Jodie Comer Is Hollywood’s Ultimate Wild Card

Hallway chatter breaks the stillness, with an undeniable Scouse accent and laughter filling the air, ushering in a new energy to the sleek Manhattan lobby. “Hi, I’m Jodie!” the star beams as she puts her hand out for a shake. Though she has the unmistakable glow of an A-lister, the Emmy, Tony, and BAFTA winner is as genuine and down-to-earth as they come. She’s dialed into her environment, and she exudes gratitude for all the many moving parts and people that go into making her press day run as smoothly as possible. Her smile, authenticity, and calm confidence are contagious. Comer is the definition of class, and everyone should take notes.

‘The Death of Robin Hood’ Sparked Jodie Comer’s Contagious Curiosity

Comer and I sit at the end of a long table in the A24 library, where she excitedly offers me some of the muffin she was given at Live with Kelly and Mark, her first bit of press for The Death of Robin Hood. Her playful energy makes the conversation feel like we are two school friends picking up where we left off rather than meeting for the first time. “I got here yesterday, and it’s my first on-camera interview for the film, so it always feels like the first one is [where] you’re trying to figure out what your words are. They’re like, ‘Sum up the film,’ and you have two sentences to do so. How do you do that?”

The actress, who’s best known and beloved for her exceptional work as the charming assassin Villanelle in the critically-acclaimed series Killing Eve, is excited to talk about the film and her career. Written and directed by Michael Sarnoski, the movie is the definition of bleak, brutal, and bloody. The film, also starring Murray Bartlett, Noah Jupe, and Bill Skarsgård, more than earns its R rating, as it’s unafraid to lean into the literal and metaphorical darkness of Robin Hood’s world, and all the brutality that comes with it. With all of this in mind, it makes Comer’s response to my first question about her references for the film that much more unexpected. “I love Shrek, so my reference to Robin Hood is the Robin Hood song in there,” she says with a laugh, before adding, “Of course, growing up, there’s the ‘steals from the rich, gives to the needy’ loose framework or idea that you have of him. And I didn’t know much more, to be honest. So when I got Michael’s script, I just delved into that. I loved it because it felt like a much more human and tangible exploration.”

Comer perfectly captures the essence of the story with that brief description. Jackman’s take on the outlaw is not what you’d expect; his long-flowing white hair and eerily calm, Dirty Harry-like disposition put the audience both at ease and on the edge of their seat. “He was a man who’s lived and has lived in a very particular way and is having to reconcile with that life, which feels like you may not be able to relate to him on many, many levels, but also on a very base level. I think that’s something we all experience within our lives. So for me, I felt like I was really able to connect to him and the story.”

As the title implies, Robin Hood is at the end of his life, and that’s where Come comes in. The folkloric figureheads to a remote island — rather reluctantly — where he is to meet with Comer’s Sister Brigid, a woman with a mysterious and complicated backstory, as well as alleged “healing powers” that could aid the ailing outlaw. Comer’s a master of restraint and subtlety in her performances, which makes her the perfect choice for the part. “I loved her poise. She was an incredible observer and listener. I felt there’s a lot that she’s having to withhold. She’s holding a lot for everybody else, so she’s not always able to express her true feelings. I was fascinated… she references a lot of philosophy and mythology, and I was like, ‘Where does that come from?’”

There’s a beautiful, childlike wonder to nearly every word that falls from Comer’s mouth. She gets lost — in the best way — in her answers, as if she’s processing her experiences and relationship to her character and the film in real time, for the first time. As Comer’s gears continue to turn in her head, she explains why she was so drawn to this character. “What I loved about it was that everyone on the island is presenting as something else, or they’re hiding something,” adding, “[Brigid] was taken in by a prioress. She couldn’t read or write. These are things that she’s learned through story, and then this role is bestowed upon her. So even that is her own contradiction, and there’s little glimpses where you’re able to see that within the film.”

So many of Comer’s characters across stage and screen tell stories that are deeply rooted in perspective, which she agrees is “so true,” and her work in The Death of Robin Hood is no exception. Right when you think you know the extent of Sister Brigid and Robin Hood’s relationship, the rug is pulled out, and the entire movie feels different. “I also love that there’s quite a big revelation in the film of who Robin is and actually the connection that he has to her own past, and how she’s able to transmute her own pain. She doesn’t meet violence with violence. She’s also at a point where she’s connected with this man on a different level. Then she finds out that news. So there’s just a lot that she has to deal with in that moment, and I feel like she had a tremendous amount of grace. Which made me question, ‘God, would I be able to find that within myself?’”

