It's hard to imagine the Showtime drama Yellowjackets without Melanie Lynskey as Shauna. But the actress recently revealed that she had almost pressed 'pass' on the role when it was initially offered to her. While Sophie Nélisse has taken the 1996 version of the character to iconic status, it is difficult to picture someone else as the 2021 version of the character.

It has been widely recognized as the right move on the part of the show's creators as they could have cast Nélisse in the older version of the character as well, but they chose to go with a different actress for the role, establishing the subtle changes a person undergoes in their very core over time. While Lynskey does not portray an entirely different Shauna, she sure establishes the growth the character has undergone. In fact, the show follows a similar pairing for all the characters common to the events of 1996 and 2021.

However, in a recent episode of Collider Ladies Night, she narrated the story of how she almost turned this opportunity down, which might have been really disappointing for the fans. She begins by saying how the role had originally landed in her hands after presumably, some actors turned it down.

I’m sure they offered it to 12 people before me. Usually the case is that somebody’s passed on it, so thank you to that person who didn’t see how great it was. But usually that’s the case. I’m not usually first on the list...

But it just came to me, I was doing Mrs. America, I had a newborn child, I was exhausted and I had to say to my agent, ‘I don’t want to work. I can’t. It’s too hard. I’m feeling like I’m going crazy.’ And she said, ‘Well, an offer just came in for a pilot. Just read it and I’ll respectfully pass.’ And then I read it and I was like, ‘Well, shit. Well, now I have to do it.’ And she was like, ‘Are you sure? You just told me you don’t want to do anything.’ And I said, ‘No, I am sure. Let me have a talk to them. If they sound like psychopaths then I’ll say no.’ But they were awesome. I talked to Ashley [Lyle] and Bart [Nickerson], the creators of the show, and Karyn Kusama who directed the pilot and Drew [Comins], one of the producers, and they just were all so great.

Yellowjackets follows the story of a high school girls soccer team in the year 1996 as they gear up to participate in nationals. However, on the way there, their plane crashes and they’re forced to do whatever it takes to survive out in the wilderness for 19 months. While portraying the events of 1996, the show also follows these characters in 2021 as they try to move on with their lives while their past haunts them at every turn.

Just concluding the first season on the 16th, the Showtime drama is currently gearing up for its second season.