Ever since Evil first debuted on CBS in 2019, I was told time and time again that it was an absolute must-watch, that this genre mash-up of a show was right up my alley. I’m deeply embarrassed to admit that it took me until summer of 2022 to actually take that advice. But, sure enough, I fell so hard for Evil that now I’m determined to pay it forward — go watch all three seasons of Evil on Paramount+ right now!
The show stars Mike Coulter as David, a Catholic seminarian working as an assessor, someone tasked with investigating the legitimacy of miracles and also claims of demonic activity. David does this with the help of Aasif Mandvi’s Ben, a contractor who specializes in technology and has a knack for disproving supernatural phenomena via rational explanations. Rounding out the team with a different perspective and set of skills is Katja Herbers’ Kristen, a psychologist who doesn’t believe in the supernatural but rather that everything has an explanation in science. However, the more cases the team takes, the more Kristen's core beliefs are challenged.
Clearly I adore Evil overall, but one particular element of the show that makes it a must-watch series is Herbers’ performance. Not only does she deftly weave through complex cases that put everything the character believes to the test, but she goes all-in when tackling every single ounce of it, and given how many genres and tones Evil spans, that makes for a deliciously wide-ranging performance.
Given my enthusiasm for the show and her performance, it probably goes without saying that it was the ultimate treat to welcome Herbers to Collider Ladies Night to discuss her journey from Holland to Hollywood and, of course, what went down in Evil Season 3.
At this point, my mentality is, ‘Give Katja Herbers all the roles!’ But when she was first starting out, Herbers was met with rejection. But, it turns out, it was rejection that served her well. Here’s how she put it:
“I was 18 when I first auditioned here in Holland in Amsterdam for theater school and they were like, ‘You’re maybe something, but you’re really young. Go live a little and come back.’ At the time, the world was different. Now I feel a little worse about flying, climate change. But at the time it was like, ‘Great! I’m gonna go live.’ I went on this whole trip to Thailand and then I went to New York on my own for six months. I thought, then maybe I’ll grow up and I’ll have some experiences. And then I went to Uta Hagen, HB Studios in New York, and then I did have a whole bunch of experiences. As heartbroken as I was in the beginning not getting in at 18, when I did get in at 21 that was way better.”
Herbers went on to build a name for herself in Holland, but eventually, she got the itch to give Hollywood a go. She continued:
“When I went to America, I was 31 years old I think, so I had already had a career in Holland working in theater and working on TV and working in film, and I just thought, ‘I’m just gonna give it a go. Why not?’ And I had this accent that I worked on a lot and I thought, ‘I don’t have to just play a Russian spy or a whore. I can maybe just be an America. This would be great!’ So then when I did book my first job, I did think, ‘Oh my gosh, okay, so now maybe I can have a career in America.’ But then I had to start all the way over because I was sort of established here in Holland and not really there, or not at all there. But I met really good people. Thomas Schlamme was the showrunner on [Manhattan] who’s just the most wonderful director. Sam Shaw wrote it. He’s incredible. I still have friends from that time … It was a crazy show and we’re all still quite close with each other. And then later through that, I worked with someone on The Americans who also directed Manhattan and then that person got me The Leftovers. I still feel like I’m very much tied to my first job.”
Even though her Manhattan family did pave the way to other opportunities in the states, it did take Herbers a good deal of time to secure another series regular role. Here’s how she put it:
“Manhattan I got very easily, like within two weeks. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is easy, America! What the hell? What’s the problem?’ And then after that got canceled, which I think shouldn’t have gotten canceled, but after it got canceled, it took me a while to book anything substantial. My next series regular was Westworld, which was a bit later. Also because I was very picky. I thought, ‘If I’m gonna be in America and I’m gonna be away from my friends and my family, I really want to be on something that I want to watch and that I think is amazing and that I wouldn’t be able to make in Holland.’ Because otherwise, I can just go home. Why would I? So I did turn down some things I didn’t like.”
That begs the question, what was it about Evil that she liked so much? What was it about the material that made her think it’d be an opportunity that’d justify being away from friends and family back home? Herbers pinpointed the answer immediately; it was Evil creators Robert and Michelle King.
