Killing Eve author Luke Jennings criticises the ‘punishing’ TV finale: ‘It was a bowing to convention’
Luke Jennings, the author of the books that inspired Killing Eve, has spoken out against the series finale.
The author wrote the 2017 novel Codename Villanelle, which was adapted to the cat-and-mouse thriller that aired its final episode earlier this month.
***Warning: this article contains major spoilers for Killing Eve and The 100***
Much of the series focused on the “will they, won’t they?” relationship between lapsed MI5 worker Eve (Sandra Oh) and charismatic assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer).
In the final scenes of the programme, it appeared that Eve and Villanelle would finally have their chance at a life together after defeating their shared nemesis group, The Twelve.
However, Villanelle was then shot in the chest. While jumping in the River Thames with Eve in a bid to escape, she was hit by a flurry of further bullets and died in the water.
Fans have expressed their dissatisfaction with the choice to kill the character after four seasons’ worth of enthusiasm for her and Eve’s romance.
In a new article, Jennings suggested that he was also disappointed with the ending that the show writers chose for Villanelle.
“It’s an extraordinary privilege to see your characters brought to life so compellingly. But the final series ending took me aback,” he wrote in The Guardian on Friday (22 April).
After describing the “subversive” vision that he and season one showrunner Phoebe Waller-Bridge had for Villanelle’s on-screen persona, he explained that the choice to kill Villanelle was “a bowing to convention” that doesn’t allow same-sex couples to flourish on TV.
Jennings explained: “The season four ending was a bowing to convention. A punishing of Villanelle and Eve for the bloody, erotically impelled chaos they have caused.
“A truly subversive storyline would have defied the trope which sees same-sex lovers in TV dramas permitted only the most fleeting of relationships before one of them is killed off,” he wrote, before referring to character Lena in The 100 dying immediately after sleeping with her female love interest for the first time.
“How much more darkly satisfying, and true to Killing Eve’s original spirit, for the couple to walk off into the sunset together?” he asked. “Spoiler alert, but that’s how it seemed to me when writing the books.”
Despite the end of the TV series, Jennings went on to confirm that Villanelle’s story is not over, promising that she’ll eventually return: “Villanelle lives. And on the page, if not on the screen, she will be back.”
You can read The Independent’s review of Killing Eve season four here.
