Yellowjackets alum Simone Kessell is laughing off the fact that she’s found herself in another series involving a plane crash in Canada, this time with Apple TV+’s The Last Frontier.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Kessell, 50, joked about the coincidence between her new role and her previous one. “Originally, I was like, ‘What is it with Canada?’ Plus the plane crash and the wilderness,” she said.
The actress admitted that fans have also noticed the pattern. “I’ve had people on social media saying, ‘Hey, don’t get on a plane with Simone,’” she said with a laugh. “I know that is very funny. But I’m not on the plane [in this one]. There are similarities for sure.”
Still, Kessell emphasized that The Last Frontier offers a very different tone from Yellowjackets. “This is more of an action thriller. And I think I have sanity perhaps on my side with this role, unlike our beautiful Lottie from Yellowjackets. So in this sense, it is quite different once we get into it.”
The Showtime hit Yellowjackets, which premiered in 2021, follows a high school girls’ soccer team stranded in the Canadian wilderness after a plane crash. The survivors endure 19 harrowing months before being rescued, during which they turn to cannibalism. The show also features a present-day storyline revisiting the survivors decades later.
Kessell joined Yellowjackets in season 2 as adult Lottie, a role that ended with her character’s death earlier this year. She now stars opposite Jason Clarke, Dominic Cooper, and Haley Bennett in The Last Frontier, which premiered Friday, October 10, on Apple TV+.
The series introduces viewers to U.S. Marshal Frank (Clarke), who must protect his Alaskan town after a plane crash sets several dangerous fugitives free. Kessell plays Frank’s wife, Sarah, a nurse who brings far more depth to the story than the typical “worried spouse.”
“It’s incredibly important not to play the worried wife at home,” Kessell explained. “As the character unfolds, she is carrying her own trauma, which we find out later in the season. Something horrific has happened to her and their family. I did not want to play the candy-coated, one-note wife that we’ve seen time and time again.”
She continued, “On the page, she was never written like that, which is why I was so intrigued to play Sarah. It could have easily become, ‘Please don’t go to work, Frank. I’m worried about you,’ but it was never like that.”
Kessell praised the show’s commitment to realism in portraying relationships. “You’ve seen so many phony relationships between husband and wife, but that’s not Sarah, and that’s what I love about her,” she said. “I wanted to make sure Sarah was real and played her incredibly realistically.”
She also credited her chemistry with Clarke for helping the dynamic feel authentic. “Getting to work with Jason day in and day out was such a thrill. We are dear friends, so much so that we can bicker, get pissed off, and correct each other.
If he’s dropped a line or I’ve dropped a line, we call each other out. It’s real, and it plays on the screen,” she said. “Their relationship is essential to the craziness of the world. Every time we see them, it’s the quiet and calm before the storm.”
New episodes of The Last Frontier stream Fridays on Apple TV+.