“Robert and Michelle King and their writing, what I’d seen of their writing and of their lead female roles and how expansive that is and how it keeps changing. And then my meeting with them, because I met with them for the role, I just connected a lot on a sense of humor. I’d done mostly comedy here in Holland. It’s kind of what I’m more known for here. Not in America. But they were looking for someone who could bring a little bit of lightness or had some of that background, like Aasif Mandvi, obviously. He’s a stand-up comedian. I’m in no way a stand-up comedian, but they were looking for people to bring some of that to this sometimes quite dark world and I think that worked out quite well on our show because I think it is very funny. Their writing is so funny and it’s so layered, and I’m just really proud of it.”
And that right there is one of the many special qualities of Evil; it’s not just one thing! While it’s easy to see how a show called Evil that features many incredibly well-designed demons could fall into the horror category, it’s so much more than that. Herbers noted:
“It kills me a little bit when we’re described as a horror show because I’m like, we’re so much more than a [horror show]. We have horror elements, but I wouldn’t be able to pin us down as any one genre.”
Not only is the show itself impossible to box into any one genre, but the main characters, and perhaps Herbers’ Kristen more than any of them, also can’t be pared down to being any one thing. Here’s how Herbers put it:
“I like playing people who are not any one thing. I try to do that with any role anyway because I think one of the best things that one director once said to me was, ‘People are everything and the audience will make up who that person is.’ You don’t have to be consistent in your choices because that makes sometimes for a bit of a dull performance and it’s more dynamic if you’re all over the place. And I think that what Kristen, my character, has been through certainly allows her to be a bit all over the place and to still try to be a very good mother, worried that she isn’t, all the things.”
So when you’re playing a character who is justifiably all over the place, how do you create consistency? How do you ensure that all of her decisions, even rash ones or ones sparked by fear, are still true to character? Herbers was able to pinpoint a few constants for Kristen but ultimately wound up highlighting one of the strongest parts of the Evil narrative -- that Kristen, David, and Ben are constantly changing and influencing one another. Here’s how she described it:
“I guess because [Kristen is] a scientist and she needs the world to make sense. But it’s shifted! I started off I think very much as a skeptic and somebody who didn’t believe and walked away from faith and she did grow up Catholic and now she isn’t anymore. And I think because of everything that’s been happening around Kristen, things have started shifting, which is just so interesting … I find people fascinating who are able to shift because I think we are so unable to shift, you know? And I love that on our show you have real debates and people really listen to each other. Mike and Aasif and I, our characters, we come from such different perspectives and backgrounds, however, we’re sitting down and we’re listening to each other and I’m actually being changed by what Mike’s character tells me or what has happened to me. I think it’s just beautiful.”
[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 3 finale of Evil, "The Demon of the End.”]Of course we couldn’t end our conversation without discussing some Evil Season 3 spoilers and one of my biggest burning questions pertained to Kristen’s relationship with her mother, Christine Lahti’s Sheryl. As someone who operates in a family-first manner, it’s hard to wrap my head around the idea that there’s no hope for reconciliation between Kristen and Sheryl. However, when you run through the list of awful things Sheryl’s done over the course of these three seasons, it’s also hard to imagine Kristen ever forgiving her.
So what’s Herbers’ take on the matter? Is there any hope Kristen and Sheryl can patch things up? Here’s what she said:
“I can’t see it. I cannot see it. I don’t see how you come back from that. Christine has a very different opinion, which is great because she should defend her character. I think she’s past any kind of defense. She has put my children in incredible danger, I told her not to date a psychopath in Season 1, she put my husband on a shelf. He’s now brainwashed or has amnesia. I’m not gonna say I’m gonna kill her, but I’m going to kill her, you know what I mean? I’m not going to maybe murder her, but I need her away, and then maybe in 10 years I will see her again or something. I don’t know, maybe when she gets really old we can reconcile. I have no idea how that relationship gets prepared.”
Another rather complicated relationship in Evil? David’s connection with Kristen, or rather, Demon Kristen. At the end of Season 3, David puts up the mosquito net to keep Demon Kristen out, but is that really the end of her? Not only have the Kings confirmed that Demon Kristen will return, but Herbers is also eager to jump back into that role.
“I think I like the slow burn. I love Demon Kristen as an addition. I think it’s a really fun way to explore that. I like her so much. She really just wants love, and I tried to make her a demon with a heart. I think that’s really fun. I’d like to explore that a little bit more. If I had my pick, I would like to see him hanging out with Demon Kristen and me finding them."
Looking for more from Herbers on her journey in the industry thus far and her experience making Evil? Be sure to watch her episode of Collider Ladies Night in the video at the top of this article or you can listen to the 40-minute conversation uncut in podcast form below: