Yellowjackets is one of the best and queerest shows on television, period. Weaving together two timelines in the lives of a group of soccer players who crash-landed in the woods and were forced to survive, and the traumatized — and dangerous — adults they became the show has quickly solidified itself as must-watch Sapphic programming.
The series not only features queer love, but a cast stacked with LGBTQ+ folks, allies, and forever favorites like Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Liv Hewson.
While this show alone is enough to make them forever queer faves, it turns out that for many of the cast, this is just their latest foray into presenting LGBTQ+ rep on the big and small screen.
So if you're just as obsessed with Yellowjackets as we are, here are all the times they starred in queer roles (and where to watch them).
Melanie Lynskey - Shauna (adult)
There is a reason that Melanie Lynskey is an absolute queer icon. Not only is she a proud pusher of the “homosexual agenda" every chance she gets, but she has also starred in several queer roles — some of which were roots for an entire generation of Sapphics.
Lynskey’s breakout role was in the 1994, Peter Jackson-directed film Heavenly Creatures. She starred opposite Kate Winslet and depicted the true story of Pauline Parker and her friend Juliet Hulme whose ill-fated romance and obsession led to murder in the 1950s.
In 1999 Lynskey starred alongside Clea Duvall and Natasha Lyonne in the lesbian classic But I'm a Cheerleader. Lynskey played Hilary, a teen going through conversion therapy.
Of course, Lynskey made an appearance in The L Word. She popped up in season five of the beloved lesbian series as Clea Mason who flirted with Alice. Aw, what could have been?
She also starred in the quirky lesbian short film, The Nearly Unadventurous Life of Zoe Cadwaulder which sees her as a young woman who overcomes her phobias and finds her Sapphic soulmate.
Jasmin Savoy Brown - Taissa (teen)
Out and proud IRL, Jasmin Savoy Brown has also made a career of representing queer characters on the screen — specifically in the horror genre.
Brown plays, reoccurring fan-fave, Mindy Meeks-Martin in the Scream franchise. Mindy first appeared in Scream 5 as the horror movie expert who lays out the rules of survival, returned in 6 with an ill-fated romance, and is set to come back again (and hopefully survive) the upcoming seventh entry in the franchise.
But before that Brown starred in Sound of Violence as a queer young woman with synesthesia. As a child, she witnessed the murder of her parents by a serial killer, and as a result, she experiences pleasure at the sound of human pain.
Tawny Cypress - Taissa (adult)
Tawny Cypress, who plays Brown’s adult counterpart is also out and proud in real life. While Taissa is her first fictional queer role on screen, she did lend her IRL queerness to the documentary Queer for Fear where she discussed Mary Shelley, queer mother of horrors contributions to the genre.
Liv Hewson - Teen Van (teen)
Nonbinary, Australian actor Liv Hewson is staying busy with their role in Yellowjackets and the upcoming “feminist mystery series” He Had it Coming on the way, but Van isn't their only queer role.
They rang in the holiday season in 2019 with Let it Snow.
Lauren Ambrose - adult Van (adult)
Before Lauren Ambrose starred in Yellowjackets and made us fall in love with the VHS-slinging adult version of Van, she starred as Claire in Six Feet Under which saw the youngest sibling of that family exploring her bisexuality in college.
Christina Ricci - adult Misty (adult)
While so far Christina Ricci’s character, Misty, hasn’t been depicted as queer (but it's Yellowjackets so chances are good that will change) she has always been a Sapphic fave, both for her queer-coded roles in Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain and Now and Then when she was a teen, but for her incredible and heartbreaking portrayal of Selby Wall, the real-life lover of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in 2003’s Monster. Oh, and there was that one time she kissed Ashley Greene on her short-lived series Pan-Am.
Juliette Lewis - Natalie (adult)
We’re still not over how things ended for adult Natalie in the season two finale, in large part to just how incredibly Juliette Lewis played that role.
The same can be said of her portrayal in Sacred Lies: Singing Bones in which she played Harper a telemarketer with a passion for with solving "Jane Doe" crimes on the side — and for making out with with a CSI tech played by Orange is the New Black’s Kimiko Glenn.
Ella Purnell - Jackie
While shippers will never forgive the show for not making Jackie and Shauna canon, one thing is clear: Ella Purnell is the literal voice of Sapphic geeks everywhere. Not only did she lend those dulcet tones to the role of nonbinary alien teen Gwyn in Star Trek: Prodigy, but as the bi character Jinx in Arcane.
Nia Sondaya - Akilah
Akilah is quickly becoming one of the most intriguing characters in season three. With her connection to nature, and seeming heel turn she may be the last domino to fall into total chaos. We love to see it.
We also loved to see actress Nia Sondaya as a lesbian teen in love and on the run in the Netflix original Heart Shot.
Steven Krueger - Ben Scott
Before Steven Krueger was closeted gay Coach Ben on Yellowjackets, he had a breakout role in the vampire series The Originals as Josh Rosza a tourist turned vampire sire and lover to lead vampire baddie Marcel. Initially, he was supposed to have a minor role but he quickly became a fan-fave and was promoted to one of the leads.
Sarah Desjardins - Callie Sadecki
Before Sarah Desjardins starred as Callie on Yellowjackets she played the role of Hope on the sci-fi YouTube series Impulse who initially struggled with and then embraced her lesbian identity.