Even though she has starred in a number of other projects, even a massive TV role in “Grey’s Anatomy,” Sandra Oh’s career really reached a new level with the lead in “Killing Eve.” The show earned her numerous awards and nominations, including three Primetime Emmy noms, and is clearly the biggest highlight of her career, thus far. But Oh wasn’t the only actress up for the role of Eve in BBC America’s award-winning series. The series could have looked very different with a certain “Saturday Night Live” star in the title role.
According to an interview with THR, actress Maya Rudolph teased that she was approached to star in “Killing Eve” when Phoebe Waller-Bridge was putting together the series for BBC America. However, as much as she loves Waller-Bridge, Rudolph couldn’t bring herself to take the role because of the filming requirement.
“But there was no way I was about to move to Europe for months. Like, how?” she explained. Though she added, “Phoebe’s the fucking best.”
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It’s really interesting to think how Rudolph’s presence could have affected “Killing Eve.” Though Oh was no stranger to comedy, the actress was primarily known for her dramatic work prior to the BBC America series. Rudolph, on the other hand, is best known for her ‘SNL’ tenure and her subsequent comedic works in films like “Bridesmaids” and “MacGruber,” as well as series such as “Big Mouth” and the upcoming Apple TV+ series, “Loot.”
That said, Rudolph is a pretty great actress and probably would have done really well on “Killing Eve.” However, Sandra Oh is probably happy that never came to be.