‘Yellowjackets’ Star Breaks Down Companion Robot Role

Sophie Thatcher can cry a single tear out of either eye on command.

No, it’s not a party trick, but it blew away writer-director Drew Hancock. During a taut scene in the third act of his sci-fi thriller “Companion,” opening in theaters this weekend via Warner Bros., he asked Thatcher to attempt to shed just one tear while otherwise stone-faced. She dove into the challenge and immediately delivered.

“She can pick which eye it comes out of,” he says, unable to hide his disbelief. “That’s how she’s able to control her physicality. It’s crazy to think about, but for that scene specifically, that scared me because there’s so much riding on it. You need to believe her pain.”

Appropriately, the idea of control comes up frequently in conversation with Thatcher.

We meet on an unseasonably cold afternoon in Los Angeles, and she’s clutching a black coffee on the patio of a chic café. Her long black jacket fits in with the chilly crowd, but alongside tables dotted with custom drink creations, her order seems out of time. To a certain extent, so does she.

At 24, Thatcher seems distanced from other Hollywood 20-somethings, eschewing TikTok and influencers in favor of an artist’s life. She’s about to head to New York City to begin the press cycle for “Companion,” in which she plays Iris, a cutting-edge robot who is the faithful girlfriend of nice guy Josh (Jack Quaid). But while they’re on vacation with friends, a shocking act of violence makes Iris finally realize she’s a robot without agency, a plaything for Josh, and she tries to take her destiny into her own hands.

As fearless as Thatcher is in her performances, Iris presented a unique challenge, as her personality can literally shift depending on her settings — which amplifies once an app is revealed that can change nearly every aspect of her temperament, including intelligence, strength and even language.

“I remember being scared at first,” she says. “On a script like that, where it’s so dense, I knew that I had to read it again, which is the best because you don’t want to read a script and say, ‘Oh, that’s it.’ You want to learn more each time you read it. I didn’t think I would be able to pull it off because I knew it was going to be technically challenging. But after re-reading it, I thought, ‘This is a beautiful genre blend of so many different things, and even though it’s a robot movie, it feels so human.’”

Hancock notes that while the role is complex, Thatcher brought a deep emotional understanding to it.

“It’s a woman discovering she’s in a toxic relationship in hyperdrive,” he says. “Within one day, she’s going through what could take years to discover: ‘I’m purely a toy for this person. They’re not treating me as an equal.’ Her turning her intelligence up is her self-knowledge and suddenly understanding that she is deserving of her own needs and wants, and recognition that she is with a bad guy. How does she escape that? I think it was super easy for [Sophie], unfortunately. We’ve all been in those bad relationships. It was very easy to tap into the emotion that she’d felt in those specific moments: The breakup and the phone call, the understanding that you’re in a bad relationship.”

Although the script sends Iris to dark places in her relationship with Josh, Thatcher says some of the most emotionally difficult scenes were at the beginning of the film, when her character doesn’t yet know she’s a robot living a rom-com existence in her devotion to her man.

“It’s so easy to have chemistry with Jack because he’s so charming and bright and talented,” she says. “And there was something that worked about me feeling awkward, the off-ness of it all, because their relationship is off. I think me being nervous about it all worked, because she was so eager, and I find myself in relationships that way. Watching it the first time I was embarrassed for myself, because the character just wants to be loved. It felt desperate in a way that I haven’t done before, but I always see myself in roles.”

Quaid, Thatcher’s foil for moments both affectionate and deeply troubled, says Thatcher’s empathy made her a natural scene partner in portraying this roller-coaster relationship.

“She’s an amazing listener,” he says. “I’ve worked with very few people who are true, incredible listeners, and Sophie has that in spades. It’s kind of her secret weapon. A lot of people talk about chemistry and what that means, and whether people have it or they don’t. I think it just comes down to two people who are willing to listen to each other and feed off each other, and Sophie and I both knew that this is a very complicated relationship. She’s so engaged and interested in it, and it’s just lovely to work with a person who — I know this might seem like a simple thing — cares about what you’re going to get, and she really did.”

