Killing Eve Star Sandra Oh Breaks Silence on Controversial Finale

After earning critical acclaim for years, Killing Eve came to a rather unceremonious end earlier this year, with a series finale that disappointed not only select fans, but even the author of the source material. Star Sandra Oh has offered her thoughts on the ending of the narrative, and while she doesn’t reveal whether or not she particularly agreed with the direction the adventure took, she revealed that the original plans for the finale ended up exploring quite a different direction, leaving fans to wonder if this might have been a conclusion that fans would have been more on board with.

WARNING: Spoilers below for Killing Eve

Across four seasons, Eve (Oh) and Villanelle (Jodie Comer) had a number of violent and sexual entanglements, with the finale seeing them connecting romantically as their goals aligned, only for Villanelle to unexpectedly be shot and killed, with the credits rolling on the series just moments after her death. The actor pointed out that the original plan was for Eve to be killed instead.

Oh explained to Deadline that “honestly, it was going to be the other way around” but that production shutting down due to the pandemic saw that finale be reevaluated.

The actor revealed that she and writer Laura Neal “were chatting about how we were going to end this” and “I was like, ‘You should kill my character.’ I thought that would be the strongest and the most interesting” way to end the show.

While the series started with Eve and Villanelle at opposite ends of the moral spectrum, they found themselves both influencing one another’s ideals.

“Eve was starting to get into, like, a nihilistic place, and we’re like, ‘Let’s just continue that line and go straight into it,’” Oh expressed. During the production shutdown, however, Oh noted that “they came to me, and they said, ‘We can’t do it. We need to change it… Eve needs to live.’”

This ending would apparently have been too dark for the story, with Oh detailing how “Eve is the way into this world. She’s our everywoman. So it’s kind of really super depressing if she dies.” 

“We switched it around,” Oh says, as shed admitted Comer “was very much on board for that.”

Despite Killing Eve ending, AMC is currently exploring spinoffs for the franchise.

What did you think of the ending? Let us know in the comments below!