NEW YORK, Apr 10 (UPI) - Fiona Shaw says she doesn't expect to fully understand what the worldwide spy drama Killing Eve means to her until after Sunday's series finale airs.
"I really enjoyed playing Caroline. I wish I could play her every week forever," the 63-year-old actress told UPI in a Zoom interview from her London home on Thursday.
"It's on television at the moment, so I can't walk down the street without people coming and going, 'Oh my god!' They haven't had a final episode yet, so it feels very, very present. I'm not processing it yet. I still feel a part of it."
The show centers on Eve (Sandra Oh), a former MI5 analyst-turned-security-expert who is equally attracted and repelled by killer-for-hire Villanelle (Jodie Comer). Shaw plays Caroline, Eve's ex-boss and former head of MI6's Russian division, whose ties to the shadowy criminal enterprise, The Twelve, are unclear until the final moments of the closing episode.
"I was so glad I had a sequence with Villanelle because, otherwise, I would have gone through all those seasons without meeting Villanelle," Shaw explained.
"I really enjoyed working with Sandra, so it was great to spend some time with Jody because [the characters] became a trio of sorts."
Shaw liked the challenges showrunner Laura Neal threw in Caroline's way in the fourth and final season.
"I found it very hard to get fired from MI6 and sent to Russia. I thought Caroline was taking away the things that made me Caroline, then I had to find some other things that gave Carolyn Caroline besides strength, intelligence, connection. Created. And the ability to solve everything. Suddenly, she couldn't solve anything," added the actress.
While the fates of most of the show's main characters have certainly been wrapped up in the last two episodes, the door remains open for Caroline to go on more adventures.
Shaw would be interested in reprising the role of "Way Down the Road" if he had the opportunity to receive a spinoff of his own or to play the agent in the Caroline origin story alongside another actress in her younger years. .
"I certainly haven't read or seen anything," she insisted. "I'm so happy again that people think that Caroline's character must go through another person. Maybe it will, but of course I have no idea about that at the moment."
The actress, known for her theatrical theater work, as well as for her portrayal of Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter film franchise and Marnie Stonebrook in True Blood, said she liked exploring Caroline's restrained energy level as much as anything. was unlike what he had experienced before.
"I think it has to do with the television camera," she said. "The camera really enjoys that frugality and that pulling away from stuff. I, myself, am quite an enthusiast, so it was interesting enough to play the opposite of what I was and believe it would catch on."
Shaw thinks audiences are drawn to Killing Eve because they want to live through these three fantastic, dangerous women as bizarre as they can be.
"They both wish they were Caroline and I'm sure they're very relieved that they're not Caroline," Shaw explained.
"Caroline, Eve and Villanelle inhabit a universe where we can all fantasize about the elements of it, such as wearing cute clothes and moving from place to place, but none of us live in our lives' instability, connection. and a lack of perseverance and opaque morals."
Asked whether working on Killing Eve made him more suspicious of those in power, Shaw laughed, "Reality has made me more suspicious of those in power."
Shaw said that both the TV show and the daily news show "the power of these obscene people" who don't care about the impact their actions and decisions have on other people.
"What's really scary is that Killing Eve in its most outward isn't all of a sudden looking weird," she said.
"The corruption of all our governments has been absolutely breathtaking. We are in a very volatile moment," he continued. "I think our leaders are too old. We need a new generation to come everywhere, who are more idealistic. We are so tired of where we are."
Shaw said that we too are in an era of "endless, superb quality television".
She herself is now filming Anansi Boys – an adaptation of a novel by Neil Gaiman – creator of American Gods and Good Omens – in Scotland. She recently completed a role in the Star Wars: Rogue One prequel series, Endor.
"It felt like I was stepping into this huge world of international exposure and I was so honored to be a part of that team," she said of Endor.