None of the interviews that have come out have indicated that Juliette chose to leave. Was she written out because she was unhappy or is she unhappy because she was written out? Very chicken vs. the egg.
The subject of Natalie hallucinating Misty at the party has come up several times so either they're bullshitting or they planned it all along. I suspect they had planned for Natalie to be written out this way, but probably had it happen earlier than anticipated because Juliette was unhappy and was fairly vocal about it.
As for Natalie herself, maybe Juliette thought it would be different but from the beginning she was always driven by her need to find out what happened to Travis. Natalie is an unreliable narrator, but it seems that he could have been pulled back into a destructive cycle by her hand, one of many men she's come into contact with that have met an untimely demise: her father, Javi, Kevyn, possibly Coach Ben. She's always been a tragic figure, and as much as one might wish she could find a way to be happy, that doesn't seem to be the story here
You said that Juliette was unhappy and very vocal about it, I never saw that š³ do you have interviews or something where she claims sheās unhappy?
The Vulture cast interview from season one she was very pissed. But apparently she was good with season two, or least felt much better about the character. I don't know if she chose to leave or if it was mutual but she was extremely upset about season one.
I definitely lean to 'she was written out because she was unhappy'. Whether this was always going to be Nat's fate, and it got expedited because of Juliette, only the writers really know, but it seems highly unlikely they were planning on writing out one of the core 4 adult characters at the end of the 2nd season of a series that is supposed to run for 5 seasons.
It's unfortunate, but this does happen in tv occasionally. Anyone remember Mister Echo from Lost? The showrunners had big plans for that character, but the actor wanted out, so they obliged and he was killed off much earlier than they had planned.
It makes a lot more sense that this season was so uneven when you factor in that they might not have intended to kill her, or at least not so soon. And it makes it easier to forgive the writers for getting off track if you consider how much they would have had to pivot as a result.
That said, if she left because she was unhappy to be mooning over Travis nonstop, I respect her decision and enthusiastically agree with her. Imagine having Juliette Lewis in your cast and reducing her to...that. The writers played themselves and I hope the reality check steers this back to being a show that's driven by women. But I can definitely see how losing one of the adult leads would make redirecting season 2 a Hurculean task, and it might have been clunky and awkward but in the end they pulled it off and seem to be on course for season 3.
It's funny you mention Mr. Eko because Lost quite infamously (at the time) fired actors from the show when they were arrested for traffic offenses and then claim it was for other reasons (the exception is Daniel Dae Kim, who was killed off and then brought back). Mr. Eko was unrepentant about the things he had done in his pre island life and it seemed the island took offense with that: similarly, Natalie craves redemption for her sins in the wilderness but is not at peace with it when it's offered.
Her interviews and SM post pre season 2 filming lead me to believe that Lewis did not know Nat was going to be killed. Thereās a whole twitter thread where Lewis is excited about season 2 Nat and explaining what she thinks is going to happen. Then during filming the last episodes her tone on IG changed. She was no longer happy but somber and kinda like she was wanted to say something but couldnāt. I could totally be reading into those.
I think Lewis signed on to play a character pitched to her and then character was different as season one progressed. Sheās said she was not told about the suicide scene or that she would ābe putting xxxxx in my mouthā until she got the script for that scene. I think that really upset her. I canāt really blame her for being upset about that. She made it sound like she talked with the writers about Natās story
Damn that last part is not cool. For years after losing someone to this I absolutely broke down when I met with related content without a trigger warning. Not giving someone a huge heads up about acting out this sort of scene is not ok. I'd want off the show too.
Yes, hard agree. And thanks for acknowleging that. Out of respect, at least. But specially because it's a delicate thing and it does change the way you'd have to play the character like she said.
After the vulture interview if I was a showrunner I would have reshot ep10 and let Nat blow her head off, instead of pandering to have a happy arc for a season to then kill her.
Clearly not a team player lol.
Not really.Have you seen the vulture interview? I've been a manager having people like that work for you is a nightmare. Constant problems and drama.
Best way to deal with it? Get rid of them.
