.

Hoja Lopez 

It doesn’t matter if you live in a spooky weird cabin with a dead person on the top floor. Attic. You need salt and pepper.

Mohanad Elshieky 

I really like this when I draw the line. I’m like, I think I’m ready to die.

Jane  Widdop 

Unseasoned bear meat?

Jane  Widdop 

Do you have any other projects that are coming up that you can share with us that where else we can catch you?

Jane  Widdop 

Not yet, but I’m on Instagram and Twitter. But I have a project that was released last year. It’s called Angie Lost Girls. And I play the lead, I play Angie, and it’s all about sex trafficking in LA. And it’s a really, really good cause. And it’s a really great and impactful movie. And it’s all about, you know, this girl who gets trafficked and goes through that entire trauma and then returns home and has to deal with that. So it was a really, really cool project. And I love doing it but it’s definitely worth checking out because it’s such an impactful story. And you know, trafficking in general is awful, but I’m really glad that I got to do something about it. You know?

Hoja Lopez 

Well, thank you so much Jane. So happy to be able to have you, this was awesome.

Jane  Widdop 

I’m glad, I’m so happy. I was able to be on the podcast.

CREDITS

I’M SORRY is a Lemonada Media Original. The show is produced by Alex McOwen, supervising producer is Kryssy Pease. Our executive producers are Stephanie Wittels Wachs and Jessica Cordova Kramer. Our mix is by Kat Yore and theme music was composed by Xander Singh. If you like this show, please rate and review. And please don’t cancel us. You can find out more about our show at @LemonadaMedia on all social platforms, or follow us on Instagram at @imsorry_podcast. We’ll be back next week and until then be nice, play fair and always say I’m sorry. Thanks for listening!