Good news for those looking for fresh TV fare while sheltering in place: the third season of Killing Eve, the Emmy Award-winning spy thriller series starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer, is coming to TV two weeks early.
“We know how adored this series is and we know how keen people are for great content right now,” Sarah Barnett, president of AMC Networks Entertainment Group and AMC Studios, said in a statement. “This season of Killing Eve digs deep psychologically, and with actors like Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer and Fiona Shaw the results are nothing short of astonishing. We literally couldnt wait for fans to see it.”
(Some spoilers for first two seasons below.)
Based on Luke Jennings' series of thriller novellas, Codename Villanelle, Killing Eve features a self-described psychopathic killer for hire named Villanelle (Comer), who is so good at her job that she frankly starts to be a bit reckless with her assassinations, much to the consternation of her handler, Konstantin (Kim Bodnia). Her string of corpses catches the attention of an MI5 officer named Eve Polastri (Oh), who is obsessed with female killers and correctly guesses there is a new player among their ranks. Eve's insight earns her a spot on a top-secret MI6 team led by Carolyn Martens (Fiona Shaw).
It's the strangely perverse attraction the two women feel toward each other that drives the dramatic tension in Killing Eve, leading to a sexually charged cat-and-mouse game where it's not entirely clear who is the predator and who is the prey. Each sees a bit of herself in the other—and that naturally causes serious conflict between Eve and her long-suffering husband, Niko (Owen McDonnell). The first season ended with a bona fide cliffhanger: when the two women finally meet, they curl up on Villanelle's bed for what the killer thinks will be a romantic interlude. Eve stabs her with a knife and flees, leaving Villanelle to bleed out (or so she thinks).