Blond psychopath Villanelle in “Killing Eve” is the kind of over-the-top fictional character who couldn’t possibly be real — right?
Not so fast. It turns out that Villanelle, played by Jodie Comer, 27, was based on a very real villain who reportedly killed nearly two dozen people in cold blood, all while seducing police officers like a pro.
Luke Jennings, who wrote the “Villanelle” novel series that the hit AMC and BBC America series is based on, has exposed the inspiration behind the character: Idoia López Riaño, a Spanish ETA hitwoman known as La Tigresa, according to The Independent.
“She killed 23 people, and she was clearly a psychopath and completely, completely without empathy,” Jennings revealed in an online chat for the new Lyme Crime literary festival.
Although she was imprisoned in the 1990s for murders she committed for the Basque terrorist group, the now-55-year-old was released in 2017.
“Killing Eve” follows Villanelle’s obsession with intelligence agent Eve (Sandra Oh). Although that part of the story is invented for the show, Jennings said La Tigresa reportedly earned her real-life nickname for her “legendary sexual prowess,” as she’s rumored to have had sex with police officers before slaying their colleagues.
In the TV series, Comer’s vain Villanelle is frequently shown preening in the mirror and shopping for designer fashions. Riaño, Jennings said, also enjoyed gazing at her own reflection.
The author recounted one such occasion, when Riaño was assigned to assassinate a police officer: “At the key moment, Idoia, who was supposed to be doing the killings, didn’t actually see him because she was so entranced with the window of a fashionable store and her own reflection in it.”
Now in its third season, “Killing Eve” contributed to the rise of Hollywood darling Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who helmed the first season, and it earned Oh a Golden Globe in 2019 and Comer an Emmy that same year.
“Killing Eve” has already been renewed for a fourth season. Season 3 — which recently shocked fans by killing off a major character — is currently airing Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC and BBC America.