Maya Rudolph could have starred in Killing Eve

The Saturday Night Live alum declined the role to spend more time with her family

By Katie Chow | June 15, 2022 | 5:04pm

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Maya Rudolph could have starred in Killing Eve

Maya Rudolph and Joel Kim Booster in Loot Graphic: Apple TV+

No matter your thoughts on Killing Eve’s conclusion earlier this year, there’s no doubt that it was a bona fide phenomenon. However, the show could have ended up being very different.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Maya Rudolph reveals that she was initially approached to star in the British spy thriller. However, she turned it down in order to spend more time with her family; the actress and her longtime partner Paul Thomas Anderson have four children together.

“But there was no way I was about to move to Europe for months. Like, how?” Rudolph says, considering how demanding a globe-trotting TV shoot would have been. Back in 2007, she left her full-time job at Saturday Night Live, two years after the birth of her first daughter.

Of course, the Killing Eve gig eventually went to Sandra Oh, becoming the definitive role of her post-Grey’s Anatomy career and netting her three Emmy nominations. If Rudolph has any regrets about not taking the job, she doesn’t mention them. Even with staying closer to home, she has still worked regularly in recent years, including making plenty of guest appearances on SNL and starring in the existential romance series Forever in 2018, the same year that Killing Eve premiered.

Now, Rudolph has re-teamed with Forever creators Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard on Loot, premiering next week on Apple TV+. Inspired by Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos’ divorce, the Bridesmaids favorite plays a billionaire searching for purpose after her husband leaves her for another woman.

In the interview, Rudolph also notes that as a biracial woman, such prime lead roles were much harder to come by in the years immediately following her SNL exit.

“You have to remember, it was different to be mixed back in 2007 or 2008,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I love to play a game now where I look at billboards and commercials and count, like, ‘There’s a mixed family. There’s another.’ But it wasn’t like that then.”

Loot arrives on Apple TV+ on June 24 with a three-episode premiere, followed by weekly installments for a total of 10 episodes. The series co-stars Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Ron Funches, Nat Faxon, Joel Kim Booster, and Adam Scott.

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