From its first episode in November, it was obvious that Yellowjackets would be the kind of show that spawns a cult-like following. While the premise isn’t necessarily new – plane crashes and survivor-type scenarios feature in TV shows new and old – the series sets up viewers to get hooked minutes in. Yellowjackets, a Showtime sleeper hit turned cult favourite, chronicles the trials of a high school girl’s soccer team whose plane crashes in the Ontario wilderness in 1996. You learn quickly that: (a) they’re stranded for 19 months, (b) they’re traumatized by it (the 2020 timeline featuring the likes of Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis and Christina Ricci is exquisite), and (c) they may have resorted to cannibalism out there. It’s a grotesque, violent and sensitive coming-of-age series that also grapples with the aftermath of a life-altering tragedy.

Its almost instant popularity meant that the show got renewed for a second season five episodes into the first one. The twisted finale, which aired on Sunday, earned high praise and wild theorizing from fans and critics. We caught up with Kevin Alves, one of the stars of the Yellowjackets ensemble cast, to talk his complicated journey into the acting world and what it’s like playing a not-so-nice guy in this women-led series.

Though the show primarily highlights female characters and relationships, a few male characters are sprinkled throughout. Alves plays Travis Martinez, the son of the girls’ soccer coach and one of the three male survivors in the crash. With a combination of serious daddy issues and 1990s-era misogyny, Travis, especially at first, isn’t the most sympathetic member of the Yellowjackets ensemble. But the show’s greatness doesn’t lie in drawing lines between “good” and “bad” – we’re talking about potential cannibalism here – but rather the nuances in between. They make the characters realistic and create a sense of depth that, for a cast as large as this one, is a feat in and of itself. This combination of great writing, acting and plotting has enlivened a fan base of sleuths online, rife with weekly watchers falling into Reddit rabbit holes of fleshed-out theories.

Soon after I congratulate him for the show’s renewal, we dive deep into Alves’ method into becoming Travis. He’s quick to distance himself from Travis’s behaviour on screen. Between lobbing sexist insults at the team and slut-shaming Natalie (Sophie Thatcher), Alves knew he had to find a way to empathize with Travis to deliver a great performance. “I’m sure you have seen that Travis is not the nicest guy. He’s a bit on the damaged side, the broken side. So when I read for him for the first time, I knew that we were not very alike. It was more exciting than anything, because I was like, how am I going to champion his story?” he says. “So for six months, I treated Travis like a good guy to me. I understood where he was coming from. I empathized with him.”

Unlike many actors, Alves doesn’t have an issue watching himself on screen. “And then I watched it. And I went, ‘Man, I hate that guy.’ I was finally a viewer, and I wasn’t Travis trying to be the best he can be,” he says.

Acting requires you to think outside of yourself and to somehow connect with experiences that are distanced from your own. But watching Yellowjackets, and recognizing how surreal their situation is – a gory, violent, dark situation – you do wonder how an actor could even remotely come close to what’s being asked of them in certain moments. What experiences can you pull from when you’re burying your father in the wilderness, or any of the other monstrous events they witness? “I try to pull the least from my personal life as possible.” Alves says. “I just really like to keep it separate. I don’t want to get lost in a role.”

Alves wasn’t part of the original pilot, which was shot in November 2019 and was directed by Karyn Kusama. Travis’ character was brought into the fold during reshoots. Jaime Travis, who is also from Toronto, directed the reshoots. What Alves learned quickly while working in an ensemble show is that you’re given mere seconds to fully express a depth to a character with a pointed look or a brief touch.

The day of shooting what became one of Alves’ introductory sequences where the Martinez boys are boarding the bus to the airport, Travis pulled Alves aside. “He said, ‘Okay, so here’s the thing. We got about 15 to 22 seconds to tell a lot of story. We need to know who you are in such a small period of time. We need to make sure that we hit the parents, that we see your brother, that we see your connection to them, that we see your anger and angst in that moment.’ So it was like it became about moments.”

In an ensemble cast, you need to hit the perfect note to properly sell the character, their motivation. Otherwise, you stand out and the story can crumble around you. It requires a total team effort for the world that has been so carefully crafted to remain intact.  Thankfully for Alves, the Yellowjackets cast and crew was, “the most collaborative, cool process that could have happened,” he says. “I think the collaboration is the only way that such a big ensemble was able to have depth.”

Though Alves has firmly found his footing in his acting career, it was figure skating that he first dedicated himself to with intensity and patience. Growing up in Richmond Hill, he ferried himself on YRT and VIVA buses between school and the ice rink. He was six years old when he saw Kurt Browning – the famous figure skating choreographer who is now a close family friend – perform a clown number that, Alves recalls, “was the funniest thing I’d ever seen in my life. I needed to skate once I saw him do that.”

When you’re learning to skate, as many Canadians forced into lessons in their youth will know, you typically start on a stiffer, clunkier hockey skate. One day, you’re promised, the day will come where you can graduate to a more sleek and graceful figure skate. Alves was undeterred. Figure skates or bust. “I always make this joke that I was a delusional seven year old who said, ‘I’m going to be an international figure skater, I’m gonna go to the World Championships, and then I’m going to become an actor.’” Delusional or not, it seems like his plan worked (he first skated in the World Juniors in 2008).

The jump from acting to figure skating didn’t prove to be much of a challenge; a great number of lessons he learned – dedication, patience, dealing with nerves – channelled easily into his acting career. “I became a much more open-minded person to the possibility of different stories. I think it helped my acting tremendously. I don’t think I’d be here today, acting, if it wasn’t for skating.”

After leaving figure skating, Alves stayed true to the goal he set out at the age of seven. For eager young actors across Canada, Degrassi is where you cut your teeth; it’s an iconic tradition for any up-and-comer. During his four-episode stint as Fab Juarez, he gained eye-opening experience working on a large production with an ensemble cast: sounds familiar. “I’m just thankful [for the experience] not just as a rite of passage, but it was also one of my first roles, so it gave me experience and allowed me to open doors for other things,” he says.

Over the past 10 weeks, Yellowjackets has blown up on social media and has developed a staunch viewership. With this newfound exposure, Alves says it has led to him reconnecting with people who are coming out of the woodwork from the past. “I think it’s really beautiful that I’ve got to talk to people that I haven’t talked to in a long time. It’s kind of been a part of my journey. As I grew up, even when you lose touch with people, it’s one of those things where I think it’s nice to be able to understand that it’s okay to move on and do things in your life and still get to reconnect,” he explains.

“What’s been the most exciting for me, if I’m being honest, is to see how much people in the industry are liking the show, like writers, critics, producers,” he says. “It’s a show that you are so lucky to be a part of.” We know from early on in the show that Travis survives the wilderness, at least, so there’s a lot more there for Alves to tell – about five seasons worth, in fact. Though he couldn’t divulge anything to me, after watching last night’s finale it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to visualize the kind of torturous and twisted scenarios they’ll put him through. Alves, though, puts a brighter spin on it. “I’m hoping we’ll get to tell cool stories for a long time.”