Actress Jodie Comer loved playing assassin Villanelle as it taught her to “not care” about what others think.
Jodie will be back on our screens for the fourth and final series of Killing Eve at the end of this month.
The award-winning actress admits she owes her career to the show – and says that starring as charismatic but cold-blooded Villanelle has not only made her less self-conscious, but more of a risk-taker in life.
The 28-year-old says: “I’m not sure what she represents but I will definitely say that she’s changed my life in many ways… in the work that I’m now able to do and in an acting sense.
“I really had to shed a skin with her. I think I was extremely self-conscious coming into this process and there was something about playing her that I had to get rid of.
“I had to dare and I had to be a little fearless and that is definitely filtered through my own life, which I’m very grateful for.
“She had some very bad qualities but there’s a lot about her that I love to celebrate – that kind of lack of caring what people think and just her being herself is something I really kind of took with me, for sure.”
The Liverpool-born star says she felt the aftermath of the pandemic made the fourth series more poignant.
She says: “We picked up Killing Eve in May and to be able to come back and get back into Villanelle was really, really exciting.
“In regards to the material, it was definitely dark because it was really confronting a lot about what people have gone through… are still going through.
“It’s still very present so we really have to handle that story with care.”
The new series will see the return of Villanelle’s nemesis, MI6 agent Eve Polastri, who is played by Canadian Sandra Oh, 50.
All the latest episodes have been written by Laura Neal, who took over as head writer and executive producer from Suzanne Heathcote.
Jodie says she loves how Laura has developed the character of her psychopathic Russian killer.
She says: “We’ve been exploring this question of, ‘Can she change?’ And what I loved about what Laura did was we actually see Villanelle now putting that into action.”
Jodie branded the final day of filming for Killing Eve “surreal”.
She says: “The wonderful thing about that day was Sandra and I got to experience that together, which was really special. It was overwhelming, for sure.”
Killing Eve will be on BBC One and iPlayer from February 28.
