Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Season 3 of Evil.
From creatorsRobertandMichelle King(The Good Wife,The Good Fight), the psychological mystery seriesEvil, currently in its third season, digs into the origins of evil and how blurry the line between science and religion can be in seemingly inexplicable moments. Becoming ordained only leads to more questions and few answers for David (Mike Colter), while Kristen (Katja Herbers) continues to fight to protect her family, and Ben (Aasif Mandvi) finds himself less sure of his previously firmly held beliefs.
During this interview with Collider, co-stars Colter and Mandvi talked about what they got to explore this season, the experience of having practical demon creatures in scenes, the David/Sister Andrea (Andrea Martin) dynamic, getting to dig deeper into Ben’s relationship with his sister (Sohina Sidhu), and exploring the relationship between David and Kristen in a unique way.
COLLIDER: I love this show because it’s so challenging. It’s also funny, weird, and feels very relevant, and the cases are always interesting, different, and unusual. With all the different ideas and themes this show explores, do you guys have a favorite case or concept that you got to explore this season?
MIKE COLTER: At some point, we’ll all get on board with exploring the entity, which is something that pops up in the first few episodes. Brian d’Arcy James’ character from the second season is back, and once we all have an understanding of what that is, it gives us a very specific direction in which to take the show, which I think is an interesting direction.
AASIF MANDVI: All the characters this season are struggling with our own private stuff. David is dealing with the stuff with the Kristen demon woman who he’s having sex with, Kristen is dealing with this stuff around her marriage, and Ben is dealing with his inability to find a rational explanation anymore. He’s thrown his arms up and doesn’t know what to make of all of this anymore. He’s so lost in this world of the Catholic Church and trying to explain these things away, and he comes up short. He keeps coming up short, which is really frustrating and really hard. He’s trying to find some sanity in the world. Things just don’t make sense anymore, this season, for anyone. That’s a big theme. That which should make sense no longer makes sense.
RELATED:‘Evil’ Creators Robert & Michelle King on Season 3 and the David/Kristen Relationship
Sounds about right. Mike, when you’re doing a scene, like the one in Episode 3, where you’re counseling the married couple, and you’re sitting there with a nun who’s fighting with a demon that you can’t see, what is that like? Is it surreal? Is it hard not to laugh? Is it just all in a day’s work on this wacky show?
COLTER: I enjoyed that because what it allowed for, for once, with David, because David is slipping into some sort of normalcy, and by normalcy, I mean his inability to see demons points to something that’s wrong and amiss. He always saw them before, and now he’s not seen something that Sister Andrea is seeing, so it points to problems. There’s something that’s happening within his spirit, and within his mind, that’s blocking his ability to see these demons. It’s great to not be able to see them because now, like the audience, I get to be outside of that world for a bit.
For a bit, that was David’s specialty. His specialty was that he saw demons. It was, “You guys don’t see them. I have to explain that to you and I have to ground us in the idea that I know you don’t see this, but this is happening, and you have to trust me on this.” Now, I’m on the other side of it and that felt good for a bit. Now, I’m looking at Sister Andrea like, “Hey, really? What’s going on with you? Do you need to lay down? Do you need to have some tea? What’s going on? Are you overworked?” It’s nice to play that and be on the other side of that and doubting this world of demonic infestation. I actually enjoyed that for a bit. That’s probably where I lean more towards, in life. I know you don’t notice, but I’m not really a priest. I really don’t see demons. I just want to give you a little bit of a clue that I really don’t see demons. Don’t tell anybody.
MANDVI: I will say, though, that it’s a weird job when you come to work and there’s a guy dressed up as a demon. Marty does such a great job on our show, as do all the people who play the demons, but Marty does a lot of them. There was an episode, early on in the season, where we were all sitting in the conference room and Marty was dressed as the demon of sex, and he was just rolling around on the floor during the middle of a scene. The fact that we didn’t think that was odd is bizarre. It is all in a day’s work. Not everything is green screen. Sometimes he’s really there and you have to pretend like that’s a normal thing. It is a weird job, in that way.
I love that we also get the very human relationship between Ben and his sister. There’s something so great about getting to see even more of that. What have you enjoyed about that relationship and really getting to dig into his own family?
MANDVI: I love the dynamic that Karima and Ben have. The actress, Sohina [Sidhu], and I fell into a very easy brother/sister dynamic, as soon as we met, and it’s really been great. She’s so much fun to work with. I like exploring that side of Ben, that more human, familial side where he’s not always just the smart science guy. It’s fun to explore this other side of him, which is a little bit more nurturing and a little bit more big brother-y. She also does call him out. She’s the one that makes fun of him and calls him out on this weird job that he has, working for the Catholic Church, of all places. She’s like, “Why? Why are you working for the Catholic Church?”
S he does become his compass, in a way. She believes the same things he believes, for the most part. She’s religious and he’s not, but in terms of science and all that, she’s figured out how to make that work and incorporate it into her Islamic faith. That’s something that Ben admires. She’s been able to do that and find peace. He doesn’t have peace around that. He’s always tormented by that, in some ways, and she seems to have a certain piece around the fact that she’s been able to marry those two things together.
And I love that they can just blow up stuff together on a fun night out.
MANDVI: Oh, yeah. When she invites him to go to that science league, they just get to go and do what they love to do.
Mike, there are always complexities with the will-they-or-won’t-they of any TV relationship, and the one between David and Kristen is clearly especially complicated, with the priesthood of it all. What has it been like to explore a relationship between them, without it necessarily really being Kristen?
COLTER: For me, even in the beginning, the first season, I was discussing it with Robert and Michelle [King], and I think this was the only direction we could eventually end up in. It was just a question of how it evolved. I don’t know how long you’re able to tease people before they get annoyed, or have had enough and just decide to withdraw from this thing. Will-they-or-won’t-they only goes so far, and I think what we’ve been able to do is take a bit of the pressure off, in terms of going, “All right, we’ll give you a glimpse into what this could be, but not really.” I hope it comes across as enjoyable and satisfying, but also funny. It also doesn’t take anything away from what they would eventually like to see, perhaps. The reality of it is that what they’re going to see is not really what it would be like, by a long shot.
All these things are very interesting because you’re still looking at someone who looks just like Kristen, and you’re still looking at me. What I hope comes across is that this demon is trying to fulfill a hole in David’s life and also trying to play a role, in much the same way Kristen would play that role, or at least come as close as it can. There have been a couple of details that I don’t know if anyone notices, but there was one moment with a margarita. I hope that people notice that and go, “Wait a minute!” It messes with your head, a little bit. Those are the things that will confuse people. At any given time, I hope they’ll always be questioning, “Is this really her, or is that someone else?” We’re gonna have a bit of fun with that. That is as much as we could do, but I think that was necessary for us to keep the audience along for the ride and have a bit of fun with them. Hopefully, they’ll enjoy that ride.
Maybe David just likes a forked tongue. No judgment.
COLTER: Who doesn’t? It’s a rare thing, but who doesn’t? Let’s be honest.
