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'Killing Eve' Season 2: Recap Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Award-Winning First Season [VIDEO]
With BBC America and AMC's Killing Eve only days away from its April 7th return, you're probably thinking, "But Bleeding Cool, how can viewers get caught up on the first season of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's award-winning ratings juggernaut before its second season?" Thanks to the fine folks at BBC's Stateside television embassy, viewers are getting a less-then-two-minute recap of how things got to be where they are heading into the sophomore season. Picking up mere seconds after the previous season's finale, it appears Villanelle (Jodie Comer) is still feeling the "effects" of her season-ending "quality time" with Eve (Sandra Oh) – but we're getting a little ahead of ourselves.
Here's a look at your first season recap of Killing Eve. Go on… we'll wait…
Helluva' ending, right? For a more in-depth look at what went into that final scene – and the ramifications it will have on season 2 – check out the following behind-the-scenes preview video below:
BBC America ordered an 8-episode, second-season pick-up for Killing Eve days before the season 1 premiere. The upcoming season sees the addition of several new cast members, including: Henry Lloyd-Hughes (The InBetweeners, Madame Bovary, Indian Summers), Shannon Tarbet (Beast, Beautiful Darkness, Genius), Nina Sosanya (Strike Back, Love Actually, Five Days), Edward Bluemel (The Commuter, A Discovery of Witches, The Halcyon), and Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh, Mindhorn, Sally4Ever).
Comer, Oh, and Fiona Shaw joined executive producer/writer Emerald Fennell and executive producer Sally Woodward Gentle on stage at this past winter's Television Critics Association (TCA) panel. During the session, the award-winning cast and creative reflected on the first season while teasing viewers with what they can expect from season 2 later this year, and you can check out some of the highlights below.
● While discussing the series' first season connections to the #MeToo and TimesUp movements, Oh emphasized that the series' willingness to trust in its female characters was a major positive for her and reflects the times:
"It was amazing to be making a show and doing exactly what TimesUp is trying to do and trying to bring. Our show examining and taking the female psyche seriously."
● When asked a variation of the "how does it feel being part of a show with strong female leads?", Oh pushed back on the assumption that the concept was in play when creative decisions were made:
"I think you're putting a lot of context around creative choices that doesn't go into making those choices…I'm interested in what I am interested in."
● The beginning of season 2 picks up 30 seconds after the first season finale, which saw Oh's Eve making a "very pointed statement" to Comer's Villanelle. Viewers will see both characters changed from the experience – and vulnerable in ways that will surprise even them:
"You see them vulnerable in different ways. They crossed a line and there's no going back. We have a lot of energy in the beginning of the series…it pushes them to a different place of vulnerability."
● Possibly as a nod to Shaw's turn as Aunt Petunia in the blockbuster film franchise, the panel was asked to comment on the comparison made by some between Eve/Villanelle and Harry Potter/Lord Voldemort: the idea that the two relationships are similar because both function under the premise that "neither can live for the other to survive." When asked how Eve and Villanelle could come to terms with their impossible relationship, Oh's response? "That is what I think we are trying to figure out."
Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer reprise their critically-acclaimed performances as Eve (Oh), an MI6 operative, and psychopath assassin Villanelle (Comer) in this story of two women, bound by a mutual obsession and one brutal act. Beginning just after the end of the final episode of season one, Villanelle has disappeared, and Eve is left reeling, having no idea if the woman she stabbed is alive or dead. With both of them in deep trouble, Eve has to find Villanelle before someone else does…but unfortunately, she's not the only person looking for her.
Killing Eve is executive produced by Sally Woodward Gentle, Lee Morris, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Gina Mingacci, and lead writer Emerald Fennell. Oh and Francesca Gardiner are co-executive producers, and Elinor Day serves as series producer. Damon Thomas returns to direct and is also executive producer, with Lisa Brühlmann and Francesca Gregorini also directing. Killing Eve is produced by Sid Gentle Films Ltd. for BBC America and was commissioned in 2016 by Sarah Barnett and Nena Rodrigue; based on the Codename Villanelle novellas by Luke Jennings.