'Killing Eve' deadly cat-and-mouse game enters last season

LOS ANGELES — “Killing Eve” stars Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer say the spy thriller’s fourth and final season quickly makes clear that their characters have changed.But Eve, Villanelle and viewers should prepare for “how much more personal it is” as the hit series unspools to its eight-episode conclusion, said executive producer Sally Woodward Gentle.”This is going to be a bigger journey than they’ve been on in any other season, and more emotionally charged,” said Woodward Gentle, who has guided “Killing Eve” throughout its successful run.She spoke from London in a break from monitoring post-production work on the last episode of the drama, which returns 8 p.m. EST Sunday on BBC America and the AMC+ streaming service. Episodes will repeat on the AMC channel at 9 p.m. EST Monday.There’s two “really brilliant new characters” this season, the producer said, and the welcome return of Camille Cottin as the powerful and well-connected — or more accurately, ill-connected — Hélène.After being immersed in cuts of episodes and promotional spots, Woodward Gentle was careful to monitor her words: “I spend my whole time getting terrified that I’m going to give away some horrible spoiler, so I don’t really know what else I can say.”Oh and Comer dropped a few clues, reinforced by a trailer intended to whet the audience’s appetite for the last bow of the series inspired by novelist Luke Jennings’ “Codename Villanelle” series.Eve is “different in the way that she’s clearly gained skills, that she’s not afraid of violence in herself or inflicting it on others,” Oh said of the maverick spy she plays. Her “complete innocence” on display in the show’s first year is gone, the actor said during a Q&A with TV critics.Eve’s nemesis, the emotionally damaged but effective assassin Villanelle, has her own bumpy transformation, Comer said.”I think she’s so desperate to change at the beginning, and I’m not sure that comes from a truthful place. However, when you see this season in its entirety, you really, truly see just how she’s done so,” she told critics.The show, praised as an intoxicating female perspective on obsession, cruelty and power with an overlay of dark comedy, earned two Emmy nominations for best drama series and was a boon for its stars.Oh, a five-time Emmy nominee for her supporting role in “Grey’s Anatomy,” became the first performer of Asian descent to receive a lead drama actress Emmy bid for the part of Eve. Comer won her first Emmy along with England’s counterpart, a BAFTA award. Fiona Shaw, whose Carolyn slipped from intelligence boss to unhappily relegated to an embassy post, also was Emmy-nominated.”Killing Eve” is among the well-received programs produced by Woodward Gentle, among them “The Durrells” and “Any Human Heart.” It’s the first one she’s done primarily led by women in front of and behind the camera.Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag”), Emerald Fennell (“The Crown”) and Suzanne Heathcote took turns as lead writer for one season each, with Laura Neal in for the final season. An all-female trio of directors — Emily Atef, Stella Corradi and Anu Menon — handled the last season.Gender proved a bedrock difference in “Killing Eve” and the process of making it, Woodward Gentle said.