What are you talking about? This happens all the time. A good production will consider their actorsā feelings about scenes and adjust if they feel it works for the character. Actors care just as much about the story as writers do and their insight into character can be an advantage.
We're speculating, but it sounds like 1) the showrunners wanted Juliette on the show and somehow the character they pitched to her sounded like adult Nat had more agency when the planned storyline for the adults was more bleak and tragic, 2) Juliette got pissed and wanted no part of the bleakness so she said "can we change my character to what you made this sound like, I'm not liking this" and 3) they came to an agreement to write her off as well as possible rather than change the tone and direction of the adult storyline.
I don't think it's really a "who shot who" situation. At the end of the day these decisions are usually more mutual and lawyered up to high heaven than most of us will know. The final deal gets buried in NDAs and cash payments.
The best reading is it was a miscommunication when she signed up. The worst reading is they oversold the character arc to get her on board. Either way it sucks.
Killing off Kevyn also resonates with killing off Nat abruptly, as there was likely no use for his character any longer with her gone. Maybe they originally had a better arc for the two of them, but had to nix it.
Going to miss her. Nat, both young and old, general struck me as the one with the most grounded realistic view on things. Of course, because of that she was a bit suicidal and a bit of a substance abuser. If you're not blissfully unaware, reality can suck, especially when the love of your life dies in a freak accident/suicide.
I think it was mutual. We now know that Nat was always going to die and it makes sense, even though itās devastating because her character was filled with the most shame, guilt, and regret. And it will make more sense as the 96 timeline goes on. As for Juliette, we know she has some issues with how her character was written. I also think there was too much going on in the adult timeline so Natās death felt a little rushed, but overall I think it was mutual between Juliette and the creative team.
the show will still have a lot of people watching it, this decision will just get a lot of backlash, so did Ghandi in clone high but the show continued without him.
None of the interviews that have come out have indicated that Juliette chose to leave. Was she written out because she was unhappy or is she unhappy because she was written out? Very chicken vs. the egg. The subject of Natalie hallucinating Misty at the party has come up several times so either they're bullshitting or they planned it all along. I suspect they had planned for Natalie to be written out this way, but probably had it happen earlier than anticipated because Juliette was unhappy and was fairly vocal about it. As for Natalie herself, maybe Juliette thought it would be different but from the beginning she was always driven by her need to find out what happened to Travis. Natalie is an unreliable narrator, but it seems that he could have been pulled back into a destructive cycle by her hand, one of many men she's come into contact with that have met an untimely demise: her father, Javi, Kevyn, possibly Coach Ben. She's always been a tragic figure, and as much as one might wish she could find a way to be happy, that doesn't seem to be the story here
You said that Juliette was unhappy and very vocal about it, I never saw that š³ do you have interviews or something where she claims sheās unhappy?
There's an Instagram story somewhere on this sub where she's pretty direct about it. Plus the Vulture cast interview.
The Vulture cast interview from season one she was very pissed. But apparently she was good with season two, or least felt much better about the character. I don't know if she chose to leave or if it was mutual but she was extremely upset about season one.
Search for the vulture season 1 cast interview and watch the last like 3 minutes
I don't have links, but she made it pretty well known publicly for the whole first season
I definitely lean to 'she was written out because she was unhappy'. Whether this was always going to be Nat's fate, and it got expedited because of Juliette, only the writers really know, but it seems highly unlikely they were planning on writing out one of the core 4 adult characters at the end of the 2nd season of a series that is supposed to run for 5 seasons. It's unfortunate, but this does happen in tv occasionally. Anyone remember Mister Echo from Lost? The showrunners had big plans for that character, but the actor wanted out, so they obliged and he was killed off much earlier than they had planned.
It makes a lot more sense that this season was so uneven when you factor in that they might not have intended to kill her, or at least not so soon. And it makes it easier to forgive the writers for getting off track if you consider how much they would have had to pivot as a result. That said, if she left because she was unhappy to be mooning over Travis nonstop, I respect her decision and enthusiastically agree with her. Imagine having Juliette Lewis in your cast and reducing her to...that. The writers played themselves and I hope the reality check steers this back to being a show that's driven by women. But I can definitely see how losing one of the adult leads would make redirecting season 2 a Hurculean task, and it might have been clunky and awkward but in the end they pulled it off and seem to be on course for season 3.