Given our relaxed vibe, I joke that her character also has a “great haircut,” something that is… not true. Brigid has a choppy, temple-length bowl cut. Comer, without hesitating, leans in to the bit. “I mean, that’s the real reason,” she laughs, as we continue to dissect the character. “I think Michael was like, ‘Should we shave your hair?’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely not, Michael!’ she says with a massive laugh. “We wanted it to feel like she’d [cut her hair] herself. There was something very unself-aware, and a real lack of vanity and a bluntness and a weirdness. There’s something childlike but also quite masculine, as opposed to a lot of depictions of that time. So it just felt off. There’s a lot about that island and the energy of it that is mysterious and weird.”

Comer’s fascination with this character didn’t end with the film, as she just recently took an herbalism course, something Brigid would certainly approve of. But when preparing for the role — which doubled as a way to connect with nature, something she was trying to do more of anyway — Comer did what she does with every project: walked into a bookstore. “When I start a job, I like to go into a bookstore and see what jumps out at me.” One of these books was Why Women Grow: Stories of Soil, Sisterhood and Survival by Alice Vincent, as well as Melissa Febos‘ The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex. “I thought, well, that’s quite interesting because that’ll definitely be something that [Brigid] is practicing. What does that activate within your life? When you’re not having that connection to sex or a distraction per se, what else in your life becomes more vivid and apparent?”

For Comer, reading about medieval healthcare was the anchor of her preparation. “At that time, the mind, body, and soul were still very much connected, and each of those components was just as integral as the next, and that made a lot of sense to me. She’s always telling him stories. She’s actually never really telling him what to do. She’s encouraging him through her sharing of what she knows. It’s like breadcrumbs, trying to bring Robin back to himself.”

Stephen Graham Saw Something in Jodie Comer Many Years Ago

Photography by Celeste Sloman for Collider

Comer doesn’t come from a Hollywood family. Her mother worked for Merseyrail, and her father is a sports physiotherapist. “I was pretty fearless,” she says, thinking back on her childhood. “I was very vivacious. Always playing in the garden, picking up the frogs and the slugs,” the actress remembers fondly. “All my baby videos are me just constantly trying to be front and center. I watch them back, and I’m like, ‘Oh, this makes sense that I would want to do acting.’” Comer knows that she’s always been very sensitive, something that she now views as a “superpower” given her profession. “You’re constantly trying to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. You’re often reflecting on your own experiences and how they may mirror or how they differ.”

It was one of the earliest experiences on her acting journey that proved to be the most meaningful, even today. Back in 2012, Comer had a small role in the BBC One police procedural Good Cop. She didn’t necessarily think much of it, but her scene partner Stephen Graham — who’s most recently known for co-creating, writing, and starring in the Netflix phenomenon Adolescence — certainly did. Her few scenes in the episode were with him, and he was so taken by the innate talent that he gave her his contact info and encouraged her to reach out to him. Despite being a child who loved attention, Comer was quite hesitant to take him up on his offer. Thankfully, her father nudged her to reach out, and the young performer mustered up the courage to send him a text.

Her fears came true, albeit very briefly, when she didn’t hear back. “I just thought, ‘Okay, that was that,’” until everything changed in the blink of an eye, weeks later, when she needed it most. “I was on a train to London doing an audition for a pilot where I had to sing, I’d chosen an Adele song. Jesus Christ, talk about setting yourself up for a fail. I really didn’t want to go. I just was quite disheartened.” Then, as cliché as it sounds, one phone call changed everything. “I got a call from the Good Cop production company.” Graham, a man of his word, reached out and asked them if he could have her number. “He called me straight away, and he was like, ‘Where are ya?’ ‘I’m on the train to Liverpool, got this audition, don’t want to go.’” His exact words? “‘Fuck your audition off.’” Comer, who’s undoubtedly retold this story dozens of times by now, tells it with as much passion and thrill as though it were a secret she has been dying to tell someone. “‘Don’t go to your audition. You want to go meet my agent?’” It all feels almost too good to be true. “Divine intervention,” I say. Her eyes widen as she leans forward, agreeing. “Literally.”

Graham and Comer’s bond has only strengthened since then, with the pair teaming up for the 2021 film Help about the COVID pandemic and its impact on Sarah (Comer), a healthcare worker in Liverpool caring for Tony (Graham), who has early-onset Alzheimer’s. As if winning a BAFTA for her performance wasn’t enough, it was also the first project Comer executive-produced. “It was amazing to be a part of adapting the script and thinking about the cast, and just seeing how a piece like that forms and what goes into it.”