Acting has been Thatcher’s primary drive since being cast in the buzzy teen ensemble of the Showtime survival series “Yellowjackets,” a show she’s routinely stolen scenes on since its 2021 debut. She plays Natalie, an intense teenager trapped in the middle of nowhere with her soccer teammates after a plane crash. Things get incredibly tragic for the survivors — and cannibalism becomes a reality. Thatcher admits that playing Natalie in Season 3, which debuts on Feb. 14, put her in a dark headspace that’s difficult to dig out of.

“It’s so weird doing these movies in between shooting ‘Yellowjackets’ because I feel, no matter what, Natalie is still in me,” she says. “I noticed that even during interviews with the cast I’m different, and Natalie turns back into me, but it’s not intentional. I played her and I was so young, and it was already pretty close to who I was, so it’s easy to get into that. Something about Natalie haunts me, and going back is always daunting.”

It’s no surprise that Natalie’s mix of rebelliousness and intensity captivated Thatcher as a young actor. Born in the sprawling Chicago metro area, she was raised in the Mormon faith by her mother alongside her two siblings and an identical twin, Ellie.

Thatcher says that her church upbringing made her more apt to question the world around her and explore different facets of her art.

“I think if anything it made me want to rebel,” she says. “I find myself to be such a contrarian in life … someone tells me they don’t like something, and I go the opposite fucking way. I just want to do my own thing, and I’ve always been that way. If anything, it pushed me.”

Despite the more conservative elements of Mormonism, Thatcher says she was encouraged to pursue artistic expression through stage acting, in addition to time spent playing church music with her family.

“There was never judgment because I was doing theater, but I was still in the church,” she says. “But when I was in ‘Oliver,’ playing a prostitute at 12 years old, I remember that was the first moment where I felt like I had a dirty secret, and I loved it. It pushed me out of my shell and forced me to be more different.”

After getting her on-camera start in bit parts on network shows like “Chicago P.D.” and “The Exorcist,” things leveled up quickly when she was cast as the lead of the 2018 indie sci-fi film “Prospect,” alongside Jay Duplass and Pedro Pascal. Although it wasn’t a box office smash, it set the still-teenaged actor on a fast trajectory.

“I was acting in a Tom Stoppard play at the time,” she says. “I had just done theater — that’s what I knew. I remember doing the callback, and bawling after because I thought I failed, and they told me three hours later that I booked it. That was the first breakthrough. I finally had faith in whatever was happening. That was the first time where I thought, ‘I’m lucky. I worked fucking hard, and faked a lot of confidence, but this could be real.’”

Work got more consistent, with a part in the 2019 Sundance later-in-love story “The Tomorrow Man” and a key role in the underrated 2020 drama “When the Streetlights Go On,” which had the unfortunate fate of debuting as a Quibi original series. From there, the “Yellowjackets” effect took over.

The series exists in two timelines, with Thatcher’s teen version of Natalie existing in the ‘90s, while adult Natalie is played in the present day by Juliette Lewis. Beyond both actors’ ability to go to nightmarish places at a preternaturally young age, Thatcher looked to be a doppelgänger of a young Lewis, with an onscreen persona that recalled her in daring early roles like 1991’s “Cape Fear” and 1994’s “Natural Born Killers.”

At first, Thatcher bristled at the comparisons, but quickly bonded with Lewis over art and realized there was a kindred energy between them.

“I’ve noticed that people say, ‘Oh, she’s just like Juliette,’ even in interviews and little things, and that bothers me because I know I’m my own person,” Thatcher says. “Then again, Natalie has such a hold on me because I’m still playing her. Juliette and I, we always talked about music, and we knew after a couple of conversations that we’re on the same wavelength, we’re into the same shit. We have a similar intensity I think, too — about everything.”

That drive became central to Thatcher’s performance as Natalie. “Yellowjackets” showrunner Jonathan Lisco says he was first blown away by her skills while shooting a particularly difficult scene in the second episode.

