BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer locked eyes throughout a fish tank. Illuminated within the blue glow of effervescent water and synthetic mild, the 2 ladies slowly registered one another with puzzlement, hostility and abject longing. Throughout three seasons of “Killing Eve,” the 2 actresses and the present’s inventive group have labored to grasp the complicated bond between their two characters, and there it was, distilled in a single “Romeo + Juliet”-inspired second.
After which a wayward fish ruined the shot.
“Dude!” Oh exclaimed, nonetheless exasperated months later. The fish, which present up within the first episode of the present’s fourth and remaining season, have been exceedingly “tough,” Comer defined, laughing.
“One simply swam proper via and actually blocked each eyes,” she mentioned. “I used to be like, ‘Guys, I can’t work with this fish.’”
Audiences received’t discover out if the previous MI6 agent Eve (performed by Oh) and the globetrotting murderer Villanelle (Comer) are fated to wind up like Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers till the sequence finale of “Killing Eve” airs this spring. (The primary of eight episodes will air Sunday on BBC America and Monday on AMC; the primary two begin streaming Sunday on AMC+.)
The present was an immediate crucial hit when it premiered in 2018. Oh, who additionally serves as an government producer, has been nominated for 3 Emmys for her efficiency. (In 2019, she received a Golden Globe.) Comer additionally nabbed a number of Emmy nominations, successful the award in 2019. The brand new season, like so many different initiatives, was delayed due to pandemic-era capturing issues.
Offscreen, the mutual obsession the actresses embody in “Killing Eve” offers method to mutual affection and respect. On a crisp February morning, they sat throughout from me at a patio desk on the Peninsula resort, interacting with the convenience of outdated pals and the reverence of colleagues who’ve witnessed one another on the peak of their craft.
Comer, who speaks with a mushy Liverpudlian lilt, shortly ditched the patent midi skirt she had worn for an earlier photograph shoot, in favor of a extra snug pair of monitor pants. Dagger-like earrings nonetheless framed her face. The Ottawa-raised Oh reclined in a seersucker jacket and billowy pants and sipped from her trusty drink bottle, marked to trace her hydration all through the day. (On set, Oh had earned a popularity for being a one-woman “hydration station,” Comer mentioned, with a number of vessels close by always.)
These are edited excerpts from our dialog.
What was your response whenever you realized how “Killing Eve” would finish?
JODIE COMER It’s blended feelings. I used to be type of surprised. The attractive factor about capturing the ending was that we have been collectively on set, which was superb. I don’t know the way I really feel concerning the ending, reality be informed.
SANDRA OH I believed it was fairly victorious. And I believe we stayed true to the characters and to one another.
When did you discover out the destiny of your characters?
OH That was very a lot a piece in progress. There are particular discussions that occurred very early on, after which the pandemic occurred and sure issues have been shifted. The invention occurred as we have been constructing it. That’s as particular and as broad as I can say.
I do completely really feel like this season, the season finale, we spend essentially the most time collectively. As a result of it’s simply appropriate and prepared for the characters to find a way ——
COMER To be in that area with one another.
Do you are feeling like this was the appropriate time to finish?
OH It’s, as a result of that is what’s occurring. Lots of people describe this as a “cat and mouse,” and I perceive that throughout the first season. However I’ve bought to inform you, if you happen to’re going to proceed describing it like that you just haven’t watched the present. That’s too straightforward. For me, the present is actually exploring the feminine psyche and the way these two feminine characters want each other. Doing that digging throughout the context of a sure kind of thriller, it was the appropriate time to finish.
COMER It’s the trickiest factor to execute, you realize? Attempting to maneuver the characters ahead in a approach that feels truthful but in addition protecting all these items that folks love a lot. Their relationship means one thing so private to every one who watches it.
And the present doesn’t put a label on Eve and Villanelle’s relationship.
COMER I discover it fairly tough when individuals are like, “What is that this relationship?” It’s so exhausting to place a reputation on that.
OH Increasingly, I discover {that a} very restrictive kind of query, as a result of it must be as huge as potential. I’m not gonna inform you nothin’. As a result of it doesn’t matter.
COMER Sandra and I don’t converse rather a lot [to each other] about what we’re doing earlier than we get to set. After which when it feels good, it feels good. So we’re continually making these discoveries ourselves.
OH That’s a number of the finest stuff in what we do in filmmaking. You possibly can arrange sure circumstances after which one thing unscripted will occur, and that’s really what to comply with.
How has having a unique lady serving as showrunner every season [Phoebe Waller-Bridge, followed by Emerald Fennell, Suzanne Heathcote and Laura Neal] influenced the sequence as a complete?