Comer’s been the star of several big-budget, high-profile films in the last few years, including a small role playing Rey’s mother in Star Wars: Episode I – The Rise of Skywalker. She then followed that up with Ridley Scott‘s The Last Duel with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, in which she played 14th-century woman Marguerite, who accuses her husband’s friend of raping her. In the crime drama The Bikeriders, she transforms into Kathy, the uninhibited wife of brooding biker Benny (Austin Butler), and effortlessly pulls off a thick Chicago accent. Add to that the survival thriller The End We Start From and the post-apocalyptic horror 28 Years Later to the list, and her movie career has mostly featured emotionally heavy, extremely serious subject matter (except for the Ryan Reynolds sci-fi comedy Free Guy).

But this is all a sharp contrast to how Comer carries herself. Comer is thoughtful, introspective, and inquisitive, and that is rounded off by a relaxed, up-for-anything attitude. She’ll gleefully get into the minutia of a performance and the dedication of her craft, but she just as easily comes across as severely unfussy, someone you’d be happy to get a pint with at the pub while you spend the afternoon talking about astrology.

‘Prima Facie’ and the Power of Perspective

Photography by Celeste Sloman for Collider

Every facet of Comer’s career is rather impressive and fearless, with her immense range evident in shows such as the E4 teen dramedy My Mad Fat Diary, where she plays Chloe, the pretty, popular best friend of main character with exceptional line delivery, Thirteen, a dark drama about a kidnap victim that proved Comer can easily lead a project, and Doctor Foster, the psychological thriller that sees her as “the other woman” in Gemma’s (Suranne Jones) marriage. But it’s her exceptional work in the play Prima Facie that is unsurpassed. Directed by Justin Martin (who most recently co-directed Stranger Things: The First Shadow) and written by Suzie Miller, the one-woman play follows Tessa (Comer), a bold barrister who defends men accused of sexual assault, only to have her entire perspective shift when she, herself, is sexually assaulted. Prima Facie, which was Comer’s explosive West End debut in 2022, was a critical success, earning Comer an Olivier Award and brightening the light on her extraordinary talents.

When it was announced that Prima Facie — which means “at first sight” in Latin — would be heading to Broadway, I was determined to secure tickets. At that time, Comer was riding the wave of the Killing Eve series finale (more on that later), and for many, it was hard to imagine her as anyone but Villanelle. It’s easy for actors to get typecast in a role, especially one tied to such a devoted fanbase, but when I saw Comer take the Golden Theatre stage, the assassin that a massive fandom had fallen in love with for four years was nowhere to be found. As Tessa, Comer speaks nonstop for an hour and 40 minutes with no intermission, and goes through a searing set of emotions, from unbridled confidence and dancing on a table to utter fear and hopelessness as her tears flow on the stage.

After such a successful period on the West End, Comer could have easily ended her run on that high note, but when I ask her if she had any hesitations about going to Broadway, her pure love of the craft shines through. “Weirdly, no, because it was so personally rewarding. It’s exhausting, but it’s also invigorating, and you learn so much doing theatre. It demands a lot of you. You really need your full commitment, as does every job, but there is a complacency that can happen within TV and film because you know you’ve got another chance. It’s very sporadic; you’re jumping from the end of a story to the beginning to the middle, it’s very quick. With theatre, you get the luxury to live out a whole story every night, and you get the opportunity to do it again the next day. I just loved it.”

As a dauntless and intrepidly daring performer, Prima Facie was the perfect project for her. “I think there’s also part of me that chases that feeling of exhaustion. I do want to feel like I’ve explored something deeply or that I’ve had to work hard and challenge myself, and there’s also just the beauty of the immediacy of being in a theatre and feeling that connection with people and holding that space.”

Earlier in our conversation, when Comer mentioned executive-producing Help, we discussed how, as an actor, you can feel almost helpless — to an extent, depending on the project — when it comes to the final product. “You might play a scene that’s at the end of the film that emotionally is right for that moment, and then you can see something screened and they put it at the start. It can be jigsawed, it can change so drastically that you’re absolutely at the mercy of.”

This makes her time as Tessa that much more precious. “Justin Martin, my director on the play, said that film is a director’s medium, TV is a writer’s medium, and theatre is an actor’s medium. You can rehearse, come up with all the ways you feel like it’s right. The director also leaves after opening night, it’s crazy. At first, I was like, ‘What?!’ but then you get used to it. But once you go out on stage, it’s yours, and things happen that aren’t meant to happen, or you find something new that invigorates the latter part of the play, and you’re like, ‘Wow, that’s never happened before,’ but you’re more in control of that.” Comer, unsurprisingly, won the Tony for Prima Facie, before taking the production to Ireland and back to the UK, where she, in a very full-circle moment, ended her run in Liverpool, where she was born and raised, this past March.