“The plane blew up and we were going into the interior to find the aftermath of the crash,” Lisco says. “All of our young cast came to play that day, so I have nothing but amazing things to say about all of them, but I think of that moment because Sophie was covered in debris, and she was in shock, and as a camera passed over her, everything was happening. She was basically immobilized, so everything was happening in her eyes. I think that’s the first time when I was behind the monitor when I thought to myself, ‘Holy cow, this is an actor who can convey an intensity of emotion by doing so little.’

“One of the things I love about working with her is, when we’re telling stories, we’re all using lies to illuminate the truth,” he continues. “Sometimes an actor seems to be lying and you’re like, ‘Well, that’s not quite right. That’s not ringing true for me.’ I almost never encounter a moment like that with Sophie because she’s not lying. What’s emanating out of her is this quiet, intense truth, coupled with this incredible, superficial vulnerability. She lures you in and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s a vulnerable character, that’s an insecure character’ and then the innate power bubbles up from her interior, and is communicated out her eyes and her face, and is so vivid and evocative.”

Other filmmakers soon saw that power, and Thatcher was cast in a string of horror movies. It was an interesting mix of titles within the genre, from studio fare — playing the headstrong daughter of a family haunted by evil in the Stephen King adaptation “Boogeyman” — to a role in the A24 trilogy capper “MaXXXine.”

Her next title, “Heretic,” which came out in November, was another breakout moment. Also released by A24, it starred Thatcher and Chloe East as two Mormon missionaries who are kidnapped by a charismatic but deranged man, played by Hugh Grant, who has dark thoughts on religion. Despite its chilly premise, it was a box office hit and Grant’s sinister turn was nominated for a Golden Globe.

Although the film is built around the structure of a thriller, it’s unconventional in its lengthy discussions of religion between the three characters. It was a compelling headspace for the Mormon-raised Thatcher to return to.

“I do find that I always play roles that have trauma and backgrounds that are troubled,” she says. “No matter what, it forces me to go back and think about when I was younger, and this was just in a different element. Religion was the center of where a lot of my anxiety started, which I think it is for a lot of people. That was a little surreal. That was the most I’ve gone back to my childhood, or how I felt and the anxieties I had back then, that I’ve spent years trying to rid myself of.”

Despite being completely different types of horror movies, “Companion” and “Heretic” share thematic tissue that feels both similar and timely. Just as Grant’s character “Heretic” traps women to mansplain religion to them until they give up, in “Companion,” Iris is the literal property of a specific kind of angry manchild who seems to have a lot of sway in 2025.

Thatcher says she didn’t fully process the film’s cultural criticism — and similarities to “Heretic” — until she saw the finished product.

“Reading it, I felt that presence, but watching it again, depending on the watch and your mindset, it went far deeper than I ever imagined,” she says. “I think it can have an impact on people in relationships and women, and start conversations. Everything feels bleak right now. Watching it again, I realized that, and I like that it ends on a hopeful note. It’s a lot deeper than I ever imagined it to be. The script was all there, but seeing it all together, it says a lot about domestic violence and control. It’s funny, in both ‘Heretic’ and ‘Companion,’ the theme is control.”

For an actor so focused on craft — and roles that take her to deep places — Thatcher is quick to smile and laugh in person. Her secret to being able to purge the darkness is her biggest obsession: music. A singer and multi-instrumentalist, she released her debut EP, “Pivot & Scrape,” in October, and contributed vocals to the soundtrack of “Heretic” (a smokey cover of the Bob Dylan classic “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”) and “Companion” (the wordless, haunting “Iris’s Theme”).

“Music is the outlet for me, and I’m thankful for that,” she says. “That feels more like my say, whereas acting is still a job. I’m incredibly passionate about it, but music is my release from everything.”

She’s working on a new batch of songs currently, with the goal of a full-length album and live performances down the line. But the most important part is fueling the freedom and passion in her work.

“I’m just exploring what my sound is, and I think it’s changing,” she says. “It’s becoming a bit more intricate, and I’m doing a lot more on my own. I’m finally having songs where I’m playing everything, which is nice to do because it feels like my own entire vision.”

