When the third season ofYellowjackets begins, teenage goalie Van Palmer (Liv Hewson) has surmounted many of the challenges that initially beset the characters of the hit Showtime drama.
Following surviving a plane crash in the Canadian mountains, Van and the rest of her girls’ soccer team survive a killer winter, build new shelters, and hunt animals, not each other, for food. But one never knows what awaits in a show famous for deranged acts of violence, potentially supernatural forces, and twisting mysteries.
While their life is far from that of a teenager stranded in the wilderness (although they were jokingly labeled a "notable carnivore" by family members as a kid), Hewson is thriving. The 29-year-old Australian actor says they feel strong and have a “clarity of purpose and a sense of my worth, and my own right to be here and take up space in the industry and in the world” that they’ve never felt before. After working for over a decade as an out nonbinary actor, Hewson knows the goals they want to reach, and that does not involve accepting any arguments or scrutiny about their existence and identity.
"That is a foundational starting point for me, that I have a right to be here. I have a right to be treated with dignity and respect and to move through the world with the same dignity and respect as everybody else," they say. "And people like me, foundationally, have and deserve that too, no matter what."
Nonbinary actor Liv Hewson
JJ GEIGER
Like Hewson, the character they play on Yellowjackets is queer. She’s in a lesbian relationship with her teammate and fellow survivor Taissa Turner (Jasmin Savoy Brown).
Three years in, Hewson is better than ever as Van, and part of that is due to the confidence Hewson, who underwent top surgery in 2023, gained through transitioning.
"Every time I have moved towards myself, it’s always gotten easier," they say. "And I think a lot of people can probably relate to this. It’s like when I move towards who I know myself to be, doing things like coming out publicly, or undergoing gender-affirming surgery, or speaking frankly and unapologetically about who I am, and how I like to be spoken about, and how I like to be treated, what I need, and what is right. Then the strength self-enforces from there."
That confidence in their queerness shines in their onscreen chemistry with Brown. Van and Taissa, especially popular among fans of "problematic" lesbian characters, get deeper into their relationship in this new season.
"Jasmin and I feel a lot of ownership over the work that we do together in creating the relationship on screen and in telling the story of the relationship…" they say. "I mean, the two of us have always really connected about that and prioritized it. So it’s very special. And Jasmin’s such a wonderful teammate to have in telling the story and in working on this job, but also to work with as an actor and to be on this journey with."
Van Palmer (Liv Hewson) looks at Taissa Turner (Jasmin Savoy Brown) in the tv show Yellowjackets
KAILEY SCHWERMAN/PARAMOUNT+ WITH SHOWTIME
Their confidence has also shown up off-screen, where they’ve been a vocal supporter of awards shows creating gender-neutral acting categories (they declined to submit for the 2023 Emmys due to the show’s gendered categories).
Now that some voting bodies — like the Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards, and MTV Movie & TV Awards — have instituted gender-neutral categories for several years, Hewson hopes to see more mainstream awards events adopt the practice. "I love it," they say excitedly. "It demonstrates to me that it is fundamentally and just literally possible. It is doable."
They say that for many, the idea that the basic structure of these shows can change has an "attitude of fear around it…. So to see more independent awards shows just literally do it and there’d be no problems…[is] incredibly validating, and it’s satisfying, and it makes me excited."
On Yellowjackets, the troubles of Hewson’s character are far from over — as evidenced by the antics of adult Van (Lauren Ambrose). (For the uninitiated, Yellowjackets jumps back and forth in time between the survivalist teen soccer team and their older selves, portrayed by the stellar Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, and Simone Kessell, in addition to Ambrose.) But like Van, Hewson is a survivor.
"The more that I’m honest about myself and the more that I step into the world without a sense of fear or apology or inferiority, I discover that that feels good and that I am protecting myself by doing that," they say. "I'm respecting myself by doing that. And it gets easier the more I do it. I have a sense of my own strength the more I use my own strength, and then it becomes untouchable. It’s like climbing a ladder. Then you arrive at a view and you’re like, ‘Oh, this was here the whole time. This is where I’m supposed to be. Great. Now I can actually start living my life."
Yellowjackets season 3 is currently airing on Showtime and Paramount+.
This article is part of the Out March/April issue, which hits newsstands April 1. Support queer media and subscribe— or download the issue through Apple News, Zinio, Nook, or PressReader starting March 20.
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