Tawny Cypress and Liv Hewson talk to ET about bringing LGBTQ representation to the screen on the hit Showtime series.
Tawny Cypress and Liv Hewson, who play opposite halves of the Taissa-Van romance on Yellowjackets, open up to ET about bringing LGBTQ representation to the screen, their hopes for the relationship moving forward and why they want to see an adult Van.
“I am incredibly proud to represent the LGBTQ+ community. I fall under the umbrella. My son is under the umbrella,” Cypress says. “And, you know, in my 25-year career, I’d say half the characters I’ve played were lesbians, which is a really cool thing that I get to do and bring to light onscreen.”
“It’s been such a pleasure for me. And playing that relationship out in the wilderness is something Jasmin and I care about really deeply and worked really hard on and love seeing people respond to it positively,” Hewson adds.
On Showtime’s hit series about teenage girls stranded in the Canadian Rockies and the older lives of those who were rescued, Cypress plays the adult version of Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown in 1996), who starts a relationship with Van (Hewson) not long after the two survive a horrific plane crash.
While Taissa’s story picks up 25 years later as she and the other grownup survivors, Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), Misty (Christina Ricci) and Natalie (Juliette Lewis), find themselves haunted by secrets of their past, Van’s future remains unclear.
During a moderated conversation for the 10th annual SCAD TVfest, Lynskey shared that of all the unanswered questions about the show, she’s most curious to know if there’s an adult Van. “Because I very much want [Liv] to be on the show forever and ever,” she said, revealing that Van is “my husband’s favorite character.”
“I also want an adult Van,” added Sammi Hanratty, who plays the younger version of Misty in the 1996 timeline. “I’m excited to see where all that goes. And I truly love working with Liv ‘cause we got to do all that wolf stuff together and it was really intense,” she continued, referring to the violent wolf attack Van survives halfway through season 1.
Miraculously, Van pulls through the savage mauling and it’s Taissa who comforts her as she comes to terms with the massive scars on her face, giving fans hope that she may live long enough to get rescued.
While speaking to ET after the panel, Cypress says Taissa and Van’s budding romance is what really excites her about the prospects of an adult Van joining the series. “Taissa’s marriage seems to be in shambles,” the actress says, referring to Taissa’s estranged wife, Simone (Rukiya Bernard), in the present.
She adds, “It’d be really fun to see an adult Taissa meeting up with an adult Van and where that goes and what that history is all about.”
“Poor Simone, oh my god,” Hewson quips. “She’s done nothing wrong.”
“It’s so true, and I love Rukiya so much. I mean, I’m truly in love with Rukiya. She’s an incredible human being,” Cypress says, adding that “she doesn’t deserve it.”
Jokes aside, what comes next for the couple remains to be seen. “I’m not sure what will happen,” Hewson says. “But I know that whatever does happen, we will treat it with the same care and the same respect and sense of fun. We’re excited to show everybody.”
Of course, whatever happens with the adults will be intense, especially after Natalie got kidnapped at the end of the season 1 finale. When it comes to their dynamic moving forward, Ricci says she’s “excited to see all of the survivors together and interacting more because there are so many secrets.”
“I think it’s going to be really exciting,” Cypress says. “I have a feeling the three of them are probably going to have a lot of scenes together in the next season trying to find Juliette’s character. In my head, that’s the way it goes.”
She adds, “It’s really exciting to me to see how that dynamic is going to be because I spent a lot of this season with Melanie and Juliette. So, it’ll be interesting to see having Misty instead of Natalie and how that informs our relationship.”
The Yellowjackets screening and panel, where they also received the Outstanding Cast Award, is available to watch in full Friday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m. ET. Visit SCADTVfest.com for a full schedule of the three-day event.
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