Christina Ricci admitted it’s been “difficult” to play her “Yellowjackets” character over the years – but Season 3 made her pause.

The Emmy-nominated star talked to The Post about adult Misty’s transition in the latest season, which saw her character come to the realization that she’s the butt of her friends’ jokes and act out.

“I will say it’s been very difficult over the past two seasons to play her in all of her denial,” she said at the finale event held in North Hollywood, California, on Thursday, April 10. “You know, it’s hard to reconcile someone who is intelligent and so capable, who’s also able to ignore being the butt of every joke and all the nasty things that were said.”

Ricci explained that “as an actor, you put yourself emotionally in the place of the character, and you react from an emotional place when it’s all going on. And so, to sort of live that denial when I could hear all of it was really tough.”

Despite admiring Misty’s breakthrough — for example, standing up to adult Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) after discovering her daughter, Callie (Sarah Desjardins), killed adult Lottie (Simone Kessell) by pushing her down the stairs — Ricci confessed her character’s newfound confidence made her hesitant.

“At the same time, to establish that and then to break that in this season was very hard because… she’s such a specific character that I worried that bringing in that awareness and the results of that would make her less of the person that we knew before,” the “Wednesday” star told The Post, adding, “I had to be very careful and try to really balance that.”

Ricci elaborated on her hesitation about adult Misty’s new attitude, sharing she was concerned it wouldn’t resonate with the audience.

“I think that she’s someone who really doesn’t know who she is, and that can be difficult to play. Also, because when you vacillate with a character, sometimes it might seem to an audience like you’re breaking performance,” she said.

“So again, it had to be something that I really measured and thought about and had to be careful with, and so it was very challenging,” the Hollywood vet concluded.

Season 3 saw several new and core characters meet their tragic end, with creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson axing off one beloved star after another.

For Ricci, seeing her longtime co-stars being killed off was “really tough.”

Newcomer Hilary Swank was the culprit of one of the most brutal and hard-to-accept murders this season when she stabbed adult Van (Lauren Ambrose) in the chest after the latter spared her life.

Swank played adult Melissa, one of the “Yellowjackets” teammates stuck in the woods who they believed died long ago. When adult Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) uncovers she’s still alive, it’s pure chaos, ending in a fractured friendship with the mainstay characters, and even worse — Van dead and her lover, adult Tai (Tawny Cypress), likely looking for vengeance.

While Season 4 has not been announced at the time of publication, Swank told The Post if she’d be willing to return and reprise her role as adult Melissa.

She also shared the “challenges” she faced playing the TV character despite being a two-time Oscar winner.

The entire season of “Yellowjackets” is available to stream on Paramount+ with Showtime.