Killing Eve stars on Eve and Villanelle in season 2: 'They've crossed a line'

Two months before Killing Eve returns, the stars and producers of BBC America’s critically beloved spy thriller dropped a few clues about season 2 — specifically the relationship between overwhelmed MI6 secret agent Eve (Sandra Oh) and chilling international assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer).

Speaking at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Comer hinted that the dynamic between Villanelle — and Eve — was indeed forever altered when Eve inserted a knife into Villanelle’s stomach in the season finale (and instantly regretted it). “What’s most interesting about Eve’s stabbing of Villanelle at the end of [season] 1 is Villanelle’s reaction to that, and just how she perceives that,” said Comer. “And it both effects and changes them in a way that neither of them are quite expecting. Also, as we start the series, we see Villanelle in a very different way. She has no control of her situation.”

Oh weighed in the ramifications of that act, too. “I think you see them vulnerable in slightly different ways,” she shared. “They’ve crossed a line and there’s no going back. We have a lot of energy about the beginning of the [season], and that pushes both of them into a different place of vulnerability.”

New characters will be introduced — played by Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Shannon Tarbet, Nina Sosanya, Edward Bluemel and Julian Barratt — and there are trails of a new assassin that will catch Eve’s attention. “What is without a doubt is that Eve has got a sense for women and female assassins, so what’s really interesting is saying, ‘Okay, well, what do you do when somebody else comes along?'” said executive producer (and new showrunner) Emerald Fennell. “Do we find out that Eve is an assassin expert or is she a Villanelle expert? And what does that mean for her? What does that mean for Carolyn [the mysterious MI6 boss played by Fiona Shaw] and her job? Because we know she’s brilliant and she knows Villanelle inside and out… Suddenly there’s someone between them.”

Added executive producer Sally Woodward Gentle: “What would it mean for Villanelle, as well, if she thought that Eve’s gaze wasn’t always on her? That’s really interesting.”

Summing up the new faces entering this highly lethal, twist-filled environment, Oh succinctly quipped: “Lot of people come. Lot of people go.”

Killing Eve returns for season 2 on April 7. To peek at Killing Eve first-look photos from the new episodes, click here.