Evil is an American supernatural drama television series created by Robert and Michelle King that premiered on September 26, 2019, on CBS, before moving to Paramount+ for subsequent seasons. It features an ensemble cast led by Katja Herbers, Mike Colter, and Aasif Mandvi as three individuals from vastly different backgrounds who are tasked by the Catholic Church to investigate possible supernatural incidents.
The series was produced by CBS Studios and King Size Productions and filmed in Astoria and Brooklyn in New York City. In May 2021, it was confirmed that the series would move to Paramount+, where the second season premiered in June 2021. The third season premiered in June 2022 and the fourth and final season premiered in May 2024, with the series finale airing on August 22, 2024.
Evil has received critical acclaim, with particular praise for its performances, characters, writing, direction, and cinematography.
Contents
Premise
Skeptical forensic psychologist Dr. Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers), Catholic seminarian David Acosta (Mike Colter) and skeptical technology contractor Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi) are hired by the Catholic Church to investigate purported supernatural events. As time passes, the three find their personal lives increasingly intertwined with such events – and with individuals behind some of the incidents, such as Dr. Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson), a rival forensic psychologist who seems obsessed with Kristen and her family.
Cast and characters
Main
Katja Herbers as Dr. Kristen Bouchard, a forensic psychologist who made a career as an expert witness for the D.A. but when she is told she either lies on the stand or they will stop working with her, she quits. She is then offered a new job as assessor by David. Kristen was raised Catholic and is an agnostic who does not believe in demons or the supernatural. She finds her skepticism tested many times as her new job leads her to walk a thin line between the unexplained and what science can account for.
Mike Colter as David Acosta, a Catholic priest and former war journalist who struggled with addictions. He is an assessor, tasked with investigating and confirming events such as miracles and reports of demons, leading him to enlist the help of Kristen and Ben. A believer in the existence of both godly and demonic events, he has divine-like visions, which he achieves by taking hallucinogens, and is more inclined than the other two assessors to accept supernatural explanations. In season 2, he completes his training and becomes a priest.
Aasif Mandvi as Ben Shakir, an atheist raised in the religion of Islam who is the team's technical expert and equipment handler. A sarcastic, pragmatic man who looks down on religious institutions and belief in the supernatural, he tries to provide scientific explanations for the events the trio investigates.
Kurt Fuller as Dr. Kurt Boggs, a psychiatrist and Kristen's therapist who gradually finds himself involved in some of Kristen's encounters with the supernatural.
Marti Matulis as many of the creatures featured in the series, including the following recurring characters:
George, a demon who appears in Kristen's dreams, voiced by an uncredited Euan Morton
The "Devil Therapist" (seasons 1–2), a goat-like demon who is Leland Townsend's therapist, voiced by an uncredited Michael Cerveris
The "Manager Demon" (seasons 3–4), a five-eyed goat-like demon who is Sheryl's work supervisor, voiced by an uncredited Kevin Chapman
Recurring
Darren Pettie as Orson LeRoux (seasons 1–2), a convicted serial killer who is evaluated by Kristen
Brooke Bloom as Emily LeRoux (seasons 1, 3), Orson LeRoux's wife
Danny Burstein as Lewis Cormier (seasons 1, 4), Kristen's former boss and the D.A. of Queens, New York City
Boris McGiver as Monsignor Matthew Korecki, a distinguished priest who Kristen, David and Ben receive and report their cases to. Although the character dies in the penultimate episode of season three, Korecki makes a voice appearance in the season four episode "How to Build a Chatbot" as an artificial intelligence emulating Korecki.
Sohina Sidhu as Karima Shakir, Ben's sister and a tech expert
Clark Johnson as Father Amara (season 1), an exorcist and David's spiritual advisor
Noah Robbins as Sebastian Lewin (season 1), a young man targeted by Leland Townsend
Nora Murphy as Rose390 (season 1), a young girl avatar in a video game whose creator attacks David
Nicole Shalhoub as Vanessa Dudley (seasons 1–2), one of the co-hosts of the ghost-themed reality show "Gotham Ghosts" and Ben's on-again/off-again girlfriend
Li Jun Li as Grace Ling (seasons 1–3), a supposed doomsday prophet under investigation by The Catholic Church
Kristen Connolly as Detective Mira Byrd (seasons 1–2), a homicide detective in the NYPD and Kristen's friend
Patrick Brammall as Andy Bouchard, Kristen's husband, father of their daughters and a professional climbing guide who is often away from the family
Guest
Dakin Matthews as Father Augustus ("177 Minutes")
Sanjit De Silva as Neil Benton, a hospital owner ("177 Minutes")
Hannah Hodson as Naomi Clark, a girl who was revived seconds after her autopsy had begun ("177 Minutes")
John Glover as Byron Duke, a Broadway producer who supposedly sold his soul to a demon ("3 Stars")
Dascha Polanco as Patti Hitchens, Duke's assistant ("3 Stars")
Luke Judy as Eric McCrystal, a boy suspected to be possessed by a demon ("Rose390")
Michael Stahl-David as Tom McCrystal, Eric's dad ("Rose390")
Heather Lind as Sara McCrystal, Eric's mom ("Rose390" & "O Is for Ovaphobia")
Karen Pittman as Caroline Hopkins, a woman on whom the Catholic Church performs an exorcism ("October 31" & "Exorcism Part 2")
Timothy D. Stickney as William Hopkins, Caroline's husband ("October 31")
Matilda Lawler as
Brenda, a mysterious girl in a mask ("October 31")
Mathilda Mowbray, a girl who, according to her adoptive parents, has pyrokinesis. ("F Is for Fire")
Chris Ghaffari as Tony Pacuci, one of the co-hosts on the show "Gotham Ghosts", alongside Vanessa Dudley ("October 31" & "2 Fathers")
Episodes
Production
CBS ordered a pilot for the potential series in January 2019, created by the writing team Robert and Michelle King. Katja Herbers and Mike Colter were cast in February, with Michael Emerson and Aasif Mandvi cast in March. A series order was officially made in May 2019. A day after that, it was announced that the series would premiere in the fall of 2019 and air on Thursday nights at 10:00 p.m. during the 2019–2020 television season.
