Figuring out Carolyn’s true allegiances and alliances is a task more futile than “handling” Villanelle.
Just ask Raymond or Konstantin.
(Or that other guy that Villanelle quickly dusted.)
Who knows exactly how many of the strings that Carolyn is pulling this complicated game?
But fair to say: a lot.
“Suzanne Heathcotes playwriting skillsmean that it’s quite structured,” Shaw tells EW of season 3.
“It doesn’t shy away from not being funny.
And I think that’s very good.
Now were back to quite real.
What might Carolyn’s endgame be?
How does she draw Eve back in if she’s no longer her boss?
And what happens when her daughter someone who’s actually in touch with her own feelings enters the picture?
We rang up Shaw from a secure line and asked her to slip us some intel on season 3.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, what we can expect from Carolyn this season?
And you get to know her personally much, much more.
That’s possibly true of some of the other characters but particularly Carolyn.
I was surprised at how the domestic world reveals so much more about Carolyn.
You’re going to meet her right up front and personal in this.
We know that Carolyns son, Kenny (Sean Delaney), has worked for his mom.
Now were going to meetdaughter Geraldine, played byGame of Thrones' Gemma Whelan.
What can you say about the relationship between mother and daughter?
Ummm… it’s disastrous.
For all the peculiarity of their relationship, Kenny and his mom have a lot in common.
They didn’t have to speak much.
It drives Carolyn mad!
So it’s a disastrous relationships in many ways.
How does Geraldine re-enter the picture?
Does she have anything to do with the family business?
I could say, but maybe it’s none of anyone’s business until it happens.
She hasnt on the surface anything to do with the family business.
That’s not her interest.
You’ll find quite quickly that she’s the one who got away.
[Laughs] They’re very different people, put it like that.
So there’s plenty room for complication in this.
She’s the last person that Carolyn would choose as a daughter.
And Carolyn, her hair rises on the back of her neck every time shes near her.
How would you describe Geraldines importance to the season 3 story?
Things are bound to happen.
After two seasons, the audience gets to know the people very well.
So it’s much more personal, but not just in Carolyns story.
Eves story, too.
There’s a lot of personal events that happen.
Then, of course, new characters appear, which is utterly thrilling.
Kenny doesn’t always seem to trust his mom.
With Geraldine thrown into the mix, what can you say about that family dynamic?
It must have been absolutely extraordinary!
[Laughs] And it’ll be a revelation to the audience that Carolyn has more children.
And, of course, you don’t know whether she hasn’t got more children.
That’s the marvelous thing about Carolyn you never quite know where the story ends.
In the trailer, we see that she’s one who tells Eve that Villanelle is back.
What hints can you drop about what might create this uneasy reunion?
It’s a really peculiar relationship, isnt it?
Her bosses are none too pleased with Carolyn because she seems to always cause disasters, doesnt she?
I mean, huge disasters and very expensive disasters for MI6 to clean up.
Eve has now left that, so Eve is no longer in her employ.
So their knowledge of each other is now really only plot-fueled.
That’s a really big shift in it.
She didn’t say whether he was dead or not.
We don’t know who shot him, and if he might even be complicit with the clean-up plan.
Do we get some answers to that with Carolyn early in the season?
You do get some answers.
But Carolyns in a lot of trouble over that.
I mean, that was both well run and really badly run.
It was ingenious of Carolyn, but absolutely horrible that that scene had to happen.
Were still trying to crack that fascinating bond between Carolyn and Konstantin.
What kind of turns does that close-but-unstable relationship take?
Well, I can tell you that they have a car journey together.
It’s very, very good.
So we’re both sort of bewildered and intrigued by each other when we do these scenes.
But it’s like when you play tennis with somebody really, really good your game gets better.
And I think that inspires the writers too, to the depths of their mutual and very ambiguous relationship.
As you know, they both trust each other and don’t trust each other.
I always thought it was something out of TV.
So… lots of new shadings and surprises in their relationship.
I would say Fasten your safety belts.
Get your pizza in and get your popcorn on or whatever it is.
But youll be astonished.Iwas astonished.
A lot of “Ahhhh!”
It’s a good ride.
