Why Detective Saracusa From "Yellowjackets" Looks So Familiar

Published on April 24, 2023 at 6:40 PM

Paramount

In Showtime's "Yellowjackets"'s cast of slimy characters, John Reynolds has already solidified himself as one of the slimiest in the span of five episodes with his new role as Detective Matt Saracusa. His character, who debuted in season two, is a cop who goes undercover to seduce Shauna's underage daughter, Callie, in an attempt to get more information on Adam's murder. But even though Callie is underage and his superior has told him to back off the case, Saracusa just won't quit and will stop at nothing to solve Adam's murder, even if it puts an innocent teenager in the line of fire.

You might find that Reynolds looks oddly familiar while watching him be duplicitous and conniving on your screen, and that's because — in addition to starring as Drew on HBO's "Search Party" — this isn't the first hit show Reynolds has portrayed a cop on. Ahead, find out what show you recognize Reynolds from, his history in improv comedy, his love life, and more interesting facts about the actor behind the latest of many "Yellowjackets" characters you love to hate.

John Reynolds Played a Cop on "Stranger Things"

If Detective Saracusa looks familiar to you, it's probably because Reynolds previously played Officer Callahan on Netflix's "Stranger Things." While his previous law enforcement officer role was set in the '80s, he still rocked the same mustache he rocks as Saracusa in the role.

John Reynolds Has a History of Doing Live Improv Comedy

Before Reynolds made it big, he performed improv comedy in New York City. He admitted in a 2020 interview with Solzy at the Movies about his movie "Save Yourselves!" that it's a fun challenge to try to let go of his penchant for improvisation in his more scripted movie and TV roles. "Credit to [the creators], it was a very scripted movie. They had a very specific idea of what they wanted, a vision, and they stuck to it," he said about "Save Yourselves!" "That was fun to sort of relinquish my control because I do love to improvise a lot on set. They also gave us a lot of freedom to sort of change any dialogue that we felt more natural. There were certainly a lot of improvised takes that they didn't use and I understand that."

John Reynolds Has a Comedy YouTube Channel

Reynolds filmed and posted his own comedy skits on his YouTube channel, which he appears to have launched in 2013 when he was 21. One of his most popular skits, "Top That," features him pretending to be a neighborhood kid who witnesses the iconic "Top That" scene from 1989's "Teen Witch," in which Polly and her bad-boy crush, Rhet, perform a cringey (yet iconic) rap duet in the middle of the street. Reynolds posted his last skit on the channel in 2018. But he did return to online comedy sketches with the release of his 2020 Christmas comedy short film, "The Mayo Bubble," which he wrote.

John Reynolds Has Worn the Same Harry Potter Glasses For 10 Years

There's a story behind those antique, Harry Potter-esque glasses Reynolds wears all the time. When asked by GQ about the story behind the vintage frames in 2020, he shared, "I got them from Oliver Peoples like 10 years ago. I don't think they make this model anymore. It's sort of a pain because I play a lot of basketball in the park. And I just wear these old antique glasses and they're always getting smacked off my face and breaking. And then I have to go to the Oliver Peoples store and have them fix it. And they're very mad at me every time I come in. Like, 'What are you doing with these glasses?' I'm embarrassed to tell them."

John Reynolds Appears to Be in a Long-Term Relationship

While Reynolds is relatively private about his dating life, it appears he's been in a long-term relationship with children's book illustrator Bianca Diaz since 2012. While they haven't posted photos together on Instagram in quite some time, he called her the "love of my dang life" in the caption of an Instagram carousel in 2018. While most of Diaz's Instagram consists of her artwork, she shared a photo with Reynolds on Halloween on Instagram in 2020.