BBC America Is No Longer Clowning Around As It Sets ‘Killing Eve’ Season 3 Premiere Date

The maddening wait is almost over: “Killing Eve” finally has a return date, and it puts the drama in the thick of Emmy qualification season. BBC America’s critically-acclaimed spy-versus-spy drama — and let’s face it, sexy cat and mouse chase — “Killing Eve” returns for its third season on Sunday, April 26 at 10 p.m. ET.

Entertainment Weekly spoke with “Killing Eve” executive producer Sally Woodward Gentle (“The Durrells in Corfu”) and star Jodie Comer ahead of Season 3 and even provided a few first look images from the season. And while it’s not quite safe to assume that there’s some funny business going on this season, the images of Villanelle (Comer) as a clown and Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) with a foam finger suggest that “Killing Eve” hasn’t lost its twisted sense of humor.

Set six months after the events of the Season 2 finale, “Killing Eve” Season 3 finds both Eve (Sandra Oh) and Villanelle attempting to recalibrate. For Villanelle, that means attempting to find some sense of control, which has been an issue for the character since the very beginning. “She is a very free spirit, and she always seems to be under the thumb of this higher entity, whoever that may be,” Comer told Entertainment Weekly. “She’s really trying to shake that off.”

As for Eve, after getting shot in the back by the object of her obsession and blowing up things with her “miserable but not dead” — in Woodward Gentle’s words — husband Niko (Owen McDonnell) , she has to truly really reassess what it is she wants in her life. As the first look images reveal, Eve has gone from MI6 to the kitchen. (The Entertainment Weekly piece includes more puns.) In fact, according to Woodward Gentle, “She’s a very, very bright woman who is good at whatever she decides to turn her hand to. She’s also very, very good at making dumplings.” In fact, according to Woodward Gentle, it’s actually a bit of art imitating life, as “Sandra turns out to be incredibly good at making dumplings — and at butchering, actually.”

Woodward Gentle is far more tight-lipped about the status of Konstantin (Kim Bodnia) and the new clown in Villanelle’s life — other than herself — known as Felix (Stefan Iancu), but she does let Entertainment Weekly in on the fact that things between Eve and Carolyn are also just as complicated as Eve and Villanelle. “I don’t think they can help but be drawn back to each other a little bit,” said Woodward Gentle, of Eve and her former boss at MI6.

According to Woodward Gentle, Season 3 is “the most personal season — and the most emotionally rocky season” yet. After Season 1 ended with Eve stabbing Villanelle and Season 2 ended with Villanelle shooting Eve — which, considering the continuation of the series, obviously didn’t take — it’ll be interesting to see just how much rockier things can get.