AMC Networks and BBC America have announced that a prequel to the hit spy thriller series Killing Eve is officially in development and will focus on the past of main character Carolyn Martens, played by Fiona Shaw.
First premiering in April 2018, Killing Eve is inspired by the Codename Villanelle novels by Luke Jennings. The protagonist, Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), is a wildly intelligent MI5 agent who grows bored with her job. She is later fired from MI5 and recruited by MI6. Eve obsessively pursues the villain Oksana Astankova, codenamed Villanelle (Jodie Corner), a Russian assassin and member of a secretive organization called The Twelve. Over the course of four seasons, Killing Eve depicts the development of a complicated relationship between Eve and Villanelle, as well as between each woman and her organization.
Who is Caroline Martens?
In Killing Eve, Fiona Shaw depicts Carolyn Martens, an experienced spy and the head of the Russian division at MI6. As a character, Martens is shown to be smart and cunning, and she is introduced as a straightforward person. The show, however, reveals that she boasts hidden depths. According to Collider, Martens has a “close relationship” with Konstantin Vasiliev, Villanelle’s handler and boss, and that relationship causes her to become something of a rogue agent.
With Killing Eve confirmed to be ending in April 2022, the show writers, which include Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Emerald Fennell, Suzanne Heathcote, and current writer Laura Neal, have disclosed plans to develop a prequel to the show focused around Martens’ earlier years as a spy, including more detail on her relationship with Vasiliev and how she became the master spy Shaw depicts her as. According to Comicbook.com, Killing Eve’s prequel is confirmed to be in development at Sid Gentle Films, the same studio that produced the original show, though many other details – including the cast and title – remain to be seen at this time, though more information may be released after Killing Eve concludes.