Simone Kessell Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Did that just happen?! From Better Call Saul to The Rehearsal and Stranger Things, TV in 2022 has been full of absolutely shocking moments.

EXCLUSIVE: Australian streamer Stan has today unveiled a 25-strong slate, adding scripted titles from Matchbox Pictures and the producers behind Colin From Accounts, acquisitions from the UK and U.S. and a new version of Drag Race to its ranks.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Alfre Woodard has joined the cast of the upcoming Apple TV+ drama series “The Last Frontier,” Variety has learned exclusively. Woodard joins previously announced series lead Jason Clarke in the show, as well as cast members Haley Bennett, Dominic Cooper, Simone Kessell, Tait Blum, and “Reservation Dogs” alum Dallas Goldtooth.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Dallas Goldtooth has joined the cast of the upcoming Apple TV+ drama series “The Last Frontier,” Variety has learned exclusively. Goldtooth joins previously announced series lead Jason Clarke in the show as well as cast members Haley Bennett, Dominic Cooper, and Simone Kessell. Apple has given the show a 10-episode order.

EXCLUSIVE: Simone Kessell (Yellowjackets) is set as a series regular opposite Jason Clarke in The Last Frontier, Apple TV+’s upcoming drama series from Jon Bokenkamp (The Blacklist) and Richard D’Ovidio (The Call). The series received a 10-episode series order in February 2023.

The third season of Yellowjackets will not be premiering until 2025, Deadline has learned.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “Yellowjackets” composers and songwriters Craig Wedren and Anna Waronker jumped at the chance to write the original music and lyrics contender “Sit Right Down” for Episode 7 of the Showtime series.“We were deep into the blood, fragmentation, descent and sanity-shattering music,” Wedren says, referring to the events that the survivors have to endure this season. The producers asked them to write an “MGM, old school standard number meets Bob Fosse.” The dream sequence happens as Simone Kessell’s Lottie asks the adult Yellowjackets to choose a therapy option treatment at her “wellness retreat.” Misty, played by Christina Ricci, finds herself in a sensory tank after picking “Guidance.” She needs it. In the teen timeline, Misty (played by Samantha Hanratty) makes a new bestie in Crystal, a fellow theater lover. Except, Misty’s openness with her BFF during a round of rapid-fire secrets comes to a sad end when Misty confesses she sabotaged the flight’s black box recorder. Mortified, Crystal asks if Misty will “poison her,” to which she replies “I’ll fucking kill you.” Moments later, Crystal has accidentally fallen off the cliff to her death. Meanwhile, adult Misty is racking up the “deaths” after kidnapping and spiking a reporter’s cigarette.

After eight prior episodes full of cannibalism, trauma and plenty of unexpected twists, ended season 2 with a shocking finale, which included a very emotional death that caught my by surprise. And it's an episode that Simone Kessell, who plays adult Lottie, thinks will leave fans just as divided as the show's ensemble was.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor SPOILER ALERT: This contains spoilers from “Yellowjackets” Season 2, now streaming on Showtime. Is adult Lottie Matthews OK? That’s the question asked by viewers at the start of Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” Season 2. Charlotte, as she calls herself, played by Simone Kessell (“Obi-Wan Kenobi,” “The Night Agent”), runs a “wellness center” or mental health retreat. She seems to be on a path to recovery after teen Lottie and her fellow Yellowjackets survived for 19 months in the wilderness. But, a closer look at Kessell’s character, who clads herself in lush silk caftans, visually reflects her descent into madness through the transition from marigolds and yellow to blue and darker shades.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “It Chooses,” Episode 8 of “Yellowjackets” Season 2, now streaming on Showtime. In the last moments of the Season 1 finale of “Yellowjackets,” viewers were tipped to the fact that Lottie was alive and well, and out there somewhere in the world. In the show’s second season, the adult version of Lottie, played by Simone Kessell, is revealed to be running a wellness center in Upstate New York — and there’s been an air of doubt around her. Can she be trusted or not? As it turns out, not. Lottie’s sessions with her therapist have been purely a figment of her imagination, and she’s still haunted by the Antler Queen, as well as her past in the wilderness.

Having a work and life balance. Simone Kessell makes a continued effort to separate herself from her role as adult Lottie in Showtime’s Yellowjackets.

