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  1. Entertainment
  2. TV
  3. Thriller Shows

Killing Eve author criticizes the TV show's ending for "bowing to convention"

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By Lauren Milici published 22 April 2022

Luke Jennings published Codename Villanelle in 2017

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Killing Eve season 4
(Image credit: BBC)
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Warning: Spoilers ahead for Killing Eve season 4! 

Don’t worry, the author behind Killing Eve didn’t like the show’s ending either.

Luke Jennings, author of Codename Villanelle, penned an op-ed for The Guardian about his thoughts on the series finale. The spy thriller novel was published in 2017 as a compilation of four serial novellas, with Killing Eve based on her work. The show was always meant to end after its fourth season, with each one being helmed by a different female head writer. The way the show ended, however, is far from what Jennings had in mind.

"But the season four ending was a bowing to convention," Jennings writes. "A punishing of Villanelle and Eve for the bloody, erotically impelled chaos they have caused."

Jennings explains that the ending falls into the TV drama trope that sees same-sex lovers get together shortly before one is tragically killed, citing Lexa's death in The CW series The 100 as an example.

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"How much more darkly satisfying, and true to Killing Eve's original spirit, for the couple to walk off into the sunset together?" Jennings writes, adding "that's how it seemed to me when writing the books."

Many fans of the show were upset, with some even comparing the finale to the ending of Game of Thrones. Fortunately, Jennings ends his op-ed by saying that Villanelle lives, and that "on the page, if not on the screen, she will be back."

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Lauren Milici
Lauren Milici
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Senior Entertainment Writer

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ based in New York City. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

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