‘Killing Eve’ Producers Surprised by Success of Dark Drama

Season three of Killing Eve begins on BBC America and AMC April 12. The season was set to start April 26, but the networks moved it up, Sarah Barnett, president of AMC Networks Entertainment Group and AMC Studios, mentioning “how keen people are for great content right now.”

Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer and Fiona Shaw are in the cast. Season three “continues the story of two women with brutal pasts, addicted to each other but now trying desperately to live their lives without their drug of choice,” said AMC Networks. “For Villanelle (Comer), the assassin without a job, Eve (Oh) is dead. For Eve, the ex-MI6 operative hiding in plain sight, Villanelle will never find her. All seems fine until a shocking and personal death sets them on a collision course yet again.”

Suzanne Heathcote is lead writer and executive producer for season three. Executive producers are Sally Woodward Gentle, Lee Morris, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Gina Mingacci, Damon Thomas, Jeff Melvoin, Heathcote and Oh.

The show was in post-production when coronavirus struck. Staffers hustled to get the episodes ready earlier than planned. “I’ve never encountered people working so hard and with such dedication to get something out,” said Sally Woodward Gentle.

I asked Woodward Gentle if she’s been surprised by the success of the series, which was nominated for a best drama Emmy in the fall. She has been.

“I think we all thought it might fly in under the radar — that we’d all love it and it might have a small but passionate audience,” she said.

Each season, Killing Eve gets a new lead writer. Heathcote worked in theater back in the U.K., before heading to the States to work in television. “Suzanne is brilliant,” said Woodward Gentle, who said she and the producers are focused on looking at “the emotional crises our characters are in, and how we keep moving the story forward.”

She said Killing Eve can go another three or four seasons. “It’s always changing and we never want to do the same thing with it. We always want to move it on,” said Woodward Gentle. “It will move on, but it will always be Killing Eve.”

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.