How Zendaya’s Successful ‘Euphoria’ Emmys Run Could Help Younger ‘Yellowjackets’ Stars Fly
variety.comJennifer Maas TV Business WriterZendaya made history in 2020 when, at age 24, the “Euphoria” star became the youngest actor to win the Emmy for lead actress in a drama for her role on the first sea- son of the HBO show.
The victory was a highly celebrated upset that proved acclaim for a show centered on teens is possible when on the rare occasion it breaks through with older audiences.While “Euphoria” is still in the game, Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” has also buzzed its way into the awards conversation, and roughly 50% of that is thanks to the show’s younger stars.“‘Yellowjackets’ is so unique in showing just how complicated and messy humans are, never mind teenagers,” says Samantha Hanratty, who plays teen Misty vs.
Christina Ricci’s present-day version of the character in the survivalist thriller. “We have so much going on already, and then you add a plane crash element to it and survival and then it becomes, who can people trust?
And when you don’t have any- body to trust, having to just find your own voice. Basically, these girls are having to figure out who the heck they are in the midst of chaos and puberty.” Along with Hanratty’s Misty and Ella Purnell’s Jackie, the ’90s- set cast of “Yellowjackets” is led by Sophie Nélisse (teen Shauna), Jasmin Savoy Brown (teen Taissa) and Sophie Thatcher (teen Natalie), who play the younger, lost-in-the-wild counterparts to Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress and Juliette Lewis, respectively, the survivor characters trying to work through their past trauma in the present.“We are definitely more of a network for adults, but we have young women watching many of our shows,” says Showtime president Gary Levine. “In a sense, if we build it, they do come.
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