Yellowjackets' Melanie Lynskey and Simone Kessell hold space for their friendship on and off screen

A shared history including wilderness rituals, cannibalism, and occasionally typical teen girl stuff circa the mid-'90s binds the women of Yellowjackets together for decades, often to their dismay. Showtime’s buzzy queer series, now in its third season, centers women’s friendships, though not quite in the vein of Sex and the Cityor a teen mystery show like Pretty Little Liars. High school soccer stars turned plane crash survivors as adults, Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), Misty (Christina Ricci), Taissa (Tawny Cypress), Van (Lauren Ambrose), and Lottie (Simone Kessell), and Natalie (Juliette Lewis), may not be the Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte for this generation, but there is something akin to friendship in their love and mostly hate interactions.

“I think that they're deeply bonded by what they went through together, and they do rely on each other. My female friendships are the most important thing in my life,” Lynskey says. She points to her friend and costar Kessell and says “this one” to indicate what Kessell means to her.

Then, in a nod to the viral “holding space” Wicked interview I conducted with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande that ran on The Advocate’s sibling site Out, Lynskey grabs Kessell's finger.

Simone Kessell, Sarah Desjardins, and Melanie Lynskey in YellowjacketsKailey Schwerman/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME

The friends playfully determine how best to recreate the Erivo-Grande moment where Erivo’s sincere reaction prompted Grande to grab her finger to signal she was there for the Tony winner. The re-creation of the moment, though intended to be silly, fits right in with a discussion of women's friendship considering it was Erivo and Grande's friendship that supercharged the viral interview.

“When things unravel in their lives, they go back to what they know,” Kessell says of the Yellowjackets women. "It's a lot like family. Sometimes you can't wait to see your family and then you're like, Oh, my God, it's time to go home. And I think they are family, and I think they've shared just so much together.”

Regarding family, Yellowjackets’ third season finds Shauna leaning into her relationship with her husband, Jeff (Warren Kole), and daughter, Callie (Sarah Desjardins), following the explosive season 2 finale on the grounds where Lottie’s cult-like community resided. The notoriously prickly mother-and-daughter duo share a moment of solidarity when Callie stands up to girls at school on her mother’s behalf.

“Callie acts out at school and Shauna's super proud of her, in a way of bonding with each other. But really, for Shauna, she's like, Oh, my gosh, I love this. And she's sharing it with me. And it's something that happened at school, " Lynskey shares. “I think all parents are like, What happened at school today? Even parents who are so hands-off and have such a hard time with it like Shauna. There's something about Callie letting her into something that happened in her school life that is very meaningful.”

Yellowjackets' third season rolls out weekly on Paramount+ and Showtime.