Yellowjackets has returned for a second season, and some of its horrifying scenes have left fans wondering if it’s all based on true events.Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the mystery thriller series follows a girls’ football team in 1996 who, while travelling to a tournament in Seattle, crash-land in the Canadian wilderness and are left stranded for nineteen months. Between their attempts to survive, the show also jumps to their adult lives in the present day.Early episodes in the second season have introduced the show’s first acts of cannibalism, which were teased in the first run of episodes.The series’ first season received seven nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards last year, including Outstanding Drama Series and acting nods for Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci.Tawny Cypress, Ella Purnell, Sophie Nelisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Sammi Hanratty and Juliette Lewis also star in the series.New additions to the cast for season two include Lauren Ambrode (Six Feet Under) as the adult version of Vanessa Palmer, Simone Kessell (Obi-Wan Kenobi) as the adult version of Courtney Eaton, and Elijah Wood (The Lord Of The Rings) as citizen detective Walter.While the show itself isn’t based on a true story, creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson have confirmed that it was partly inspired by two real-life events: The Donner Party and the 1972 Andes Flight Disaster.The Donner Party was a group of 19th century American pioneers who attempted to migrate to California from the Midwest on wagons.

EXCLUSIVE: Waco: The Aftermath has proved to be a streaming win for Showtime.

Seven-time Grammy winner Alanis Morissette has released the new single, “No Return” (Extended Version), a reworked version of Yellowjackets’ main title theme song.  Morissette’s new take on the theme, written by Yellowjackets composers Craig Wedren and Anna Waronker, debuted in the fourth episode of the series’ second season. You can listen to it above.

Season 2 of Yellowjackets had a buzzy premiere week.

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains plot points from the season premiere of Yellowjackets on Showtime.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Following one of the most shocking finale episodes in recent TV history, the highly anticipated second season of “Yellowjackets” is finally here. The Emmy-nominated series arrives on Showtime on Friday, March 24 but will also be available to stream for free on Paramount+ beginning Sunday, March 26. The Showtime breakout hit — which stars Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Juliette Lewis and Christina Ricci, among others — follows a high school soccer team after a near-fatal plane crash leaves them deserted in a remote location in the wilderness. The girls find themselves at the center of a “Lord of the Flies”-inspired survival horror story in the 19 brutal months before they’re rescued.

Yellowjackets kicks off its second season this month.Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the mystery thriller series follows a girls’ football team in 1996 who, while travelling to a tournament in Seattle, crash-land in the Canadian wilderness and are left stranded for nineteen months. Between their attempts to survive, the show also jumps to their adult lives in the present day.The show’s first season received seven nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards last year, including Outstanding Drama Series and acting nods for Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci.Other members of the cast include Tawny Cypress, Ella Purnell, Sophie Nelisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Sammi Hanratty and Juliette Lewis.The exact number of episodes hasn’t been officially confirmed.

“Yellowjackets” has returned, and if you thought things couldn’t get any more wild on the Showtime drama series, prepare to be proven wrong. Season 2 continues the bifurcated storylines of the titular soccer team stranded after a plane crash in the 1990s, and the grown-up survivors dealing with their past trauma in present day.New revelations, expanded mythology and new characters permeate the new season as the story barrels forward, with Shauna (Melanie Lynskey, Sophie Nélisse), Taissa (Tawny Cypress, Jasmin Savoy Brown), Misty (Christina Ricci, Sammi Hanratty), Natalie (Juliette Lewis, Sophie Thatcher) all returning.Elijah Wood joins the cast as Walter, a citizen detective, while Lauren Ambrose appears in Season 2 as the adult version of Van (played in the 1990s timeline by Liv Hewson) and Simone Kessell plays the adult version of Lottie (played in the ‘90s by Courtney Eaton).The new season picks up pretty immediately after Season 1 left off, with the survivors dealing with a harsh winter and dwindling food supply back in 1996 while the present day versions of the characters find that their past continues to haunt them in significant ways.

know a thing or two about survival onscreen — and off. In the breakout Showtime series, Christina Ricci, Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Tawny Cypress, Lauren Ambrose and Simone Kessell each play the adult versions of members of the Wiskayok High School girls soccer team, who survived a horrific plane crash that left them stranded in the Ontario wilderness. ET's Deidre Behar spoke with each of the actresses -- who have all successfully navigated their careers -- and asked them about their secrets to surviving and thriving in Hollywood. «When I first started, and still as adults, this career has always been an escape for me,» Ricci told ET.

Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, Melanie Lynskey, and Tawny Cypress look amazing at the premiere of their Showtime series, Yellowjackets!

know a thing or two about survival onscreen — and off. In the breakout Showtime series, Christina Ricci, Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Tawny Cypress, Lauren Ambrose and Simone Kessell each play the adult versions of members of the Wiskayok High School girls soccer team, who survived a horrific plane crash that left them stranded in the Ontario wilderness. ET's Deidre Behar spoke with each of the actresses -- who have all successfully navigated their careers -- and asked them about their secrets to surviving and thriving in Hollywood. «When I first started, and still as adults, this career has always been an escape for me,» Ricci told ET.

returns with season 2, it will include the addition of two new major characters: the adult versions of Lottie and Van, played by Simone Kessell and Lauren Ambrose, respectively. The two actresses join the Showtime drama as it continues to explore what happened to a group of teenagers who survived a horrific plane crash and their respective adult versions who have been forced to reckon with what went on when they were stranded in the wilderness. While speaking to ET, both Kessell and Ambrose talk about what it was like joining the ensemble cast and working with their counterparts, Courtney Eaton and Liv Hewson, who originated the younger versions of their characters in the past timeline. «It was amazing,» Ambrose said of joining the likes of Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, Melanie Lynskey and Tawny Cypress, who were established as the core grownup survivors in season 1 before it was revealed that others had made it out alive.  The star, who's «admired their work for long,» added that she was «really excited to be able to join in and continue telling the story of [these characters].»  Cypress then joked that «there was a hazing period» for the newcomers.

“Once upon a time, there was a place called the wilderness…”

Julia MacCary editor Showtime has released the trailer for Season 2 of the Emmy-nominated series “Yellowjackets,” which is accompanied by Florence + the Machine’s new cover of No Doubt’s 1995 hit “Just a Girl.” The psychological horror series follows a high school soccer team that survives a plane crash in 1996, only to be left deep in the Canadian woods. Through a mix of flashbacks and present day, the show depicts how the athletes transitioned from an elite team into a savage clan. The second season picks up two months after Shauna disregarded Jackie with bad results. The tensions have grown within the team with winter conditions intensifying, leaving the girls to make impossible decisions to survive.

The trailer for season 2 of Yellowjackets has finally debuted online and it’s teasing three timelines this season!

returns, Showtime has finally debuted the official trailer for season 2, which will follow the remaining survivors as winter sets in where they've been stranded and their adult counterparts who are trying to keep the secrets of what happened to them 25 years prior from going public. And thankfully, the new extended look set to an exclusive new Florence + The Machine cover of No Doubt's «Just a Girl» is as cryptic and twisted as we've come to expect from the series in the time leading up to the new episodes. «Once upon a time, there was a place called the wilderness. It was beautiful but it was also violent and misunderstood,» young Van (Liv Hewson) says, while the trailer shows clips of her fellow soccer teammates out in the snow-covered woods.

Showtime has dropped another trailer for season two of Yellowjackets, which will return for its second season Friday, March 24 on streaming and on demand for subscribers. It’ll make its on-air debut Sunday, March 26 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.  

Florence Welch is teasing Yellowjackets Season 2 with a cover from No Doubt’s 90’s hit “Just a Girl.” The singer shared a video on Instagram

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large As Showtime prepares to launch Season 2 of its hit thriller “Yellowjackets,” the network is bringing the show to Austin’s South by Southwest festival next month via a three-day interactive popup. “Camp Yellowjackets” will open the first weekend of SXSW, from Friday, March 10 to Sunday, March 12, at the Fair Market in Austin. The installation kicks off with a private opening event on Friday, and then will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT on Saturday and Sunday. The “Camp Yellowjackets” experience will create the look of a 1990s-era summer camp that has been abandoned. Visitors will be able to spot hidden Easter eggs from the show while exploring the campsite. Among the activities on site will be ax throwing, BBQ and specialty cocktails. Fans can sign up to attend at CampYellowjackets.com.

So far, it looks like Elijah Wood has one of the more astute quotes from Yellowjackets’ second season.