“Killing Eve” fans have never seen Villanelle like this. The BBC America drama returned on Sunday night for Season 4 with what appears to be a major role reversal for its two lead characters: While Eve (Sandra Oh) is taking on a harder edge with a gun in hand, Villanelle (Jodie Comer) seems eager to take a more righteous path.
That has led Villanelle to a religious community, where she’s eager to prove that she’s not a monster. But in her haste to get baptized and prove her worth, Villanelle still gets in her own way. Enter what the show is calling her “Villanelle Vision”: Villanelle starts imagining a version of herself, dressed as Jesus Christ, who has some hard truths for the assassin.
Comer told Variety that playing the vision was “Terrifying. Fun. Hairy. I’ll leave you with that one,” she quipped. “I hope [viewers] enjoy it. I really do. We’ve never done anything like this show. And I remember when I read it. I was like, ‘wow, okay. I’m happy to explore this. But what are we finding out from it? Ultimately, what is the character learning from it?’”
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Added Oh: “I’ve said this before, but I really do feel like [‘Killing Eve’] is exploring the female psyche and definitely that’s a big part in these episodes for Villanelle that that’s being explored.”
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Season 3 of “Killing Eve” ended with Eve more determined than ever, following the destruction of her marriage to Nico and the death of Carolyn’s son Kenny, to find and destroy the shadowy cabal known as “The Twelve.” Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) is also pursuing that goal, but through different means. Meanwhile, Villanelle is ready to move on from her life of being an assassin — but can’t escape something that is such a part of her nature. At the end of the season, Eve and Villanelle find themselves in a bit of a détente, and go their separate ways after meeting on a bridge.
“Villanelle is on a quest for self discovery, in a way,” Comer said. “I think she is so frustrated, offended by the fact that everybody thinks she is this one thing and is bad and cannot change. And I think she sees that as a challenge. It goes much deeper in regards to how she wants Eve to view her. She’s on this quest to be good, whatever ‘good’ is and I think it’s not very clear who she’s doing that for.”
At one point in the premiere, Villanelle attempts to drown the vicar’s daughter in the church font — but she does resuscitate her instead of letting her die.
For Oh, she doesn’t believe Eve and Villanelle have reversed roles, but Eve has absolutely integrated some of Villanelle into her life, such as being disguised in wigs and different costumes, and being much more physical. “I do feel like it’s not performative on Eve’s part,” Oh said. “There’s definitely a finality to it. Definitely Eve has thought about risking her life, it means that much to her because the Twelve has destroyed everything. What is there to lose? She might as well go out in a blaze of glory. That drive is very much there throughout the whole season.”
Season 4 will end with a definitive finale; does the title “Killing Eve” foreshadow how the show might conclude? “I would I be curious, in people’s different interpretations on the title of the show,” Oh said “Is it killing Eve? or Killing Eve, with Eve doing the killing? What is the audience’s interpretation of that?”
Laura Neal (“Sex Education,” “Secret Diary of a Call Girl”) is the head writer for the final season of the show, which has switched showrunners every season: Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Emerald Fennell and Suzanne Heathcote. Executive producers are Sally Woodward Gentle, Lee Morris, Waller-Bridge, Gina Mingacci, Damon Thomas, Neal and Oh.
As Season 4 kicks off, Eve finds Konstantin (Kim Bodnia) in Russia, where he is mayor of a small town. And she can’t resist shooting him in the hand. (Konstantin: “You shot me in my hand!” Eve: “Oh, get over it.”)
Meanwhile, Carolyn, who’s been relegated to an MI6 outpost in Spain, realizes that she’s been implicated in the murder of Paul Bradfield and goes rogue by heading to Russia. But first, she leaves her intel on the Twelve with Eve to take over her investigation.
And we’re off, with a final season that the show’s press materials promise a “messy, nuanced and totally glorious series finale.” Said Comer: “Expect nothing and be ready for everything!”