ACTOR EXCLUSIVE
Katja Herbers on what horrors await Dr Bouchard and her team in the final season of Evil
IT’S BEEN FIVE YEARS SINCE EVIL premiered as a procedural mystery with supernatural proclivities, exploring the intersection of faith and science. The show’s premise has the Catholic Church hiring two atheists – forensic psychologist Dr Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) and tech expert Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi) – to join seminarian (now priest) David Acosta (Mike Colter) to investigate cases having to do with possession or demonic intervention.
Sounds pretty staid, but the level of crazy that’s unfolded across three seasons has made Evil one of the most insane yet addictive shows since The X-Files. From apocalyptic codex cases to Bouchard’s daughter having a secret tail, the show goes places no one would expect. Yet creators Robert and Michelle King have kept it grounded and intellectually daring.
Evil’s fourth and final season will have four bonus episodes to wrap up the many outstanding plots, such as Bouchard’s missing – and possibly demonically corrupted – IVF eggs and the wicked machinations of Dr Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson), which might include the end of the world…
In the season three finale “The Demon Of The End”, Bouchard’s house was infected with spiritual demons, while her husband Andy (Patrick Brammall) was finally released back home – albeit changed by Townsend and her possessed mother Sheryl (Christine Lahti).
“Kristen is very resilient,” actress Katja Herbers tells Red Alert, reflecting on the insanity her character has faced. “But she bounces back. In this season… it’s gotten so absurd. At the end of season three she is finding out that Leland has impregnated a surrogate. Her mom was involved in this and [the baby] is supposed to be the Antichrist. She just started laughing.
“It’s just too much,” the actress smiles, “so Kristen decides if there are people in this world trying to control you with their evil nonsense, it’s just not worth getting upset about it. Just fuck it!”
Bouchard normally has a curious, openminded approach to the world and what they investigate. Herbers says that she’ll be far less patient in this last season – for example, in her attitude towards her bohemian mother.
“She’s a very troubled woman,” she says of how Bouchard now sees Sheryl. “Christine plays it beautifully, so you do understand that Leland has the power to really brainwash someone, and he plays into her insecurities. He gives her that potion that’s supposed to make her look younger that’s addictive to her, and she probably thinks she can manipulate him. Now this baby is happening. From Kristen’s perspective, it’s kind of game over between them. I don’t know how you co
