'Yellowjackets' actress Samantha Hanratty unpacks Misty’s bloody new alliance following finale

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers from the season finale of Showtime's "Yellowjackets."

Misty Quigley’s plane crash survival story began as a saving grace for a soccer team in shock on Showtime’s breakout hit “Yellowjackets.”

The quiet, bespectacled equipment manager proved to be a steady hand in the immediate aftermath of the traumatizing plane crash, thanks to her nerves of steel and a double dose of Red Cross babysitter training courses. But in the final moments of Sunday’s first season finale, it would seem the human Swiss Army knife has taken on a new role, as a disciple at the side of rising leader, Lottie (Courtney Eaton).

But is all what it appears to be as Misty and Van (Liv Hewson) kneel at the bleeding heart altar of Lottie’s making?

For fans still shaken by the finale, Samantha Hanratty cautions that her alter ego Misty has a plan – or at least an ulterior motive – as she falls in line with her prophetic and potentially nefarious classmate.

“I think there is a lot going on in Misty’s head,” the actress said of the finale. “There is more than what meets the eye for why she is doing what she is doing. I think she sees an in with Lottie and Van to have some sort of sway in the group again.”

Hanratty shares the role of Misty with Christina Ricci, who plays the character as a devilishly driven and assuredly unhinged adult in the present-day portions of the series. But it’s Hanratty’s teenage Misty back in 1996 who set the tone for the character’s rise to fan-favorite status. Across the first season, she positioned herself a grating but undeniably essential asset to the Yellowjackets as they grappled with survival in the wilderness.

“All the way back in episode two, she had so much power and she was really needed and a necessity, and she loved that,” Hanratty said, acknowledging Misty’s first aid skills. “Slowly but surely though, everyone has had their moments (to show off) their talents.”

Whether it was Akilah (Keeya King) stitching up Van’s mauled face or being pushed aside trying to assist with Shauna’s pregnancy, Misty has watched her importance slip away and she’s desperate to make another power play.

“I think by the finale, she is just looking anywhere and everywhere she can to start to matter again,” Hanratty said. “She is clawing at anything she can. That’s one of the reasons she outed Jackie for not praying because it was her getting a voice in there. She still wants to matter.”

So it makes sense that Misty would capitalize on the finale’s shifting power dynamic in the aftermath of Jackie’s chilling death and Lottie’s ominous warning to “let the darkness set us free.” But what does a new alliance mean for Misty in the already-ordered season two?

Hanratty points back to the pilot episode, when audiences got their first and so-far-only look at the savagery that’s still to come for Yellowjackets. The handful of flash-forward scenes showed the survivors hunting one of their own, trapping her in a pit and then seemingly consuming her flesh in the snowy wilderness. The only face unmasked in those scenes is Misty, who manages to crack a knowing smile even in the grim state of things.

Hanratty was conscious of Misty’s role in that crucial moment, especially since audiences don’t yet know the identity of the shrouded Antler Queen leading her fellow remaining survivors in ritualistic carnage.

“The thing that I remember thinking in my head when we were filming the pilot and I’m looking in the camera giving that smile is that I wanted to tell the audience I know something you don’t know – and that is something Misty loves,” Hanratty said. “She likes being on the inside of something. She’s always been on the outs. In that moment, it is the first glimpse at where she is going.”

The cast does know the identity of the Antler Queen, Hanratty confirmed. But creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson have kept them in the dark on everything else as they head into season two.

“I’m just as big a fan of the show as everyone watching, so I’m really excited to dive into next season because I want to know what is going on,” Hanratty said. “It is going to get very interesting very fast, I can feel it.”

With the Yellowjackets destined to only further unravel, Misty might be one of the few who can thrive in the unknown that lies ahead. 

But what ultimately drives this young woman who is getting to live out the fantasy of many a bullied teenager, now given a front row seat to watch her tormentors meet karma face to face?

“For Misty, watching this chaos that she creates is exciting and interesting,” Hanratty said. “It’s fun, I think for her, to see people who are usually so powerful be so vulnerable and she is always going to try and weasel herself into any of that power that she can.”