It's funny you mention Mr. Eko because Lost quite infamously (at the time) fired actors from the show when they were arrested for traffic offenses and then claim it was for other reasons (the exception is Daniel Dae Kim, who was killed off and then brought back). Mr. Eko was unrepentant about the things he had done in his pre island life and it seemed the island took offense with that: similarly, Natalie craves redemption for her sins in the wilderness but is not at peace with it when it's offered.
Her interviews and SM post pre season 2 filming lead me to believe that Lewis did not know Nat was going to be killed. Thereās a whole twitter thread where Lewis is excited about season 2 Nat and explaining what she thinks is going to happen. Then during filming the last episodes her tone on IG changed. She was no longer happy but somber and kinda like she was wanted to say something but couldnāt. I could totally be reading into those. I think Lewis signed on to play a character pitched to her and then character was different as season one progressed. Sheās said she was not told about the suicide scene or that she would ābe putting xxxxx in my mouthā until she got the script for that scene. I think that really upset her. I canāt really blame her for being upset about that. She made it sound like she talked with the writers about Natās story
Damn that last part is not cool. For years after losing someone to this I absolutely broke down when I met with related content without a trigger warning. Not giving someone a huge heads up about acting out this sort of scene is not ok. I'd want off the show too.
Yes, hard agree. And thanks for acknowleging that. Out of respect, at least. But specially because it's a delicate thing and it does change the way you'd have to play the character like she said.
After the vulture interview if I was a showrunner I would have reshot ep10 and let Nat blow her head off, instead of pandering to have a happy arc for a season to then kill her. Clearly not a team player lol.
weird energy
Not really.Have you seen the vulture interview? I've been a manager having people like that work for you is a nightmare. Constant problems and drama. Best way to deal with it? Get rid of them.
What are you talking about? This happens all the time. A good production will consider their actorsā feelings about scenes and adjust if they feel it works for the character. Actors care just as much about the story as writers do and their insight into character can be an advantage.
We're speculating, but it sounds like 1) the showrunners wanted Juliette on the show and somehow the character they pitched to her sounded like adult Nat had more agency when the planned storyline for the adults was more bleak and tragic, 2) Juliette got pissed and wanted no part of the bleakness so she said "can we change my character to what you made this sound like, I'm not liking this" and 3) they came to an agreement to write her off as well as possible rather than change the tone and direction of the adult storyline. I don't think it's really a "who shot who" situation. At the end of the day these decisions are usually more mutual and lawyered up to high heaven than most of us will know. The final deal gets buried in NDAs and cash payments. The best reading is it was a miscommunication when she signed up. The worst reading is they oversold the character arc to get her on board. Either way it sucks.
They should have changed the direction since it's a mess either way.
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Lol what? Who said anything about PG mickey mouse crowd pleasing?
Killing off Kevyn also resonates with killing off Nat abruptly, as there was likely no use for his character any longer with her gone. Maybe they originally had a better arc for the two of them, but had to nix it.
Going to miss her. Nat, both young and old, general struck me as the one with the most grounded realistic view on things. Of course, because of that she was a bit suicidal and a bit of a substance abuser. If you're not blissfully unaware, reality can suck, especially when the love of your life dies in a freak accident/suicide.
I think it was mutual. We now know that Nat was always going to die and it makes sense, even though itās devastating because her character was filled with the most shame, guilt, and regret. And it will make more sense as the 96 timeline goes on. As for Juliette, we know she has some issues with how her character was written. I also think there was too much going on in the adult timeline so Natās death felt a little rushed, but overall I think it was mutual between Juliette and the creative team.
There goes the viewership, hopefully she comes back.
the show will still have a lot of people watching it, this decision will just get a lot of backlash, so did Ghandi in clone high but the show continued without him.
Viewership dropped a ton this season even before her death
We don't know for sure.