Killing Eve season 2 boss says Villanelle or Eve could "die in any episode"
Head writer Emerald Fennell doesn’t want either of her leads to “feel safe”
Killing Eve is back!
Starring Jodie Comer as psychopathic assassin Villanelle and Sandra Oh as MI6 agent Eve Polastri, series one of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's drama was a major hit – and now it is back for a second series with a brand-new showrunner.
- Sandra Oh reveals her character's story will take a "super dark" turn in Killing Eve season 2
- Phoebe Waller-Bridge reveals she originally planned to star in Killing Eve
- The reviews are in for Killing Eve season two and they are GOOD
Here's everything we know about Killing Eve series two...
When is Killing Eve series 2 on TV in the UK?
Series two began on Saturday 8th June at 9.15pm on BBC1 and continues on Saturdays at 9.15pm.
The entire series is also now available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
BBC executive Charlotte Moore revealed during the launch for the second season that there had been more than 49 million download requests for the first run – more than any other programme.
The drama has actually already aired internationally, beginning on 7th April 2019 on BBC America and AMC in the US with weekly episodes; and the new series also kicked off in New Zealand on 8th April at 9:35pm on TVNZ 2, and on 19th April at 8:32pm on ABC in Australia.
Is there a trailer for Killing Eve series two?
Oh yes there is – and this action-packed first trailer is as haunting and stylish as you'd expect it to be...
And just for British fans, take a look at this trailer from the BBC ahead of the UK release:
Who is new showrunner Emerald Fennell?
Actress and writer Emerald Fennell has taken over the reins from Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Killing Eve's lead writer for the second series.
She is probably best known to viewers as Nurse Patsy Mount from Call the Midwife or as Ada Lovelace from Victoria, but we'll soon be seeing her as Camilla Parker-Bowles in series three of The Crown. Previous writing credits include episodes of the TV series Drifters, but she is a relative newcomer to the screenwriting business.
"I was a huge a fan of season one and I knew a bit about the show and its writing process from Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who is a good friend," Fennell says. "However, nothing could have prepared me for how brilliant it was when it came out and, like everyone else, I was obsessed."
She added: "Season one was a cat and mouse between Eve and Villanelle and the dynamic is still there. Eve and Villanelle are these two women who cannot help but be in each other’s vortex. The question for season two is how the power dynamic has changed in their relationship and what does it mean for these women’s lives?"
Who is in the cast of Killing Eve series 2?
Sandra Oh returns as Eve Polastri, while Jodie Comer plays Villanelle.
Fiona Shaw is back for series two as MI6 boss Carolyn Martens, with Sean Delaney as her son/IT genius/employee Kenny Stowton. Owen McDonnell will play Eve's husband Niko Polastri.
Sadly Elena Felton (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) is no longer on the team at MI6, but a number of brand-new characters are also joining for series two.
Last Tango in Halifax star Nina Sosanya joins the cast as MI6 agent Jess. As the actress explains: "Jess is an MI6 agent who has been working with Carolyn for many years out in the field and is now based in the office. She’s an old hand, an experienced agent, who is settling down and about to have a child... She’s an interesting character because she’s quite ambiguous and you don’t really know what her ultimate aim is."
Edward Bluemel, who starred in The Halcyon and Traitors, is also on the MI6 team as a character called Hugo who – according to the actor – has "walked or blagged his way into the job through family connections." Bluemel explains: "He’s almost an intern, the whipping boy, doing all the dogs’ body work. He comes from a very wealthy background with the ultimate education having been to Eton and Oxford. He’s very intelligent and incredibly ambitious. He’s not afraid to step over people to get what he wants."
The Mighty Boosh star Julian Barratt will play a character called "Julian", and Adrian Scarborough is set to play a character called "Raymond".
What will happen in Killing Eve series 2?
**Spoilers ahead for Killing Eve season one**
The series begins 30 seconds after the events of the Killing Eve series one finale.
Jodie Comer reveals: "At the end of season one, Eve and Villanelle have a little altercation…. I don’t know if you remember but Eve stabs Villanelle! Season two picks up from that moment and Villanelle has to escape the apartment before she’s found. She’s in a pretty bad way and has to get herself out of that situation.
"As the story progresses, we find out how Villanelle reacts to Eve stabbing her. I’m not sure whether it’ll be what people expect her reaction to be, but it’s interesting."
