International TV Co-Editor
Sweetpea: This Is What REALLY Makes Ella Purnell Angry
Yellowjackets breakout actress Ella Purnell drew on her previous experience of “not being afraid to be ugly” when she played Sweetpea, the irreverent Sky-Starz dramedy about a quiet wallflower who becomes a serial killer.
Speaking to Deadline ahead of Sweetpea's premiere, Purnell discussed her roles as Jackie in Yellowjackets and Lucy in Fallout, which allowed her to bring more depth to her character Rhiannon in CJ Skuse's film adaptation.
"Yellowjackets was a really fun experiment in not being afraid to look ugly in environments where you initially look good," she said of playing Mean Girls-esque queen Jackie who ends up in a hole in the ground in the hit Paramount+ series. "She ends up looking like shit, so it was important to show Rhiannon, who doesn't take great pride in her appearance, a little bit of that. As a young woman who's grown up in the industry, it can be scary and I probably wouldn't have felt as comfortable doing it if I hadn't done Yellowjackets or Fallout."
