Farewell Villanelle: Jodie Comer signs up for her first post-Killing Eve TV role

The Emmy-winning actress is set to star in a new TV series from director Adam McKay
Getty Images
Elizabeth Gregory17 March 2022

Jodie Comer fans can breathe a sigh of relief. Although Killing Eve is coming to an end with its fourth season, your favourite Liverpudlian actress will not be leaving your screens for too long. Her next TV venture? Starring in Adam McKay’s new HBO drama, Big Swiss.

Set in upstate New York, the series will follow the story of Flavia, played by Comer, who anonymously transcribes sex therapy sessions and becomes obsessed with one of the patients. An explosive relationship soon develops between the two. Intrigued yet?

It’s based on the novel by Jen Beagin, which is yet to be released but 14 bidders were reportedly interested in the TV rights before HBO eventually won them, according to a report in Variety.

Killing Eve Series 4
Jodie Comer as Villanelle in Killing Eve
BBC America/Anika Molnar

The series will be produced by A24, the buzzy studio behind films like Ex Machina, Moonlight, Lady Bird, Midsommar and Uncut Gems, as well as TV shows like Euphoria, alongside McKay’s production outfit Hyperobject Industries. The director, who also serves as an executive producer on Succession, is known for films like The Big Short, Vice and Don’t Look Up.

Following breakout roles in series like Thirteen and Doctor Foster, it was Comer’s turn as the impeccably dressed, cold-blooded and sharp-tongued assassin Villanelle that sent her career into the stratosphere when Killing Eve debuted in 2018.

The 29-year-old star went on to receive an Emmy and a Bafta for her role, which she recently reprised for the show’s fourth and final series, currently airing on BBC One.

Comer also starred in Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel
AP

Her stint as Villanelle caused Hollywood to sit up and take notice. In 2019 she played Rey’s Mother in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, in action-comedy Free Guy opposite Ryan Reynolds and Taika Waititi and in The Last Duel, a Ridley Scott-directed historical drama with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and some questionable wigs.

She’s also set to make her West End debut in Suzie Miller’s one-woman show Prima Facie which will run for nine weeks from mid-April, and features music by Self Esteem.

There’s no news of a release date for Big Swiss yet, but we do know that Comer is brilliant at playing a woman consumed by obsession. And with a story that promises to be “whipcrack smart and completely unexpected at nearly every turn” and “laugh out loud hilarious with a dark edge,” it looks like her comic timing will come in handy too - we cannot think of a better role for Comer to tackle as her next move.

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