Secret’s Out! Hilary Swank on Her Intense ‘Yellowjackets’ Role and the ‘Pure Delight’ of That Bite Scene With Melanie Lynskey

The weekly guessing game of who Hilary Swank would be playing on “Yellowjackets” came to a definitive end during the March 28 episode, when it was revealed in the present-day timeline she stars as Melissa (portrayed by Jenna Burgess in the ’90s timeline). Earlier this season, teen Melissa became a more prominent character and eventually, began a romantic relationship with teen Shauna (Sophie Nélisse).

During Friday’s episode, Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) arrives at the Virginia home of Hannah (Ashley Sutton)’s adult daughter, whom she thinks has been stalking and harassing her, and is the person behind the incriminating tape. She’s shocked (while hiding in a closet!) to find out that Melissa (Swank) is not only alive — she had faked her death years before — but is married to Hannah’s daughter, who has no idea who she really is.

“I love the idea of all the psychology behind what makes someone tick who’s been through such trauma,” Swank tells Variety of her reaction to the showrunners’ initial pitch for adult Melissa, which was brought to her about two weeks before filming began. “People who have been through that intense of a past, how do you move on? When is it triggered? How is it triggered? And what choices do you make from there? All of that is really intriguing to me.”

There wasn’t a script ready for her to read, but after the creators shared their plans, she was in. Swank was only on set for six days, and had never met Lynskey before — but was thrown into quite a scene. When their characters begin fighting, Shauna ultimately bites Melissa’s arm before force-feeding her a piece of it.

“We knew of each other’s work and were fans of each other. It was a true and pure delight,” she says of working with Lynskey. “I love how unexpected she is. It’s really fun to hit, serve and return to someone like that.”

They had to film the bite scene only a few times, but the experience was very entertaining to both of them.

“The process is just funny,” Swank says. “The idea of something like this happening, it’s like we’re 2-year-olds, because we are stunted emotionally from our experiences. So how do we deal with it? How am I gonna make you listen to me? I’m gonna bite a piece of your arm!”

Melissa “really feels like she’s moved on” and is proud of the work she’s done, Swank says — but being around Shauna isn’t good for her. “It’s not until something happens that does trigger her — starting with the arm bite, and maybe some of the things that Shauna has said to her that start creeping back into her head — and start the spiral. It kind of hits this crescendo of, oh my gosh, I’m remembering. You feel like you’re gonna die again and it brings out the side of you that you thought you had buried.”

As for whether Shauna is right to think that Melissa is trying to kill her, Swank says: “I didn’t play it like that. I really feel like she was trying to find peace in her life, and that she was really trying to move on.”

Swank wasn’t a “Yellowjackets” viewer when she landed the role. “I had watched the pilot, but to be honest, it’s too violent for me as an audience member,” she says. Luckily, meeting Burgess on set was a big help in the prep process.

“She was able to infuse the work that I would have done! Had it been a film where you have it all spelled out and you have a throughline, I would have done all that character history research,” Swank says. “Even stuff that you wouldn’t see, you do all that research. She was able to say, ‘This is where we were, and this is what we felt about each other.’ She did my homework for me!”