Comer Says ‘Killing Eve’ Was a “Brilliant” Experience Built on Teamwork

The project Comer is perhaps best known for is Killing Eve, the BBC America spy thriller that follows Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), an MI5 agent stuck in a bit of a rut, who becomes fixated on the assassin Villanelle (Comer) and is quickly consumed by her. No one knows much of anything about the elusive killer, but Eve is determined to learn everything, even risking her life and the lives of the ones she loves to do so. The fanbase for the series, which is based on Luke Jennings‘ Codename Villanelle novellas, grew (and grew intensely) following its premiere in 2018, with fan accounts featuring edits of Villanelle’s best outfits, guises, kills, witty quips, and, of course, flawless accent gymnastics.

Killing Eve‘s entire cast is sharp. Oh nails Eve’s unpredictability, dedication, and snarky attitude with ease, Fiona Shaw embodies the pretension, smarts, and mystery of Carolyn, and Kim Bodnia, who plays Villanelle’s handler (though such a position is quite impossible), might have a tough exterior. Still, he cares deeply for his wildly unpredictable work companion. However, the series would not have worked had it not found its Villanelle. From the very first moment we lay eyes on the mischievous assassin — who sets the tone for her character when she purposely knocks ice cream onto a child’s lap and smirks — it is crystal clear that Comer is the only one who could pull off this juicy role. Comer won an Emmy and BAFTA in 2019 for Season 1, the same year Oh won a Golden Globe.

Tension mounts in every episode of the stylish series, not just because of the inherent white-knuckle-grip energy that comes with an espionage thriller and high-stakes government missions, but because of the growing sexual tension between Eve and Villanelle. Killing Eve is billed as a cat-and-mouse game between the two complex women, with Eve erring on the side of caution — initially. But Episode 5 of Season 1, “I Have a Thing About Bathrooms,” is where we get the first real taste of the intense sexual chemistry between the two leads, with Villanelle breaking into Eve’s home, much to Eve’s terror, with the sole objective of sharing a meal. Villanelle shouting, “I just want to have dinner with you!” to a petrified Eve is one of the many quotable lines uttered by the assassin, and unofficially kicks off their will-they-won’t-they dynamic for four seasons.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, of Fleabag fame, is credited with bringing Killing Eve to life, serving as showrunner and head writer for Season 1. Though the love for and dedication to these characters would only build, the series as a whole didn’t have a flawless reception, with some arguing that the tone and overarching narrative felt fractured in the latter half of the series. One of the possible explanations for this could be that each season had a new showrunner, meaning a new captain steering the ship. Season 2 was run by Emerald Fennell, Season 3 by Suzanne Heathcote, and Laura Neal for its final — and most divided — season. “I think it can innately be tricky,” Comer says when I ask her about the frequent changes in showrunner. “Each person has their own impression, their own viewpoint of the characters, and so it’s always going to be flowing, and it’s always going to have a different imprint on it, you know? You want to make sure that that is grounded by an innate sense of truth and loyalty to the characters, but it’s inevitable that it’s going to shift because we’re all so different and we all have different experiences to different things, depending on our own life experiences.”

I always wonder, when a series wraps, if the cast and crew keep in touch. “Not for a while, actually,” Comer says with an air of melancholy. It’s hard to imagine these people, who seem joined at the hip for such a long time, suddenly not speaking anymore. But the reality is that, well, it’s a job. “But I’ve just seen that Sandra is doing a play in London, I think! I have to go see her,” she says excitedly. “You’re thrust into these very intense situations for, like, eight weeks, and then you feel like, ‘This is my life!’ and then you’re gone. You have to be adaptable, and that doesn’t take away from anything that you have experienced with someone,” continuing, “You can support someone, but it doesn’t mean that you’re in each other’s pockets.”

When I suggest that it must be like an intense summer camp, Comer added, “It really, really is. It’s kind of crazy, but it’s brilliant. It’s brilliant because everyone is so open, which you have to be. We’ve got this amount of time, we’ve got this much to achieve, we’ve got to go, the only way you can do it is with teamwork.”