The spontaneity of form also allows Thatcher to stretch wholly different creative muscles.

“I’m all about melodies, and I find myself improvising most of the time with lyrics,” she says. “Then I stick to a couple of lyrics and build a story around that. It’s a weird way to go about songwriting. I’m not technically trained in any way, so it’s very intuition-based, whereas I feel like acting I’m just a lot more trained. It’s entirely different, whereas music is just, ‘Let’s see what happens in the moment.’”

Even when she’s not in the studio, it’s clear in conversation how much music runs through Thatcher’s blood. Earlier that morning, she found herself in tears walking around West Hollywood listening to Peter Ivers, the mysteriously murdered composer who brought the music of the late David Lynch’s haunting “Eraserhead” to life. In conversation, references to Pixies, the Smile, Neil Young, Elvis Costello, Cindy Lee and Elliott Smith — her favorite — rattle off effortlessly.

In fact, outside of getting the word out about upcoming projects, Thatcher’s Instagram feed and stories largely consist of recommendations of the art that moves her, as well as the increasingly frequent fashion shoots she’s called to do. With her chameleonic looks and high cheekbones, it’s a no-brainer why she’s a fit for the camera. And it’s clear she’s been anointed as a trendsetter, with Vogue calling her style “a blend of doe-eyed pretty and jagged punk that infuses every look.” Yet she’s much more modest about her place in the fashion world.

“It’s the same thing as putting on characters, and it changes every day, and it’s a way of expressing yourself and your mood,” she says. “But fashion has been interesting. It’s fun when it’s collaborative, it’s not fun when you feel robotic and people are dressing you to be a certain way, which is inevitable as an actor, I feel like — and something I have to get used to. But it’s characters, photo shoots are acting — that’s why it’s easy — but it’s not as satisfying as acting. It’s a lot more boring, but it’s fun to take on different characters and moods in photo shoots. I’m starting to appreciate that and see fashion as art, but I didn’t know brands or anything. I still don’t really care. But it can be incredibly artistic.”

It’s these parts of the industry — where she has the least control — that it’s clear Thatcher finds the toughest to navigate. Fame and recognizability, especially as her face pops up on posters all around Hollywood for “Companion,” are strange elements for her to wrestle with.

“It is a weird stage, because it feels like, ‘I hope this movie does well,’ also there’s part of me that thinks, ‘I hope it doesn’t do too well, because I like my life the way it is,’” she says with a laugh. “Right now is perfect. I like that it’s still niche. I like that the people who would say something to me, I can tell they’re usually outsiders, which is different. But we’ll see with this movie.”

Ultimately, Thatcher does get concerned that she could get pigeonholed as a horror actor. Outside of more “Yellowjackets,” she hasn’t committed to any upcoming projects, and wants to be strategic in choosing her next step.

“I’m very wary of my next move,” she says. “Even if it’s horror, I want it to be a great role. I just want something different and to explore myself as an actor and do something that doesn’t feel like the characters that you’ve seen before, because that’s boring.”

She watches films obsessively for inspiration (“It’s your job — I feel like it’s weird not to?”), has a dream team of directors she’d love to work with, from Sean Baker and Kelly Reichardt, and talks reverently about an earlier generation of auteurs like Robert Altman and Dennis Hopper.

“I try to think of actors who have careers I respect,” she says. “I want to play characters that are so different from each other, and I want a role where I don’t recognize myself. I want a role that teaches me about myself. I’m in this phase where I just want to do indies … I don’t care about the money. I want to work with directors that will fucking push me and I want to be exhausted and then so satisfied two months after.”

Beyond acting, Thatcher was the executive producer on her sister Emma’s feature film “Provo,” and she’s interested in doing more work behind the camera, including screenwriting and directing in the future, noting: “It’s a great era for actors because they have more say, but also, it’s less frowned upon for them to go into directing and producing. It’s normal.”

Ultimately, even as an artist in control, Thatcher hopes her work can give people a release.

“I want people to feel seen,” she says. “I want them to feel understood. I want people to feel as much as I do, because I feel so much.”