Awards Daily chats with Sophie Thatcher, who plays 1996 Nat on Showtime’s Yellowjackets, about the nature of her father’s abuse and why she and Adult Natalie (Juliette Lewis) are the most disconnected pairing of the leads.
Sophie Thatcher agrees: Her character Nat is not necessarily the soccer type on paper.
“I was trying to figure that out,” Thatcher says. “It’s just a distraction and she happens to be good at it. It’s a good outlet to let her anger out—and it’s a healthy one!”
Nat has your typical teen angst, like throwing a bottle at a bully’s car, but she also has trauma she’s dealing with at home from an abusive father. While her father throws verbal vitriol at her, Thatcher doesn’t believe it ever gets sexual in nature.
“That creates another level of complexity. I think that would create a different kind of trauma with Travis. I haven’t talked to the writers’ about whether the abuse got to that point, but I don’t think it did.”
But the abuse does get to the point in Episode 4 “Bear Down” where Nat tries to shoot her father with a shot gun, only for him to grab it from her and trip on it, killing him instantly.
“They were really expecting my character to have killed my father and shoot the gun. It makes it more complex not having done it. The absurdity and the fact the town thought she did that. I think it would be unrealistic [if she had done it].”
And the fact that on a show that’s pretty gory, we never see her father’s body—we only see her reaction and the blood splatter.
“I think it’s so much more intense to have the camera on my face. That was the hardest episode by far.”
It’s also an episode that tells us so much about why she takes to shooting and hunting in the woods with Travis (Kevin Alves).
“It adds an interesting character arc. It gives her more drive because it’s such a traumatic memory to overcome. She’s so keen on distraction like soccer and that’s another healthy one.”
Like a lot of survival situations, Nat and Travis rely on each other to get by, a connection that might have never happened had their plane not crashed.
“I think because there are limited options, they bond about feeling out of place. That’s their way out. I don’t really think they would have ever found each other in high school like that.”
Thatcher believes of all the teen characters out in the wilderness, Natalie is the most sensible, which especially shows during Episode 9’s “Doomcoming.”
“She has more experience with drugs, and that’s initially why she’s the first one to realize they are tripping. I think she remains the most level-headed and the heart of the group, and that shows when they have an altered state of mind. She has a really good heart and it stays that way. Even when Travis is pushing her away, she just wanted to help.”
She’s never judgmental either, even after Travis tells her he slept with Jackie.
“She grew up in a fucking tough upbringing. She loves him and is willing to look past them. That is just one small thing. She can empathize with people.”
Teen Nat being “the heart of the group” is a stark contrast from Adult Nat, who seems to be falling apart, having just come out of rehab and raging against machines of the vending variety.
“Out of all the four different main characters, younger and older, there’s most distinct separation between Young Nat and Old Nat. There’s something wholesome that breaks away. She’s completely broken down.”
Season 1 of Yellowjackets is available on Showtime.
