This week sees the return of TV’s most complicated icon. Villanelle, played by Jodie Comer, is well-dressed, witty and loyal to a fault. She also murders people. Lots of them. In the third series of Killing Eve, coming to BBC iPlayer on Monday and BBC One a week later, no one is safe. Eve, played by Sandra Oh, returns to dice with death once more, along with friends and foils such as Fiona Shaw’s Carolyn. But there are a few new additions to our favourite cat-and-mouse game, including Game Of Thrones star Gemma Whelan.
Tonight, she was supposed to be on stage at London’s Gielgud Theatre to continue the hugely successful run of Upstart Crow, with David Mitchell. But, instead, she is at home with her husband (comedian Gerry Howell) and their young daughter, thanks to the closure of theatres for lockdown. Her Instagram is a parade of joy; of paddling pools in the kitchen and breaks in the garden as she keeps Frances, two, occupied. When I call, she is halfway through building a slide in the living room. But it is, naturally, a time of tumult. ‘We think we may have had it last week, so we’ve been trapped in our home,’ she explains. ‘Our 14 days are up on Saturday, but we have a garden and we’re all in the same boat.’ Not quite. Actors are, for all their glamorous associations, freelancers, and with film sets closing and theatres shutting, their next steps are unknown. ‘I’ve just lost my income completely,’ Gemma says, before a philosophical, ‘but that’s what savings are for.’
Gemma’s participation in one of the year’s most-anticipated shows, however, is a decided silver lining. Like everything about the show, many details surrounding her character are shrouded in mystery. But we do know she’ll play Geraldine, Carolyn’s prodigal daughter. ‘She’s a bit of a drifter who’s never really found her way in life,’ says Gemma. ‘She’s quite free with her emotions.’ Her arc may be an enigma, but we can expect more Killing Eve shockers. ‘Some things in the script have made me gasp,’ she admits. I wish for another clue. Is Geraldine’s wardrobe a Killing Eve classic? ‘I was very pleased with my look,’ she says. ‘It’s smart and conservative.’
Working with Fiona has, unsurprisingly, been a dream. ‘I’ve been a fan of her since I was little, when she was in Three Men And A Little Lady’, she says wistfully. ‘When I first met her she came straight over to give me a hug and I said, “Mummy!”’
It doesn’t sound like Geraldine is a killer, but when did appearances mean anything in Killing Eve, where young, beautiful women in Molly Goddard dresses stab men to death in Berlin nightclubs? Gemma can’t even confirm if she has scenes with Jodie, but she does concede that she has met her. ‘She was very nice, and I was very starstruck by her,’ she says. ‘And, obviously, I can’t wait to see what Jodie’s wearing next. It must be so fun – the shopping you must get to do!’
Like millions of viewers worldwide, Gemma was a fan first. But she wasn’t expecting to be cast. ‘There had been a series of near misses with auditions, so I was feeling quite despondent,’ she explains ‘When Killing Eve came up, because of that, I thought there was no way I was going to get it. But, as soon as I got the script, I thought, “I know how I could play her.”
I immediately related to her.’ Gemma had to wait a few weeks before hearing the role was hers. ‘I was very pleased, but also relieved to get a job, obviously. When you’re not working, you’re worrying. No one likes to twiddle their thumbs.’
She’s not done much of that, to be fair. In recent years, Gemma’s starred in Gentleman Jack, The End Of The F***ing World, White House Farm and The Moorside – in which she played Karen Matthews, who kidnapped her own daughter in the hope of claiming reward money. As Yara Greyjoy in Game Of Thrones, Gemma went global. Since the show’s end, she misses the trips to film in Belfast with her ‘second family’, but keeps in touch with the gang. ‘I am nostalgic for it, but I don’t mourn it,’ she says. ‘There’s a WhatsApp group we’re all on, a very big one. There’s pretty much someone doing something on it every day.’ She also credits the programme for changing the face of women in television. Yes, it was criticised for gratuitous nudity, but it also gave women enormous power. ‘Game Of Thrones brought strong female characters to the forefront, with all their strengths and weaknesses,’ says Gemma. ‘Phoebe did a lot for it with Fleabag, too. For women to be flawed and three-dimensional. Rather than just looking sexy and getting murdered.’
Next, Gemma will start filming Gentleman Jack’s second series. Production has been postponed until September, pending the relaxation of lockdown. Who knows if Upstart Crow will return to the theatre once this is all over. For Gemma, and for anyone without a fixed monthly salary, the next few months are a question mark. But, at the very least, she has earned some time for slide-building and thumb-twiddling.
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