In author Luke Jennings‘ trilogy, Villanelle (Jodie Comer) is the perfect assassin, identified by MI6 agent Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), whose lives begin to intersect in a game of cat and mouse. There are some adaptations in the BBC TV series, but thanks to the talent of showrunner Phoebe Waller-Bridge and the charisma of Jodie Comer, the Killing Eve series became a worldwide success. With the arrival of all seasons on Netflix, it’s worth trying to decipher the complex, cruel, and fun Russian murderer, who is one of the most popular to appear on TV.

What the books say

In Jennings’ pages, Villanelle is initially only known by her code name, without a surname or given name. A Russian orphan, she is “saved” from the death penalty after she is convicted of brutally avenging the murder of her gangster father. With a new life, she is financed by the organization The Twelve, which hires her for a series of murders that she loves to carry out. Villanelle doesn’t know anything about them or is interested, her contact is through Konstantin (Kim Bodnia), the man who saved her and to whom she answers. Sociopath, Villanelle has no conscience, guilt, or weakness.

In the second book, No Tomorrow, Villanelle is warned that Eve Polastri has discovered that a senior MI5 officer is in the pay of the Twelve and she is about to interrogate him. Villanelle’s mission is to kill him before he speaks.

In the third and final, Eve Polastri and Villanelle are together and take refuge in the underworld of Saint Petersburg. But the Twelve are after the two, dragging them into a nightmare of conspiracy and murder.

Just as it will be in the TV series, Villanelle has a dark past and since she was identified as a psychopath and sociopath, at a very young age, she has been “disputed” by different organizations and people, all with the same intention of using her talent for killing. for your own benefit. Vain, childish, obsessed, and terrifying, she is one of the most original characters of recent years, perfect for TV too.

TV’s Villanelle was shaped by the most sought-after showrunners in the current market

If it was a man who idealized Villanelle on the pages, it was two of the most intelligent and sought-after screenwriters of the moment who transformed the character into something iconic, especially by having a bold actress like Jodie Comer in the role. In the 1st season, Phoebe Waller-Bridge – from Fleabag – signed the text, and, in the second, this was under the responsibility of Emerald Fennell, who would amend the success with an Oscar for Best Screenplay for Promising Young Woman and had great success in 2023 with Saltburn. Highlighting this connection gives perspective on how both were crucial to the boldness of the narrative with three strong, amoral women.

Waller-Bridge’s humor is essential in the debut, but Fennel’s season is considered the best of the four, with surprises and a greater tone of violence, which would be reflected in her future cinematic works.

Jodie Comer won the Emmy for Best Actress, becoming a global star and both Fiona Shaw and Sandra Oh were also nominated. In particular Fiona, there were acting shows. The most important thing about Killing Eve is that the story uses the character’s sociopathy to explore themes of identity, sexuality, morality, and power.

Who really is Villanelle and what is her name?

Book and series kept some things the same and one of them is Villanelle’s real name: Oxana Vorontsova. In the series, she is an orphan with a violent reputation who was imprisoned after her obsession with a caring older language teacher named Anna (Susan Lynch) ended in tragedy. The two had an affair, but Anna killed herself after Villanelle, in a fit of jealousy, castrated Anna’s husband to eliminate her love rival.

Five years after going to prison, Villanelle was recruited as an assassin by the criminal organization The Twelve, who helped her escape, fake her own death, and emerge with a new identity: Villanelle.

She chose her code name in honor of a favorite perfume of the Countess du Barry, who was guillotined in 1793 (and the subject of the film that was successful at Cannes in 2023), and in the series, she gives a bottle of it to Eve as her ‘signature’. ‘.

At the time it was still bold that the best killer in the criminal underworld was a woman and it was Eve Polastri who was the first to identify her profile. Charming, with a unique humor and precision when killing, Villanelle is the most terrifying anti-heroine in fiction. She kills and mistreats anyone – child or old – and her pleasure in killing (almost sexual) is chilling.

Villanelle enjoys inflicting pain and seeing people suffer, her indifference makes her a paradoxically empathetic monster. Upon meeting and falling in love with Eve, Villanelle goes through a long journey that flirts with redemption, but when she recovers from her past we see how she has suffered profound psychological and physical damage since childhood, there was practically no hope for her.

As a dangerous adult child, Villanelle becomes bored quickly, always seeking dangerous challenges to spark her overly theatrical creativity. Orphaned, needy, and unbalanced, nothing seems to prepare us for deciphering who she really is. The only thing we are sure of is that the words guilt and regret were never part of her vocabulary.

Killing Eve

Villanelle’s obsession with Eve Polastri may be mutual, but it’s stranger on her side than on the agent who – in theory – wants to arrest her. Eve proves to be a challenge for Villanelle because she doesn’t submit to her, resists attraction, and always surprises her.

As the series progresses, their relationship takes on darker psychological and emotional dimensions. Eve is fascinated by Villanelle’s audacity, skill, and twisted sense of humor, even as she recognizes the danger the assassin poses.

Villanelle admires Eve’s intelligence and determination, as well as her honesty and vulnerability. This mutual fascination blurs the lines between hunter and hunted, fascination and obsession, love and hate. An intricate dynamic that is part of the secret of the series.

Ultimately, seeking in vain to reform, it is when Eve and Villanelle accept each other that everything seems to be going well for them until they are betrayed by Carolyn (Fiona Shaw).

With just four seasons, Villanelle is certainly one of the most curious characters created by fiction. Glad it’s finally for a larger audience too.

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