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Killing Eve Season 4: Villanelle as Jesus is a Whole New Level of Weird


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Credit: BBC America/YouTube

When it comes to the Killing Eve Season 4 premiere, there are a few classic moments to consider, but Villanelle picturing herself as Jesus has to rank near the top. It was a significant reveal at the end of the episode Just Dunk Me, and it came after her baptism and/or her decision not to kill, a time she considers to be a watershed moment.

Is this really a game-changer? We'll have to wait and see, but Jodie Comer underwent a spectacular metamorphosis to take on this role.

Why is Villanelle Jesus?

For the previous three seasons, viewers have seen Villanelle's many personas play out on TV, her secrets emerge, and truly grow in love with her, despite her murderous instincts. Nobody, including Villanelle, understands her true thoughts or how she functions.

Villanelle, a highly competent assassin, is on a path of atonement at the beginning of Killing Eve Season 4. She's even become a member of a church. She wishes to demonstrate to Eve (played by Sandra Oh) that she is capable of changing and becoming a better person for her.

Laura Neal, the showrunner and chief writer of Killing Eve, explained to Newsweek why she needed Comer to portray Jesus and what it implies for Villanelle in the future.

Villanelle’s God Complex

Neal spoke with Newsweek about her decision to make Villanelle see herself as Jesus, and it's no surprise that the decision was influenced by Villanelle's already strong "God complex."

“…it made total sense that in this sort of like very febrile atmosphere where she's surrounded herself in the iconography of the church that she would, if she had to imagine a religious icon guiding her, she would imagine a version of herself. That felt right because Villanelle has a God complex anyway and because she's so self-absorbed, it made sense to me that she would project that part of herself outwards, and that we would be able to see it as a separate character."

Ultimately, our take is that Villanelle recognizes she can be her own personal savior - granted, there's some narcissism thrown in here, but she has the ability to control what she does.

Killing Eve Season 4 airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on BBC America and AMC+.

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