Killing Eve author blasts controversial TV finale and promises ‘Villanelle will be back’
Killing Eve author Luke Jennings did not hold back as he criticised the critically-panned series finale of the popular spy drama.
The BBC series came to an end in a way fans did not see coming after emotional scenes saw characters Eve (Sandra Oh) and Villanelle (Jodie Comer) finally give in to their feelings for each other and go on to take down The Twelve. As the newly smitten couple celebrated their victory on a boat’s deck, a sniper shot and killed Villanelle. The End.
Fans were absolutely furious to see the controversial “Bury Your Gays” trope (which LGBT+ characters disproportionately killed off compared to their straight counterparts) feature in the final moments of a show that they had followed for so long.
Now author Luke Jennings, who wrote the books Killing Eve is based on, has added his disapproval to the mix in a new essay.
Writing in The Guardian, Jennings stated: “As an author, it’s a thrill having your work adapted for TV, as my Killing Eve novels were.
“You’re never going to love everything the screenwriting team does, that’s a given. You’re too close to the characters. You’ve lived with them in your head for far too long. But it’s a thrill to see your story taken in unexpected directions…”
He continued: “But 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.
“How much more darkly satisfying, and true to Killing Eve‘s original spirit, for the couple to walk off into the sunset together? Spoiler alert, but that’s how it seemed to me when writing the books.”
The writer said that the character of Villanelle was like a “lifeline” to fans who feel isolated and reiterated that she would continue to live on in their hearts despite the finale.
He then teased that they could still enjoy more from the young Russian lesbian through a new book as he added: “I learned the outcome of the final episode in advance, and suspected, rightly, that fans would be upset. But to those fans, I would say this: Villanelle lives. And on the page, if not on the screen, she will be back.”
