‘Killing Eve’ Boss on Villanelle’s Desire to Change & Her ‘Fresh Dynamic’ With Eve

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Killing Eve Season 4 premiere “Just Dunk Me.”]

Can assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer) change? That’s the big question as Killing Eve‘s final season begins. If you ask Eve (Sandra Oh), the answer is easy: No.

However, Villanelle, following her baptism (which Eve does not attend, despite a fancy invitation), doesn’t let the vicar’s daughter die after drowning her. (But she does accidentally kill the cat.) So that’s progress, right? Plus, there’s the godly vision she has of herself promising “I’ll lead you to salvation.” Meanwhile, Eve’s heading down a different path, one that has her shooting Villanelle’s former handler Konstantin (Kim Bodnia) in the hand and trying to track down the Twelve, with intel from her former boss Carolyn (Fiona Shaw).

Lead writer and executive producer Laura Neal breaks down where we found Villanelle and Eve in this episode and teases what’s ahead.

Villanelle is so determined to prove she can change — to Eve, to herself — but there’s a very big difference between something being true and wanting something to be true. She doesn’t let May die, but what would you say was driving her to save her: wanting to or wanting to want to?

Laura Neal: I think it’s the latter: wanting to want to save her. I think Villanelle’s in this place where she is determined to change and she’s also somebody who’s really used to being good at things. She’s not used to failing. So if she thinks, “OK, I genuinely want to change,” then she’s going to assume that she’ll succeed at that. So for me, that moment where she is grappling with May is about her wrestling between what she wants and what her entire being is telling her. She’s desperately trying to cling on to the idea that she can change in that moment.

Anika Molnar/BBCA

Eve is also saying she’s a different person, and here she is shooting Konstantin in the hand, tracking down the Twelve. What path did you want to put her on, starting with those acts, to kick off the final season for her?

I was really excited by the idea that we would find Eve in a different emotional place. It was exciting for me to imagine her as somebody who’s done away with this idea of doing the right thing or the good thing and is just doing what she wants to do, even if that’s servicing her darkest desires. That felt really thrilling. The idea of starting her in that place was about seeing Eve cut loose essentially, and we sort of run with that across the season. It’s almost like Villanelle and Eve are on parallel paths but going in the opposite direction. Villanelle’s desperate to be good, and Eve’s given up with that and is sort of going to the dark side, I suppose.

Which one would have a better chance of getting to a middle ground?

They probably have an equal chance of it, I would say. I guess you’ll have to watch the rest of the season and see.

Anika Molnar/BBCA

What would you say is primarily driving Carolyn — grief, anger, desire for revenge, all of that?

There’s a lot of things driving Carolyn, and it’s many layered. There’s the thing that I think she thinks is driving her and then there’s the thing that’s truly driving her. The thing that she thinks is driving her is that she wants to find out who ordered the hit on Kenny, and she wants that because she’s somebody who can’t stand not knowing things. She’s an information gatherer, and she’s normally 10 steps ahead of everybody else, so to not know this one thing I think is driving her mad. I think Carolyn’s true drive is probably more about loving this job and needing this job and wanting to continue playing the game that she’s always played.

Given when we last saw Eve and Villanelle together, what did you want to do with their first scene together to set up where you’re taking that relationship? Because that was so good.

I’m so pleased you like that scene because it’s one of my favorites and I rewrote it so many times. Look, I love scenes where Eve and Villanelle are together. For me, they are the most powerful ones across the whole three and now four seasons. But I think you kind of have to work to make them work. You need them apart in order to enjoy them together. The charge between them and the fizz between them I think is undeniable. That’s what makes those scenes so exciting.

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The 9 Best Moments Between Villanelle & Eve on 'Killing Eve'

In terms of that particular scene and wanting to do something different with their meeting, I like this idea that now Eve is in this place where she understands the effect that Villanelle has on her, but she wants to keep her arm’s-length ’cause she’s like, “Not now, I’ve got something to do.” So it’s actually a very different dynamic and Villanelle is very rarely coming towards Eve and wanting her attention in such an obvious way, I think. And she’s trying to say, “Look, I need you to witness my change.” And Eve is saying, “I don’t care. I don’t care at the moment.” And that for me feels like a fresh dynamic for them.

Killing Eve, Sundays, 8/7c, BBC America