The slick and sly Killing Eve is one of the most popular shows in the past few years, due in large part to the fierce chemistry between its two main characters, Sandra Oh’s Eve and Jodie Comer’s Villanelle. Though they are on opposite sides of the law, the two characters share far more in common than they are at first willing to admit.
While they are the series’ star attractions, it is also important to point out that there are several other characters that also deserve recognition for the ways in which they make Killing Eve such a suspenseful and at times disturbing spy thriller.
Irina
Even though she is just a child, Konstantin’s daughter Irina proves time and time again that she is not someone that can be easily disregarded. Most sinisterly, she actually runs over her stepfather with a car.
Like most of the other characters, she falls under Villanelle’s spell, and their dynamic is like something out of a buddy comedy, even though the series never lets the viewer forget that both of them are very dangerous and deadly people.
Bill Pargrave
When the series first began, the bond between Eve and her partner Bill was one of the most endearing things about it. They seemed to have an innate understanding of one another’s psychologies, and this made them very effective as criminal investigators.
What made Bill so fascinating as a character was that there was much that the audience never learned about him, which made his death at the hands of Villanelle all the more heartbreaking and, just as importantly, it also threatened to drive a permanent wedge between Eve and her nemesis.
Geraldine
Carolyn’s daughter Geraldine is something of an enigma. Though she clearly loves her mother, she doesn’t share the same closeness with her as her brother Kenny does, and for this reason, the two of them never seem to get along very well.
However, despite their differences, Geraldine deserves a lot of credit for being willing and able to stay loyal to her mother, especially in the aftermath of Kenny’s untimely death.
Dasha Duzran
Harriet Walter plays Dasha Duzran, a former gymnast and Villanelle’s mentor as a spy and assassin. In some ways, she’s even more ruthless than her protege, and what makes her especially sinister is that she shows herself more than willing to do away with people who just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
For all of that, she is also a compelling character, and she demonstrates just what sort of a future lies in store for Villanelle if she continues down the path that she has taken.
Kenny Stowton
One of the things that made Kenny such a great character for Killing Eve is that, unlike his mother Carolyn, he wasn’t cynical and was incredibly likable as a character. He had an ingenuousness and a naivete that cast quite a spell, but he was also more than willing to stand up for what he believed in, even if that meant going against his mother’s wishes.
Unfortunately, like Bill, he was also one of those characters whose arc was cut short too soon, and there is still quite a lot of mystery over just how big of a part Konstantin had in his fall from the roof.
Konstantin Vasiliev
As Villanelle’s handler, Konstantin understands her better than anyone, except for perhaps Eve herself. Though he presents as an affable and rather friendly sort of man, he shows time and again that he is just as ruthless as anyone else associated with the Twelve.
More than once, he’s shown that he’s even willing to do away with Villanelle if she should become too dangerous or too unstable. However, what makes him a truly great character is that he does genuinely seem to care for Carolyn, despite the fact that they are on opposite sides of the law.
Niko Polastri
Of all of the characters that appear in Killing Eve, Niko is one of the few that seems to have a moral compass that he consistently holds to. What’s more, he stays loyal to Eve even though it would have been very easy, and understandable, had he decided to leave after it became clear that she was becoming dangerously obsessed with Villanelle.
Unfortunately for him, he ends up getting seriously injured (at Dasha’s hands, no less), which leads to his ultimate renunciation of Eve.
Eve Polastri
Sandra Oh brings a certain fierce energy to the character of Eve, a woman who is compelled to investigate the dangerous assassin Villanelle. However, it’s too simplistic to say that Eve is the hero of this series, not only because she engages in some morally questionable behavior, but also because, in some unsettling ways, she is more like Villanelle than she is like almost anyone else in her life.
Eve might at first be on the side of the good guys, but as the series goes on, Oh allows the viewer to see her as a morally complex, and at times compromised, sort of person.
Carolyn Martens
As fascinating and complicated as Eve is, she’s exceeded in that regard by Carolyn. Like Eve, Carolyn seems at first to be on the side of the law (and thus of justice), but there are numerous hints that she has a dark and sometimes seedy past.
What’s more, she also shows that she has a ruthless streak, and she’s not afraid to kill someone when it seems as if they might be a danger to her or to her family. Fiona Shaw, who has many great roles under her belt, allows the viewer to see her softer side, in particular via her relationship with her son, Kenny.
Villanelle
Of all the characters of Killing Eve, Villanelle is without a doubt the best. In Jodie Comer’s capable hands, she becomes something more than just a woman who kills with ruthless efficiency. She is, instead, someone with a traumatic past, a broken spirit in need of healing, and someone who, strange as it seems, does seem to genuinely want to connect with another human being.
She might be a monster, but there’s no question that Villanelle is far more complicated than anyone dares to think and she is even, in a surprising way, quite lovable.