Melanie Lynskey’s roles in The Last Of Us and Yellowjackets, which has been renewed, have revived her career.
Melanie Lynskey, 16, debuted in Heavenly Creatures with Kate Winslet in 1994.
In the past 18 months, she has arguably received more attention than ever before due to her role in the popular mystery series Yellowjackets, about a group of teenage females who become stranded in the wilderness after a plane crash.
Lynskey plays elder Shauna Shipman, who cannibalises to survive in the Canadian wilderness.
Yellowjackets was well-received upon its November 2021 debut on Showtime in the United States, becoming the second-most streamed series in the network’s history and winning multiple accolades, including the Critics’ Choice Award for best actress in a drama series for Melanie Lynskey.
Life could have turned out very differently for Lynskey, who says she initially resisted taking on additional labor.
“I was in the middle of another job – I was filming Mrs. America, a limited series – and I had an infant child, and I thought to myself, ‘I don’t want to work, I can’t, I have to take six months off, I’m so exhausted,'” she said. “Then I received this offer, and as soon as I read it, I thought, ‘Oh, this is fantastic; it would be ridiculous to reject it’.”
Lynskey has been somewhat thrust into the limelight as a result of the show’s popularity. She jokes that “people are watching” Yellowjackets as opposed to some of her previous work.
She said, “I’m a shy person, so it’s a little difficult to have a lot of attention, but I’m so grateful that people are watching the show.” “I’m so shy that I need to lock myself in a dark room at the end of some days and say, ‘Oh, that was a lot,’ but it’s so great that there’s such a response overall.”
The majority of the actress’ interactions are positive, and she embraces constructive criticism.
“I read every single review, so you cannot simply consider the positive ones and disregard the negative ones. I love constructive feedback, notes, and knowing whether I’ve upset somebody in my personal life. So it’s easy to dismiss when someone is being mean for no apparent reason. It’s like, “Okay, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with that. I guess you’re just trying to ruin my day.”
Yellowjackets begins with several questions, including which girls survived and how, and later, who is threatening the survivors. Despite not knowing how the program will continue, Lynskey expresses confidence that it will continue to satisfy viewers.
“The first season they told me a lot because I had a lot of questions and I was afraid of committing – I had to sign for seven years and I was like, ‘I need to know that you have a plan,'” she explained. “They gave me so much information about the first season that I realized they knew what they were doing.”
“They initially stated that they had a plan for five seasons, but they did not discuss each season with me.
I have so much faith in them that I believe whatever they decide to do will be correct.
During the production of the first season, Lynskey was aware of Shauna’s future. But viewers are fed information in a drip-feed fashion as the narrative unfolds. At times, it was difficult for the actress to relate to the character because she is holding so much in.
“It was an interesting aspect of the first season that I had to constantly remind myself that she was still repressing so much,” she said. “There were times when I wanted to burst into tears and have a big emotional moment because that’s what I would do.”
“I had to constantly remind myself: no, this is a person who is pushing everything down and not experiencing. But [the authors] are so adept at allowing the information to emerge in the scripts.”
Yellowjackets are not the only successful series Lynskey has starred in this year; the new series follows The Last Of Us, a wildly popular drama series based on a popular video game.
Her husband, Jason Ritter, appeared in the same programme as a monster.
She stated, “It’s his favorite video game, so he was very excited.” “He trained with acrobatic performers, did an excellent job, learned everything, and they all said he was fantastic.
He loved playing one of The Last Of Us’ afflicted beasts.
