Villanelle

Grew Up... mysteriously. Much of Villanelle’s past is a mystery. Her native language is Russian, but she’s also fluent in English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian, and is trying to learn Mandarin. Regardless of her exact history, it’s pretty clear Villanelle started her murderous lifestyle at a young age.

Living... glamorously, in an apartment in Paris. Her deadly career path keeps her well paid and living comfortably.

Profession... hired assassin. And a world-class one at that. Villanelle works for her handler Konstantin, who’s part of a much bigger machine that she’s largely removed from. She simply follows Konstantin’s orders while adding her own flair to her assassinations—like using a hairpin that injects poison into her victims.

Interests... fashion, murder, and Eve Polastri.

Relationship Status... it’s flexible. Villanelle invites both men and women into her bed for casual flings, but she has a particular affinity for kind 40-something women with curly hair.

Challenge... befriending the woman who’s been hired to catch her. Villanelle learns she’s being tracked down by an MI6 investigator named Eve Polastri, and she soon becomes enamored with the woman who’s devoted so much time to finding her. Though Villanelle could easily kill Eve if she wanted to, she mostly just wants to get to know her. It’s a mutual obsession, one that sometimes gets in the way of both women’s jobs.

Personality... ruthless, cunning, and psychopathic. Villanelle is a tempestuous spirit, someone who loves committing murder as much as she loves dressing up in fancy pink ballgowns. She has no sense of guilt, morality, or empathy for her victims, although she isn’t necessarily emotionless. In fact, she tends to take pride and pleasure in pulling off a great murder, and she can be petulant and immature when people try to put her in her place. Villanelle sometimes seems more like a child than an adult—albeit, the most terrifyingly brutal child in the world. As she tells Konstantin at one point, “I promise I won’t be naughty.” Villanelle is funny, moody, free-spirited, and completely deadly.