"It is tempting to do the very spy genre thing and start the season six months later where everyone is healed," Fennell explains. "However, we wanted to pick up directly after the fallout of such a momentous thing. For me, the question is how do you get home both physically and metaphorically when you have done something so shocking."
It also sounds like we'll be seeing a MUCH more of Villanelle and Eve together, compared to series one.
"The emotions they have for each other are still something that me and Sandra are figuring out," Comer says. "They spend a lot more time in each other’s company, as their two worlds collide, and it shifts the energy of the show. But whether that’s something Eve is happy about is another question. Villanelle is thrilled!"
In series one we started to see the impact of Eve's single-minded obsession on her relationships with the people around her – including her husband Niko – and that is something series two will explore in greater depth.
"Eve’s journey in season two takes her to a psychologically dark place," Sandra Oh reveals. "She’s pushed to the limit in every way; in her marriage, at work, her personality and sexually. She isolates herself because she’s so obsessed with Villanelle. Her personality starts to change because she foregoes a lot of her friendships to solve a new mystery and ultimately succeed in her job."
But in series two, Villanelle isn't the only assassin on the block. A new team at MI6 headed by Carolyn is working on Operation Mandalay...
"We’ve now closed the splinter group and gone back to join MI6 with a couple of new team members," says Fiona Shaw. "We are trying to solve a case where a powerful media mogul has been murdered and it doesn’t seem to be a Villanelle kill. There’s now a pursuit of another killer, so two killers on the loose."
Where was Killing Eve filmed?
Filming for series two of Killing Eve took place across Paris, Amsterdam, the Forest of Dean, London and Rome.
***Warning: spoilers ahead for season 2***
Paris
Gare de l'Est doubles up as Gare du Nord in the opening episode of Killing Eve season two, when Eve is fleeing the city after stabbing Villanelle in her apartment.
Amsterdam
Villanelle can be seen strolling around the canals of Amsterdam and visiting the Rijksmuseum, where she sees a gruesome work of art by Jan de Baen, Corpses of the de Witt Brothers. The painting inspires her, erm, creative murder of a man in the city's red light district.
Later, Villanelle can be seen drowning her sorrows and almost killing a girl for skipping the toilet queue in the nightclub Shelter in Overhoeksplein. The club is especially striking with its through-the-floor entrance, which has the effect of the ground swallowing her up.
Forest of Dean, England
When Villanelle is brought on board by MI6 to question another female assassin, she is taken to Gloucestershire’s Forest of Dean to avoid detection.
London
Carolyn Martens can be seen fencing (another brilliant character quirk) at the rather grand Westminster School Sports Centre in London, and when Villanelle stuffs her face with pasta at a restaurant with Aaron Peel, they are sitting in the City Social in the financial district's Tower 42.
The finale of the first series of Killing Eve sees Jodie Comer’s Villanelle stagger out of her apartment after being stabbed by Sandra Oh’s Eve Polastri.
- Everything you need to know about Killing Eve season 2
- New Killing Eve trailer reveals what happened to Villanelle after shocking series finale
- The reviews are in for Killing Eve season two and they are GOOD
While fans may assume that Villanelle will survive this brutal attack (particularly as she’s back to her devilish best in the series two trailer), new lead writer Emerald Fennell has since warned that the two leads “could die in any episode.”
The executive producer, who is taking the reins from series one showrunner Phoebe Waller-Bridge, explained, “I never wanted that thing that you often have with famous thriller characters, which is, ‘They’ll all be fine!'
“I think it’s really important to say, ‘OK well if this is a fight to the death, and demonstrably it is with what happened last [season], no one should feel safe.'”
Fennell added it's these moments of high tension that make the show so popular.
“There is a sense that both of them are getting into stuff that’s properly deadly,” she told Variety.
The second series, scheduled to debut in America on Sunday 7th April, picks up where the first run left off, with Villanelle bleeding and in desperate need of treatment.
Fennell was keen to show the audience how the assassin would cope dicing so closely with her own death.
“We couldn’t cheat around the fact that Villanelle is bleeding to death,” she said. “What we ended up doing was making a virtue of something that usually would be admin in any other thriller. In any other thriller it would have been about getting Villanelle back to her sexiest point again.
“If you are immortal, which is what Villanelle was in season one and has been her whole life, what does it feel like when you’re suddenly mortal and at the mercy of people who are beneath you in every way?”
Killing Eve series 2 debuts in America on 7th April. A British airdate is not yet confirmed
