If you haven’t caught on to “Killing Eve” yet, just know this: Before the new BBC America spy drama premiered last week, it was already a hit with critics and renewed for a second season.
The first show introduced audiences to the seductive assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer) and relatable Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) — who is described in the show’s logline as a “bored” MI5 officer engaged in a cat-and-mouse hunt with a killer.
While Eve is bored in a way, star Sandra Oh told TheWrap that it’s better to describe her as having “plateaued.”
“Bored is not the right word,” Oh said in our recent interview.
“She’s plateaued. There’s something in, like, having plateaued — and during her midlife… [Eve is] maybe a little too comfortable,” she added. “And maybe not really paying attention, or having let go of a certain kind of dynamic energy.”
But Villanelle arrives to change all that.
“Let me tell you, I feel like Villanelle really, really, really shakes her up,” Oh said.
“Villanelle is kind of knocking on Eve’s door, and vice versa,” she explained. “Knocking on her door, basically telling her that there’s more to life, there’s more to do. Life is demanding more of Eve.”
It’s also “through Eve’s eyes” that viewers get swept up into the wild character of Villanelle.
Even though Villanelle is a murderess, we’re allowed to “delight” in her thanks to the series’ fresh take on the spy show genre, Oh said.
“We’re not examining the character through, like, a documentary lens, [so] we get to have the freedom to be entertained and enjoy her,” Oh added. “And those qualities… Eve picks up on. Which is Villanelle’s fearlessness and lack of remorse and supreme self-confidence, arrogance — and tremendous style are things that are missing in Eve’s life.”
That’s what makes Eve so relatable, she argued: “A lot of people wish they were more fearless and more confident and a lot of people wish they had a lot more style.”
“Killing Eve” is already a critical hit, and was picked up for a second season days before the show premiered its first season.
“It’s always so exciting,” Oh said of the series’ renewal. “Even when you think it’s gonna happen, you just never know.”
“Killing Eve” airs on BBC America Sundays at 8/7 c.