Married writing duo Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson created one of the liveliest series of the 2021-22 season with “Yellowjackets,” in which we have yet to see exactly how the “Lord of the Lord” women’s soccer team behaves. Flies” after plane crashes. in the desert
The argument for the stunning savagery of the girls, and their traumatized adult counterparts, has been made terrifyingly well in the series, which is nominated for seven Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama, Outstanding Writing, and acting nominations for Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci. .
The creators of the series, who share showrunning duties with Jonathan Lisco, are currently preparing for Season 2, but took the time to discuss their nominations and some of their biggest influences with TheWrap.
TheWrap: Congratulations on all of your nominations. Which ones are you most proud of?
bart nickerson: Best drama, right? Does that make me an idiot? And act because they are all phenomenal. But Best Drama…. It seemed so far removed from my entire experience that I couldn’t imagine being nominated. There are so many contributions that, for a variety of reasons, they are not mentioned individually, so to be nominated for something that [includes the] theme music, props, cast, writing, production, everything – I can be a fan of all of his work without feeling like I’m becoming a narcissist.
Ashley Lyle: Looking at the other shows that were nominated, it still feels very surreal to be considered in the same category as them. That has been a real thrill.
It seems like the perfect time for “Yellowjackets.” If it had come out a few years ago, do you think it would have been considered too dark and weird?
Lyle: We are fortunate that other shows have paved the way because traditionally I feel that shows that include gender elements are less likely to be nominated. It certainly helped that “Stranger Things” was nominated earlier. It is now more recognized that shows don’t have to be just a straightforward drama to be nominated. Shows like “Succession” that have a dark comedic flair. [are being recognized] also. I think voters are now more open to different kinds of shows, and we’ve certainly benefited from that.
Nickerson: Did “Twin Peaks” Get Anything the First Time? It always makes me happy that it was so popular when it came out because it was so different from everything. [else]. They should have gotten an Emmy. [In its two-season run, the ’90s David Lynch series was nominated for Best Drama, and Best Writing, Best Directing, with two acting nods each going to Kyle MacLachlan and Piper Laurie, and one to Sherilyn Fenn.]
Did “Twin Peaks” influence “Yellowjackets” in any way?
Lyle: Absolutely. I mean, not consciously, necessarily, although we occasionally talk about it in the writers’ room. But overall, Lynch has had such an incredible influence on our personal aesthetics and storytelling because he paved the way for absolute weirdness to reign. I don’t think we necessarily have Lynchi’s stature in terms of the sheer control he has over the sheer weirdness of his world, but [he’s] certainly an influence.
Nickerson: I feel like there are a million things that he’s been inspired by, but perhaps one of the most important, at least for “Yellowjackets,” is that Lynch does a very serious job and clearly cares a lot about his craft. But what’s on the screen can also be fun and whimsical, and those things can very easily co-exist. And not only coexist, but reinforce each other. Sometimes, yeah, it’s deep and it’s layered, and it’s level. And it’s meaningful, but it’s also a lot of fun.
Both are nominated as writers for the first two episodes. Can you talk about your writing process?
Lyle: I think we’re writers first and foremost, so we couldn’t be more excited about [being nominated]. We are very deliberate with our scripts. We wrote incredibly detailed schematics, and we worked really hard on them and we worked hard on them as a group. We have a fantastic writers room.
Nickerson: It’s amazing to be nominated for two episodes. The pilot and the second episodes are something we are incredibly proud of. And it was great to write [the second episode] with Jonathan Lisco, our showrunning partner. We’ve been lucky that he’s not only a great writer, but we get along and approach things the same way. And we have these incredibly brilliant and fabulous writers. It starts in the room, and we talk about the whole season, and then you dole out the individual episodes. It is very much a team sport. I just want to knock on all wood, all the time, because it’s gone so incredibly well with our collaborators that I hope we haven’t used up all our good luck.
How do you feel about being compared to “Lost”?
Lyle: It’s funny, because I don’t think our show is necessarily similar to “Lost.” The mystery element and mythology of that show was a central part of it. We certainly have an element of that, and there’s certainly mystery involved in our show, but I think it’s not that central, in a way. I really enjoyed that show. I know it can be very divisive, and it seems like maybe not all the threads were followed to their conclusion, but at the same time…what a ride. I think people sometimes lose sight of how fun that show was to watch when you first watched it.
Nickerson: I also don’t want everything to be always answered. Like, I do and I don’t, because a lot of what made “Lost” so engrossing was the mystery, not just the mystery of what happened, but the kind of recovery of the creepiness of being alive. You can’t give all the answers and keep that creepy. We’re surrounded by this unknown of being alive, and to have something that distills that so viscerally, I think that’s a huge win and that you can’t solve everything. Because that’s where that magic part lives.
Are you saying you’re not going to answer every question you raise on the show?
Lyle: When we deliberately ask a question, like “Who is blackmailing the Yellowjackets?”, we will always have an answer. But when we’re dealing with something that’s more metaphysical or existential, how could we have the answer because we as humans don’t necessarily have the answer? Certainly, we never intend to leave the audience hanging with very direct questions that we pose. But at the same time, there are things for which there are no answers.
Nickerson: I think our main goal is that everything is satisfactory. I don’t think we want to leave anyone hanging. But I think there are some things that are beyond our ability to respond.
Right, does Lottie have supernatural powers? She Summoned that bear?
Lyle: We strongly believe that it should be open to interpretation. It was a coincidence? Or was there something bigger at stake? I think that’s a question that, if we tried to answer it very specifically and concretely, would actually undermine some of the questions that we’re asking on the show.
You’ve said that season 2 is going to be darker and weirder. Can you elaborate on that?
Lyle: It’s all pretty secret at this point. We had dinner the other night with Jamie Travis, who is the director of the show, and he’s going to direct one of the first episodes of Season 2. And we were pitching him not just his episode, but the story in general, and he was gasping a lot.
Production on season 2 of “Yellowjackets” will begin in late August and is expected to wrap up in February.
