BBC America’s critically acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning drama Killing Eve is, sadly, coming to an end with the upcoming fourth season. Audiences have waited nearly two years for the series to return and for one last opportunity to watch Jodie Comer as Villanelle and Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri square off.
The final Killing Eve Television Critics Association press tour appearance featured series stars Jodie Comer, Sandra Oh, and Fiona Shaw. Season four’s lead writer/executive producer Laura Neal and executive producer Sally Woodward Gentle also participated in the TCA panel that touched on the series’ four-season journey and saying goodbye to these amazing characters.
Jodie Comer said it’s always surprising slipping back into Villanelle’s skin. “You never know what you’re going to get, which is amazing. The show definitely keeps you on your toes and it’s always so exciting getting to sit down with the script and see where it is that we’re headed,” explained Comer. “Sometimes when you start a season, you have a vague idea of where the story’s going to go, but a lot of the time it gets figured out as you go along and it’s very organic in that way. So, it’s always thrilling.”
Sandra Oh has also been surprised about the evolution of Eve. She teased that fans can expect to actually see the greatest amount of change in her character when the show kicks off its fourth season.
“I really wanted to establish that Eve physically, energetically, is very, very much changed. You see her different in the way that she’s clearly gained skills, that she’s not afraid of violence in herself or inflicting it on others, that she’s adapted a lot of – not adapted, but also integrated a lot of elements from Villanelle in either disguises or personas.
I just really wanted that change and that freshness to kind of come in to the fourth season.”
Sandra Oh continued: “Jodie and I were looking at a picture of season one and could not believe those two characters. They’re completely changed. They had a complete – at least for me when I look at Eve – a complete innocence and she just doesn’t have it on her anymore. I was really pleased to be able to evolve the character that way.”
Speaking of expectations, season three found Villanelle really delving into her past. Key for Villanelle this season is the question of whether a person can change.
“Can we change? What I loved about what Laura did was we actually see Villanelle now putting that into action. We see her trying. But I think throughout the whole series you really witness each character’s growth. I think there’s a lot of lessons that I think Villanelle learns that I don’t think she’s actually aware of. I think she’s so desperate to change at the beginning and I’m not sure that comes from a truthful place. However, when you see this season in its entirety, you really, truly see just how she’s done so. So that was really, really great to see,” said Comer.
Fiona Shaw doesn’t believe people are capable of change, at least not in her experience. “Things change in their life, but it’s amazing how set people are, I think,” said Shaw, laughing. “But in terms of storytelling you have to have change to see development, and this show has been fantastic for that because I was very happy for Carolyn to sit and come down from a high office and pontificate about something again. The show never let the character settle and I think in that way they are changed, of course, by experience. But in terms of personality, people stay the same.”
Sandra Oh believes personalities stay the same but she thinks it’s possible for people to change for the better.
“I do believe people can change. If they can’t, I just think all is lost,” said Oh. “For me, from personal experience, I just know that it is extremely slow and challenging. I think the innate kind of personality, which I think for both – all three of the characters – their wit, or their danger, or their humor have not really changed. I think that all the three characters’ moral compass has slightly changed.”
Without giving away any spoilers, Jodie Comer said her final shot of the series was also Villanelle’s final scene. “There was some kind of really weird kind of mirror that was happening that was like, Wow, okay…’ It suddenly felt very real,” said Comer. “The wonderful thing about that day was Sandra and I were together so we got to experience that together, which was really special. And the crew were there – a lot of the crew have come back each year. So to have everyone there, it was bittersweet. It was intense. It was a lot. It was overwhelming, for sure.”
“Jodie and I were lucky enough to do actually the last shot of the show together, and it’s too much of a spoiler to tell you where we were and the setting. But it was technically challenging. It was very technically challenging. I was really happy that we were together. I think we were both happy that we were together,” said Oh.
Jodie Comer recalled everyone was kind of wired because they’d been on a week of night shoots.
“Yes, it ended up getting very, very late. So I’d say to kind of sign it off with the majority of our crew, we weren’t all together the very last day but the previous couple days, we were on a certain location that was very, very iconic. And there was this one particular moment where everyone stepped out together to see the same view and it was really fantastic because you just feel, as a company, not only as a cast but all the crew, that you are making something together,” explained Oh.
Oh added: “I was really glad because it was a very challenging shoot this year because of the pandemic. So, I was really glad that we were all able to feel that filmmaking moment. It’s like this is why we do it and we’ve all done it together, and I was happy that we had that, at least for me, the last couple of days.”
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Killing Eve season four premieres on February 27, 2022 on BBC America and AMC+.
