Get a devilish first look at Evil season 4
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Grab your crucifix and watch out for night terrors: Evil is returning.
After three seasons of demons, angels, and eyeballs in toilets, the creepiest show on television is returning this summer for an even creepier fourth season. Since its premiere on CBS and eventual shift to Paramount+, this unsettling series has won over critics and fans alike, weaving a twisty tale of faith and technology. (It's certainly the only show on television to tackle demonic memes, haunted elevators, and the evils of cryptocurrency.)
As part of EW's Summer Preview, we have an exclusive first look at Evil season 4, which picks up immediately after the bombshell baby shower in the season 3 finale. Creators Robert and Michelle King tell EW that they enjoy "trying to paint ourselves into a corner" with cliffhangers, and the season 3 finale ended with a doozy: Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) discovered that her nemesis Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson) had acquired her missing egg from RSM Fertility. Since then, he's implanted her egg in a surrogate, with the hopes that he and Kristen will eventually birth the antichrist.
Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+ Katja Herbers as Kristen Bouchard in 'Evil' season 4
The two showrunners tease that Leland's season 4 journey into parenthood will be both horrifying and hilarious. (EW spoke to the Kings on the eve of the writers' strike, and since then, production has halted on season 4. An exact premiere date has yet to be announced.)
"One of the things that excites us is going the more normal route with things that are usually very dramatic in horror or supernatural shows," Robert King explains. "The Omen and The Antichrist have thunderclouds and earthquakes and the horsemen of the apocalypse. But it's a baby — and babies are nightmare enough. You don't need lightning and thunder and all that. Babies vomit on their own! They don't need to have the devil inside them to be vomiting pea soup!"
"The thought of all that being inflicted on Leland was especially funny to us," Michelle King adds with a laugh.
Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+ Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) in 'Evil' season 4
Much of season 4 will center on Kristen's increasingly complicated home life (as if having Leland for a baby daddy wasn't enough). Her husband Andy (Patrick Brammall) is still brainwashed from his abduction, and her mother Sheryl (Christine Lahti) still has nefarious ties to Leland. Meanwhile, Kristen and Andy's young daughters (played by Brooklyn Shuck, Skylar Gray, Maddy Crocco, and Dalya Knapp) are all navigating young adulthood, as the eldest Lynn (Shuck) considers becoming a nun.
"We love the idea of a home life being really messy, and yet you still have to get up in the morning and go to work," Michelle King explains. "Even if the mess involves the supernatural and how your mother may or may not be collaborating with the devil… you've got a job you need to get to."
And what a job. Season 4 will follow Kristen, David (Mike Colter), and Ben (Aasif Mandvi) as they embark on a series of new cases, investigating all sorts of demonic infestations and supposed miracles. The trio also has a new boss: Wallace Shawn's Father Frank takes over as the church official in charge of assigning their cases, after the death of Monsignor Matthew (Boris McGiver) in season 3.
Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+ David (Mike Colter), Ben (Aasif Mandvi), and Kristen (Katja Herbers) in 'Evil' season 4
As for the actual cases? The Kings remain tight-lipped about exactly which horrors Kristen, David, and Ben might face — but they say science is a major theme this season. (One early episode centers on a particle accelerator and a potential portal to hell.) Ben in particular finds himself grappling with the tension between faith and science — especially when science can sometimes raise more questions than answers.
"We wanted each episode to look at the limits of science and when it steps over that line into mystery," Robert King explains. "That can be so unnerving. The uncanny is what really keeps you from feeling perfectly at home in the world."
Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+ Ben (Aasif Mandvi) in 'Evil' season 4
And of course, this is Evil — so fans can expect plenty of demons. The Kings heap particular praise on special character designer Joel Harlow, who "went overboard this year with a lot of new creatures." Harlow has crafted many of the show's most memorable monsters — from the demon cabinet in the silent episode to the slobbery, five-eyed Manager — and season 4 will feature everything from tiny, Gremlin-like puppets to actors in globs of prosthetic makeup.
"They're real, and they're not digital effects," Robert King adds. "To see Andrea Martin as Sister Andrea fighting these things is always a pleasure. It's always funny to see her in combat mode, going against these Joel Harlow creations."
Evil will premiere on Paramount+ later this summer.
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