Yellowjackets star Christina Ricci reveals why she’s never cast as the girl next door

This former child star is known for playing mysterious characters, but she really takes it up a notch in her award-winning series.

There seems to be a commonality in the characters Christina Ricci plays on screen: dark, mysterious and unusual – and that’s how she prefers it.

Known for her roles in the Sleepy Hollow, Casper and The Addams Family, where she plays the reserved and macabre Wednesday Addams, Ricci strikes the perfect balance between spooky and quirky.

And she does it again, returning as Misty Quigley in Season 3 of the award-winning series Yellowjackets, which is now streaming on Paramount+. Part underdog, part villain, Misty is far from the girl next door – and it’s the exact character Ricci loves to play.

Christina Ricci attends the Yellowjackets Season 3 premiere on February 13 in LA. Picture: Jesse Grant/Getty Images

“I guess I’m not very normal as a human being,” the 45-year-old tells news.com.au while promoting the new season. “I’ve never been able to be the girl next door or any of those things.”

“I think it is more comfortable for me to play people who are more complicated or deviate a little bit from the norm. I also find human behaviour really fascinating and I find that happy people don’t really do anything that’s very interesting.”

Ricci plays the mysterious Misty Quigley in Yellowjackets. Picture: Kailey Schwerman/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME

The actress is best known for her role as Wednesday in The Addams Family.

She also walked on the dark side in the thriller Sleepy Hollow.

Yellowjackets is an addictive psychological thriller that follows a high school girls’ soccer team whose trip to the national championship goes wrong when their plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness, leaving them stranded.

The twisty thriller jumps from 1996 to the present day and then back again, showing how the trauma the girls endured in the wild have affected their current adult lives.

Samantha Hanratty plays teenage Misty on Yellowjackets.

Hanratty and Ricci portray Misty on the series in flashback and present day scenes. Picture: Colin Bentley/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME

The predominantly female-led cast also stars Melanie Lynskey and Juliette Lewis, who alongside Ricci play the adult version of their characters, Shauna Shipman and Natalie Scatorccio, respectively.

However, a spanner was thrown in the works in the Season 2 cliffhanger finale when Misty accidentally kills Natalie.

Killing off a major character worried Ricci because not only was Natalie an integral part of the storyline, but it meant the cast would lose the talented Juliette Lewis.

“I was worried that [Season 3] wasn’t going to be as great. Juliette is such a presence and I really felt like she would be missed,” Ricci says.

Co-stars Jasmin Savoy Brown, Juliette Lewis, Ricci and Melanie Lynskey at the Season 1 premiere of Yellowjackets back in 2021. Picture: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

“But we do address [her death] in the first couple episodes [of Season 3], which I think probably helps the audience get used to that. If we were to proceed and not even address it, I think that would be the problem.

“But yeah, working with her on the second season, we had some of the best times, and I was sad to go back and know she wasn’t going to be there.”

The series has been nominated for 10 Primetime Emmy Awards since it premiered in 2021, including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Lynskey, and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Ricci.

Last year, Ricci was also nominated for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television at the Golden Globes.

Ricci says it was sad to see Juliette Lewis leave the series at the end of Season 2.

Accolades aside, Ricci is also getting praise at home from her 10-year-old son Freddie, who she shares with her ex-husband, James Heerdegen.

Like many viewers, Freddie was left on the edge of his seat after the Season 2 finale, which ended with Natalie’s death, the girls’ cabin burning down, and Coach Ben’s escape.

“Who burnt down the cabin was my biggest question and my son’s biggest question. And also, where’s Coach Ben?” says Ricci, who also shares daughter Cleopatra, 3, with husband Mark Hampton.

Lynskey says viewers will get answers this season, while also promising a major revelation.

Melanie Lynskey, seen here at the Season 3 premiere, plays the lead role on the show. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

“Some of the answers will surprise you,” she tells news.com.au. “Some of the questions are answered with questions, and there’s also some very extreme behaviour. Some of the characters really reveal themselves to be a lot more screwed up than we originally thought, which is amazing. It is amazing. This is incredible to watch.”

In case you need another reason to tune in, this season also sees Oscar winner Hilary Swank join the cast. And while Ricci and Lynskey remain tight lipped about her character, they are excited to have her on board.

“She is a wonderful actress, wonderful actor, just so wonderful,” Ricci says. “I mean, Million Dollar Baby is one of my favourite movies. So yeah, she’s really good. It’s exciting that she’s joining our cast in some capacity.”

Yellowjackets is now streaming on Paramount+ with new episodes released every Friday.