Comer Was Prepared for the Backlash to ‘Killing Eve’s Ending

Photography by Celeste Sloman for Collider

When talking about Killing Eve, there’s an obvious elephant in the room: the series finale. For most fans, the obvious preferred ending was to have Eve and Villanelle run off, hand in hand, happily ever after, having declared their love for each other. The series finale — spoiler alert — does feature Villanelle and Eve finally giving in to their temptations, sharing a passionate kiss, and even going on a cute date that feels like a scene pulled directly from an ’80s John Hughes movie. However, in the literal last few seconds of the episode, Villanelle is shockingly shot dead after having saved the day and jumping to safety in the water with Eve. The last thing you hear before the credits roll is a piercing shriek of anguish from Eve, which, for many fans, left a toxic taste in their mouth. When I mentioned the series earlier in the conversation, she lit up when I noted how passionate the Killing Eve fanbase remains to this day. I delicately ask Comer if she anticipated the reaction to be that intense, and she didn’t miss a beat, “I think so. Yeah. On some level, absolutely.”

People immediately pointed to the unfortunate “bury your gays” trope seen in media, which is when queer characters’ storylines ends in death disproportionally compared to straight characters. Perhaps there was a feeling that, if the show stayed under the tutelage of Waller-Bridge, Villanelle’s arc wouldn’t have ended the way it did. Even Jennings, the author of books for which the series is based, refused to be silent, penning a detailed, scathing critique of how the series wraps up for The Guardian. “The Season 4 ending was a bowing to convention,” he stated, “A truly subversive storyline would have defied the trope.” Jennings elaborated further, arguing, “How much more darkly satisfying, and true to Killing Eve’s original spirit, for the couple to walk off into the sunset together? Spoiler alert, but that’s how it seemed to me when writing the books.”

If you’ve studied the show since day one, Villanelle’s arc and growth as a person is immeasurable, especially evident in the Season 3 bottle episode, “Are You From Pinner?” — which Comer hilariously recounts to me as being “mental” — in which she goes home to Russia, and we pull back the layers to her wounded upbringing. “I remember when Shannon Murphy came through as a director [for that episode]. It was just this injection of life and clarity. She was like a cannonball. I felt like, ‘Oh, yes, I needed this.’” By the final season, Villanelle’s objectives and priorities have shifted, which makes the final scene all the more devastating. So devastating, in fact, that Jennings was compelled to erase it from everyone’s memory, writing another novel, Killing Eve: Resurrection, which picks up where the finale left off, revealing that Villanelle faked her death and that Eve and Villanelle’s relationship continues.

“When people are spending so much time with these characters, you know there is going to be an expectation. Each individual person will have their own relationship to what they see is right or just, so that is always going to be out of your control,” adding, “It’s hard though, because, once you’re in it, you have to focus on what you’re doing and the material that you have. I will say that everyone who worked on it wanted it to be the best that it could be in that moment. It’s hard if you feel like people feel disappointed by something. I had the most amazing time on that show. I learned so much. I had so much fun.”

Jodie Comer Is Ready To Return to Television

Photography by Celeste Sloman for Collider

As the conversation winds down, Comer unintentionally brings it back to the beginning, as she mentions reuniting with The Death of Robin Hood‘s Sarnoski for The Chain. The show is based on the novel of the same name by Adrian McKinty, which follows a suburban mom who will go to unspeakable lengths to get her daughter back when she is kidnapped. Comer begins filming on the 8-episode HBO limited series thriller later this year with Damon Lindelof at the helm and Sarnoski directing the pilot and executive-producing the series.

“You spend a couple of episodes with a director, and someone else will come in, and the energy shifts because they work in a different way, and you have to move with it,” she notes when describing the chaotic, yet rewarding process of making television. “I haven’t done TV for a while, and I was like, ‘Oh boy, I forgot about this.’”

Our conversation ends, and Comer continues with her packed press schedule. She admits that she’s a bit relieved to be doing press in the coming days with her castmates. Comer easily has enough star power to promote the film on her own, but is humble enough not to want to take up all the spotlight. We return to where our day started — the A24 lobby — which is now filled with people preparing for her photoshoot. Comer’s enthusiasm for the day hasn’t waned at all, as she chats with her team, takes the Polaroid photo that all celebrities take when it’s their first time at the office, and gets her makeup touched up ahead of the shoot.

“It’s so quiet,” she says with a smile, breaking up the nonexistent tension and allowing everyone to veer, ever so slightly, from their focus on their individual tasks. “Now’s your chance to sing Adele,” I cheekily suggest, to which Comer responds with a that’ll-be-the-day laugh. If our conversation proved anything, though, it’s that Comer is unafraid to face any obstacle that comes her way, and if anyone is going to pull off the impossible, it’s her.

Photography: Celeste Sloman | Hair: Christian Wood | Makeup: Emily Cheng | Styling: Emma Jade Morrison | Dress: The Row

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The Death of Robin Hood

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Release Date

June 19, 2026

Runtime

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123 Minutes

Director

Michael Sarnoski

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Writers

Michael Sarnoski

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