Evil season 3 promises to be as unsettling as ever
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Have you been feeling a little too comfortable lately? A little too calm and confident about the state of the world? Michelle and Robert King are ready to change that.
Evil, the Kings' delightfully unnerving drama series, is returning June 12, and the new season will once again follow Katja Herbers' Kristen, Mike Colter's David, and Aasif Mandvi's Ben as they investigate a new batch of supernatural mysteries. Since premiering on CBS and shifting to Paramount+, Evil has proven to be one of the sharpest and most unsettling shows on television, and the upcoming third season promises to be as horrifying — and as absurd — as ever.
"I think a lot of times, horror is really closely connected to comedy," Robert King tells EW of Evil's distinct tone. "Someone who's on edge and ready to scream is not that distant in emotion from someone on edge and laughing their head off."
Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+ Mike Colter on 'Evil'
Season 3 will pick up where the shocking season 2 finale left off, with Kristen confessing to the newly ordained David that she murdered serial killer Orson LeRoux — and got away with it. Kristen's tearful confession also led to the pair sharing a kiss, and the Kings say that romantic moment will have major repercussions throughout the season.
"I think we had the same issue coming out of season 1 into season 2, where you sort of paint yourself into a corner," Robert King explains. "Kristen has killed a man, so how do you get out of that? We felt the same coming from 2 to 3, where the confession was accepted that settled all the issues of season 2, but literally five seconds later, the issue of season 3 is introduced, which is: What do you do with this attraction now that he's a priest, and she's married? That's what excited us, getting deeper into what these two characters will do together — especially given that Katja and Mike have such great chemistry."
Complicating matters is the fact that David has finally been ordained, and he's no longer a priest-in-training. According to the Kings, David's new official status as a man of the cloth will not only affect his relationship with Kristen, but his work, too.
"It allowed us to get a little bit more into what might be expected of David by the Catholic Church," Michelle King teases.
"I would say Mike Colter's worry — and our worry — is that once you become a priest, it's boring, and you're doing boring things," Robert King adds. "Our concern was that you're doing 6 a.m. mass, and you're listening to all these silly confessions and sitting around with a lot of old fart priests who are sipping soup. So, we wanted to show that there are parts of this institution that are quite dramatic. We really wanted to explore something that allows Mike Colter to be his action-packed self."
Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+ Aasif Mandvi and Katja Herbers on 'Evil'
Over the course of its 10 episodes, season 3 will dive into devilish concepts like sex, death, doom-scrolling, cults, and the stock market, and returning cast members include Michael Emerson, Christine Lahti, Andrea Martin, and Kurt Fuller. And although the show never explicitly mentions the pandemic, many of Evil's themes feel sinfully suited for 2022.
"We made a choice not to explicitly bring the pandemic into the show, but I think it's impossible not to bring in some of the emotions that surround a global pandemic," Michelle King explains, "just because it's what we're all going through."
"The show works best for us when it plays the game of the supernatural, but it also shows how the supernatural can be a psychological condition," Robert King adds. "I mean, what is it that keeps us all from calming down? You could see it as the supernatural. You could see it as just the modern condition. That's what was fun about this year, playing off of that."
After all, what could be more Evil than that?
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