SPOILER ALERT: This story contains plot points from the season premiere ofYellowjacketson Showtime.
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SIMONE KESSELLI didnt know that either.
It was so much fun.
Simone Kessell as Lottie in YELLOWJACKETS Season 2.Kimberley French/SHOWTIME
I got to play this undercover, kick-ass auntie.
Im trained in stage combat, so that was so much fun.
DEADLINE Lets start with the most pressing question first.
Why did you bury that naked man alive in the premiere?
KESSELLDo you think Im upstaged by the penis?
Somebody else on the cast said to me, what happens at your community, at your compound?
And I was like, look, its just one of the many treatments we offer.
Thats such a fun scene.
DEADLINE So will we find out the fate of that poor buried naked guy?
KESSELLNo, we move on from him.
DEADLINE Thats quite a camp.
How does Lottie describe it?
This is very much a place of sanctuary healing and love and life, really.
As the show progresses, you really get to live in the world of her acolytes or devotees.
DEADLINE Were obviously led to believe that Lottie has some sort of healing powers.
Can you define them?
Shes completely reinvented herself as a spiritual healer, as a guru.
Im gonna tell you this, I went with it.
I would hug them back.
But we dont go too hippy-dippy.
Lotties had an abundance of that in her past, so shes got something to draw on.
Shes moved from the darkness into the light, so shes all in.
She really truly believes in her teachings.
Purple is the color of my devotees.
We see Natalie and Lottie walking through the compound and you see the world of Lottie come into effect.
We find out why Natalie is there and how she got there.
DEADLINE Where do things stand between adult Lottie and the other adult women?
KESSELLThats a great thing.
After episode six we see all the women arrive at Lotties compound.
Its really well done in regards to how everybody starts to filter in.
The past is then reflected in the present.
DEADLINE How were you first approached for the job?
Did you have to do a self tape?
KESSELLWhen they came to me, I hadnt seen the show.
They gave me sides, but without much explanation.
So I thought, oh, is this Lottie a psychiatrist?
Then I really dug into as much as I could online.
We have very similar energy and mannerisms.
And were both part Maori.
She actually looks a lot like my son.
It was so wonderful to do the work because the showrunners really let me go with it.
I really wanted it to be a show.
Lottie is a show woman.
Its a mask that she puts on.
I really wanted to bring her in with this love and light.
That was one of my questions to [co-creator]Bart Nickerson.
I said, does she really believe this?
And he said, she absolutely wants to heal and take care of people.
So I was like, okay, so why does she have a gold Rolex?
She likes fine things.
Its not cheap to go to Lotties compound.
She starts to unravel as the series progresses.
KESSELL Yeah, I was very much aware that the show was big.
And then when Lottie kills the bear?
She stabs the bear in the neck and then holds up its heart?
And then,oh by the way, Simone you are cast as the adult version of that.
I was like,what?
DEADLINE So who is the girl in theYellowjacketsmarketing image?
You know, with the antlers and the netting over her face?
Shes the one giving them hope.
Shes the one whos drawing on the natural elements when theyre a lot younger.
But its meant to be anonymous.
I think it symbolizes that its in all of us.
The antler queen is all of us.
DEADLINE Any chance that adult Lottie is into cannibalism?
KESSELLNo, she is vegan.
She has left her cannibalism days behind her because they are not real in her head.
