AceShowbiz - This article contains spoilers for the Showtime series .

Viewing one's own performance can often feel surreal. It’s a strange experience to see someone who resembles you completely but is fundamentally different. Sometimes this sensation is merely odd; at other times, it can become deeply unsettling. This was the case for Ella Purnell, who plays Jackie in Yellowjackets, during the making of the second season.

Following the tragic demise of her character, Jackie, who froze to death after a heated argument with her best friend Shauna, Purnell's portrayal took a haunting turn. Jackie's body was later placed on a funeral pyre, and in a desperate act driven by hunger, the other characters resorted to cannibalism, consuming her remains.

Although Purnell had limited scenes in Season 2, primarily as a ghost watching over her former best friend, the production team ensured she remained informed about the show's developments while she was busy filming her lead role in Amazon Prime's Fallout. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she recounted a particularly surreal experience during this time:

“I was actually really slow at reading the script. They would send me the scripts for Season 2, even though I wasn't necessarily in it. I was filming 'Fallout,' and I was very overwhelmed, and so I was being really slow with reading them. And then, out of nowhere, I got all of these texts and selfies from the Yellowjackets cast with my charred corpse. And, in a weird way, it really did look like me, even though you can't really see any details. It was just her charred body, but it's my body. So it was mostly funny, but it was also a little bit disconcerting and a little odd.”

Even now, Jackie continues to cast a shadow over the lives of the surviving Yellowjackets characters, despite Purnell moving on to her new project, Fallout.

From the outset, Purnell was aware of her character's fate. "I knew with my first audition," she explained. "I was pretty cautious about TV, and so, at the time, that seemed really appealing. And then when we started filming, I didn't want to die.”

As Purnell grew closer to her fellow cast members on Yellowjackets, she approached the writers, pleading for a way to extend Jackie's time on the series. “So they thought about it,” she noted. “And then they called me and were like, ‘She's got to go. We tried. We did our best.’”

Despite her efforts, Purnell could not sway the writers to spare Jackie, and her shocking end—along with the subsequent act of cannibalism—has been regarded as one of the most disturbing moments in a series filled with harrowing twists. While it was challenging for her to be on the sidelines as the show gained popularity, Purnell harbors no regrets. “We really formed such a close bond,” she shared, reflecting on her time with the cast.

As Yellowjackets continues to capture the audience's imagination, Purnell's experiences both on and off the screen remain a compelling part of the series' narrative.