The best show of 2018 is back for a second series in 2019. So what can we expect from round two of Killing Eve, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s genre hopping spy drama in which serial killer Villanelle and M15 officer Eve Polastri play cat and mouse across Europe?

Well, from the looks of the BBC’s new teaser trailer, which shows off what to expect from the best dramas this year, Killing Eve is going to be as punchy, quick-witted and fascinating as ever. Giving just a tiny glimpse into the new series, it features Villanelle’s brilliantly dirty laugh and Eve’s saucier side.

As we’re so very excited for the show to be back on our screens, we have pulled everything together we know so far about series two, including which of the cast will be returning, the writers’ plans for the new year, and where the story of Villanelle and Eve will lead next…

1. Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh will be back

There was never really any doubt that the best duo on television would be back for round two, despite the fact that the finale of Killing Eve left Villanelle, played by Jodie Comer with a nasty stab wound inflicted by M15 officer Eve Polastri, played by Sandra Oh, who bagged Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her performance.

The first images from season 2 (released just before Christmas) suggest that Villanelle has survived. Sandra Oh’s Eve, meanwhile, is taking a long, hot bath.

Let the chase begin!

2. Phoebe Waller Bridge has handed over the reigns to a new writer

A crucial element of Killing Eve’s success was down to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s wry, genre hopping script, which also landed the showrunner an Emmy nomination for writing.

But Waller-Bridge has been busy filming second series of her other big show, Fleabag – which begins on BBC this Spring – so moves to executive producer role for the new season of Killing Eve.

The new lead writer on the show, meanwhile, is Emerald Fennell, a writer and actor.

Jodie Comer shared some fan concerns about losing Waller-Bridge’s unique talent. “It never put me off but it initially worried me. What everyone knows is that Phoebe is so unique and her voice is so distinctive,” she told Harper’s Bazaar UK.

“You think, ‘Oh god – is anyone else going to be able to take the reins?’ But you have Emerald who is so brilliant and also a very close friend of Phoebe’s, so they have a very similar sense of humour, and Emerald really understands the characters and the tone of the show. I’ve been really excited by the script and where the characters go.”

3. You’ll be hearing a lot more about Emerald Fennell this year

The writer and actor has written four genre diverse novels but is best known for her role as Nurse Patsy Mount in Call the Midwife. In 2019, she also joins the cast of The Crown, starring as a young Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, opposite Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles. 

4. Europe will be the location for Villanelle’s killing spree

Series one of Killing Eve took viewers on a cat and mouse chase across Europe as Eve tried to track down the deadly assassin Villanelle. Filming on series two completed in December in locations that included London, Amsterdam and Paris.

5. Expect Villanelle to kill it again in the fashion stakes

No word yet on Villanelle’s fashion choices for season 2, though given that the first series turned this fictitious serial killer into an unlikely style icon in Molly Goddard dresses and Miu Miu bombers, we can expect her to slay in the style stakes once again.

There will, however, definitely be lots more wigs.

“I want to know what wigs she has. What more she has in that closet,” the actress told Refinery 29. “I feel like it’s Narnia. There is so much in there that I feel is still to be explored.”

6. And a lot more imaginative ways to kill a person.

‘I don’t want to take away the pleasure of surprise,” Comer told EW of her character’s way with slaying victims, ‘“so all I will say is you can expect more, more, more from Villanelle.’

Perhaps this pretty manicure kit, as tweeted by lead writer Fennell, could be Villanelle’s next murder weapon of choice? 

7. There are new additions to the cast… and a few surprise returns

The series will also see the return of Eve’s boss, the mysterious operative Carolyn Martens, played by Fiona Shaw, star of stage and screen (and perhaps most famously Harry Potter’s Petunia Dursley).

In series one, Martens said that Vilanelle’s handler Konstantin Vasiliev (Kim Bodnia) had been killed off. But the actor has been seen on-set for series two, suggesting that either the new season includes flashbacks or someone’s telling fibs…

New additions to the cast are Nina Sosanya (Last Tango in Halifax) and Edward Bluemel (A Discovery of Witches), according to the BBC announcement on series two. There will also be a guest appearance from The Mighty Boosh’s Julian Barrett during the run.

8. The second season will focus on the fall-out from series one’s big showdown

Waller-Bridge adapted series one from Luke Jenning’s Codename Villanelle novellas.

So far, the team are tight lipped about how much inspiration series two takes from the source material.

One thing certain is that the ramifications from series one’s shocking finale, will be felt most keenly by Eve. In that surprise ending, the M15 agent ended up lying in bed with the assassin, before stabbing her.

“Eve has done something, which may have changed her forever, that will have repercussions with every relationship in her life,” Fennell told Entertainment Weekly.

Elsewhere, Oh told EW she was looking forward to ‘how Eve and Villanelle’s relationship progresses and deepens’ in series two.And Comer has said series two would see her delving into the dichotomy between her hit-woman persona and Villanelle’s birth identity, Osana.

“I think there’s constantly a mystery about who it is that you’re seeing,” she told British Vogue. “You realise there’s a lot of stuff bubbling away.”

9. There’s plenty more to explore between Eve and Villanelle

The finale of season one left a huge question mark as to Eve and Villanelle’s dynamic from here on in. But even the stars can’t quite define what their complex relationship is. Love? Hate? Do they just want to be each other?

“Me and Sandra – we’re always expected to have the answer, but we’re still trying to figure it out,” Comer told Digital Spy. “There is sexual chemistry and there is also platonic admiration and fascination.”

The former Doctor Foster star said that series two will be “open to all possibilities” and that Eve and Villanelle will definitely meet again, evidenced by on set pictures of them side by side.

“The bottom line is they will meet again,” she said. “They’re always going to be chasing each other’s tails. It’s just when that meeting happens and the consequences…”

10. Killing Eve 2 will be back in the Spring

The first series of Killing Eve debuted on BBC America before hitting British screens in September last year. Season two is set for a Spring 2019 premiere in the U.S. but it is likely that BBC One will look to broadcast the show in the U.K. soon after this. We just don’t know when yet…

This article was originally published on 31 December 2018 and has been updated.

Image: BBC