When Karyn Kusama’s pilot Yellow vests debuted in 2021, an opening time jump left fans wondering the identity of “Pit Girl,” a faceless teenager hunted to her death in the snowy wilderness.
After the season 3 finale, “Full Circle,” revealed Alexa Barajas’ Mari as the doomed sacrifice in the titular soccer team’s chase, Kusama shared her reaction with Deadline to the April episode, which recreated its opening chase sequence.
“I felt like that’s where things were going, so it wasn’t a huge surprise to me, because I was kind of behind the scenes knowing what was going on,” she said of the Showtime series, created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson.
“But it’s funny that we made the pilot when it was still an open question,” Kusama continued. “I think they had some ideas in the first season about where things were going to land, but it was kind of fun for me to be able to ask a question that might still be a work in progress to find the answer. And so it was cool to see that come to a conclusion.”
With the announcement that Yellow vests“The fourth season will be the last, Kusama noted that she will not return after last directing the season 2 finale episode “Storytelling”.
Alexa Barajas as Mari in “Yellowjackets” (Darko Sikman/Paramount+ with Showtime)
Darko Sikman/Paramount+ with Showtime
“No, I kind of knew I was going to dedicate two years to this show,” she explained. “And I feel like they had a really good handle on how they wanted the story to progress, and how they wanted all these different threads to tie together or be left hanging. And I loved everyone, the cast, the creators, the crew of that show. But I decided I was going to start developing my own stuff.”
As the director prepares to attend the Saturday screening of her cult classic written by Diablo Cody Jennifer’s body at the Academy Museum, where she will later participate in a Q&A with star Megan Fox, she acknowledged the 2009 horror comedy’s influence on Yellow vests.
“I probably recognize now that that’s why I was running, because I really believe in the power of teenage girls,” Kusama said. “And sometimes it’s a formidable power, but I think teenage girls are where it’s at.”