COMER Unquestionably, every brings their very own emotions and intuitions of what they consider the characters can be doing. What I’ve loved about that’s the alternative to sit down at a desk with everybody and actually focus on and unravel what it’s that feels true. To be included in these conversations, it’s been superb. Previous to “Killing Eve,” it’s like, you present as much as set, you be taught your traces, you do your job and also you go residence.
OH It’s been the largest avenue of development. As a result of it’s very difficult. If you happen to’re a sausage maker, you realize that that’s a difficult method to make sausage. However what that sparks is a pure place for friction, and I believe that may be an especially inventive place.
Have been there sure issues in your bucket checklist that you just needed to perform on this remaining season?
OH I bought to put on a wig!
COMER Oh, yeah! I keep in mind after I noticed that image I used to be like, “Rattling, Sandra.”
OH I bought to put on two wigs! I bought to put on a gown! I used to be so excited that my wardrobe expanded.
COMER There was a fireplace that I felt had gone out that I needed again as a result of I knew we have been ending. I needed a snippet of the outdated Villanelle we as soon as knew. She has gone on this journey along with her ethical compass and humanity, however I used to be like, I need her again, badder than ever.
OH As a result of a scorpion’s nature can not change.
COMER Precisely.
Is that one thing you vocalized early on?
COMER Yeah. These conversations have been at all times open, like, “Is there something that perhaps didn’t resonate with you or one thing that you just need to increase on?” There was by no means one thing I couldn’t convey up.
What this present has at all times inspired, particularly about discovering Villanelle, was, “Attempt one thing!” If it’s foolish, if it’s excessive, if it doesn’t work, it’s superb.” There’s such a freeness that I’ve positively taken on.
So a lot of your line readings are utterly sudden, and I’ll suppose, ‘Did she simply do this within the second?’
OH Yep!
COMER I really feel like I’m typically simply flying by the seat of my pants.
OH [Laughs.]
COMER: Is that the saying? Seat of my underpants?
OH No, no, no, no. “Seat of your pants” is appropriate.
When “Killing Eve” premiered in April 2018, the world was in a unique place. We have been mid-Trump presidency however prepandemic. How do you suppose the present has tailored to the shifting panorama, and what has it been in a position to provide viewers?
OH That’s a difficult query as a result of I don’t need to say what it’s. Once we did come out, it was post-#MeToo, post-beginning of Time’s Up. It was an especially magical, fortuitous time. The storytelling centered round ladies; many of the inventive heads have been ladies. We have been in a position to give the world a present, proper? It was additionally simply stylistically contemporary. Conceptually, the style was contemporary. Different adjustments relating to the pandemic and the shifts politically, that’s as much as the viewers.
COMER I really feel prefer it’s generally pure escapism.
Like viewers attending to see Europe whereas caught at residence throughout the pandemic.
COMER Nicely, we needed to do loads of dishonest this season due to Covid.
OH That’s a horrible reveal, nevertheless it’s so true.
COMER The artwork division and set design needed to pull collectively to recreate these locations that we have been visiting. Everybody actually needed to step up otherwise.
Have been you in a position to shoot something exterior of Britain?
COMER No.
OH Which is unhappy. However it’s what it’s. We’re capturing throughout the pandemic, blah, blah, blah.
What did your final day on set entail?
OH All we will say is that we have been collectively.
And emotionally?
OH We have been additionally in all probability collectively. [Laughs.]
COMER Very collectively.
OH For me, it was very, very heightened. It was very exhausting.
Is that fish tank scene within the Season 4 premiere an intentional homage to Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet”?
OH Sure, for certain. We even thought of doing the hand factor, and we didn’t shrink back from sure movie references. Like when Eve is following Hélène [Camille Cottin], and he or she’s in that blonde wig, I keep in mind speaking to Stella Corradi, our director, about Faye Wong in “Chungking Categorical.” I used to be like, “I need to seem like her.” I like the richness of bringing within the historical past of photos and the way they will match into our story.
Trying again, what does the awards recognition you acquired for “Eve” imply to you?
COMER I keep in mind going to the Golden Globes that first yr, and Sandra received and we have been all identical to, “That is superb!” It felt like such a celebration. After all, there may be at all times a second of gratification, however your sense of achievement comes from really doing the work.
OH These trophies are pretty and good. However as you proceed on deeper into your profession, the importance of that adjustments. We made one thing collectively. It’s concrete. It could actually’t be taken away from us. And most of all, the expansion, confidence, maturity, enlargement, every little thing that bought us right here, can’t be taken away. It’s these issues that take up way more that means and area.