On July 18, 2019, Christine Lahti was cast as Sheryl Luria, replacing Deirdre O'Connell who was in the original pilot. On July 25, 2019, it was announced that Kurt Fuller, who guest starred in the pilot, had been promoted to a series regular. The series debuted on September 26, 2019.
On October 22, 2019, CBS renewed the series for a second season. The filming of the second season was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, but later began in October 2020 and was rerouted into a more "character-focused season." Filming concluded in June 2021. On May 18, 2021, it reported that the series would move to Paramount+ for the second season. On May 23, 2021, it was announced that the second season would premiere on June 20, 2021.
On July 8, 2021, Paramount+ renewed the series for a third season which ran from June 12, 2022, to August 14, 2022. Filming for this season started on November 15, 2021, and was completed in May 2022. It consisted of 10 episodes.
On July 5, 2022, Paramount+ renewed the series for a fourth season. Filming for the season started in December 2022, and was forced to stop earlier than expected in May 2023 due to the 2023 Hollywood strikes. The episode that was being filmed was the tenth, and filming resumed on it in December.
On February 15, 2024, it was announced that the fourth season will be the final season, that the producers were given four extra episodes to conclude the story, set to premiere on May 23, 2024. The extra four episodes started shooting at the end of March 2024 and wrapped at the end of May, and were later described by showrunners Robert and Michelle King, and star Katja Herbers as a mini-fifth season.
Release
Marketing
On May 15, 2019, CBS released the first official trailer for the series. In September 2020, CBS announced that the first season would be made available on Netflix in October 2020 in order to generate attention for the upcoming second season. Evil left Netflix on October 1, 2021, due to becoming a Paramount+ exclusive. The first two seasons returned to Netflix on April 30, 2024.
International broadcast
Evil premiered in Canada on Global on September 26, 2019. CBS Studios International announced on October 22, 2019, that Evil would air in Spain on Syfy in January 2020. On October 29, CBS announced Evil would be available on Globoplay in Brazil on November 1. Evil premiered in Latin America on October 31 on Universal TV through an exclusive licensing agreement between CBS Studios International and NBCUniversal International Networks.
CBS Studios International has also signed a licensing agreement with French broadcaster TF1 Group for Evil to air in France, where it premiered on May 19, 2021. In India, Evil initially premiered on the streaming service Voot Select in April 2020, followed by a network television premiere on June 23, 2020, on Zee Café. In July 2020, the British pay television channel Alibi announced that they had bought the British rights to Evil and the show premiered in the United Kingdom on September 21, 2020. In Germany, the show first premiered on the pay television channel ProSieben Fun on August 7, 2020, followed by a free-TV premiere on February 17, 2021, on ProSieben. In The Netherlands, series 1 premiered on SBS9 on November 11, 2022.
Home media
CBS Home Entertainment released the complete first season on DVD on June 30, 2020. The complete second season was released on DVD-R on June 7, 2022. Season 3 was released in December 2022 on DVD and Blu-ray.
Reception
Critical response
The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% approval rating based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Smartly-written and effectively unsettling, Evil works best when it dares to delve into the depths of the uncomfortable questions it poses." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 76 out of 100 based on 14 critics. The first season was named as one of the best television shows of 2019 by The New Yorker, NPR, and TVLine. In 2021, the show was named the best show on television by TV Guide.
At the 1st Critics' Choice Super Awards, the series received four nominations: Best Horror Series, Best Actor in a Horror Series (Colter, Emerson) and Best Actress in a Horror Series (Herbers).
The second season has a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 8.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Evil successfully slips into the streaming world with a spooky second season that doubles down on the scares without losing its sense of humor." On Metacritic, the second season received a score of 84 based on reviews from 10 critics.
The third season has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The forces of good and Evil continue to tussle in this sterling third season, where one of television's best procedurals amuses and unnerves with equal aplomb." On Metacritic, the third season received a score of 92 based on reviews from 7 critics.
The fourth season has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Going out not with a whimper but a chilling cackle, Evil's final season dishes out more deliciously twisted self-contained mysteries while confidently building towards its endgame." On Metacritic, the fourth season received a score of 89 based on reviews from 9 critics.