Throughout Evil‘s four seasons, one of the most fascinating characters has always been Sheryl Luria, played by Christine Lahti. She’s the mother of Evil‘s main character, Kristen (Katja Herbers), and though they have a contentious relationship—tied into Sheryl’s frequent underhanded dealings with the forces of darkness—she’s deeply devoted to Kristen’s four daughters, who call her “Rad G” rather than Grandma.
As the Paramount+ series nears its end, io9 got a chance to talk to Lahti about Sheryl’s wild arc this season, which sees her attempt to bring down the Satanic corporation where she works—and its slimy leader, Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson). Things took a turn for Sheryl in episode 10, “How to Survive a Storm,” so we’ll leave this here for you:
As Evil fans will already know, Sheryl didn’t survive her own personal storm, though she very nearly took Leland out with her (and left behind some very damning evidence that’s going to make some major trouble for him in Evil‘s final episodes). Lahti told io9 she didn’t know her character was going to be killed off until “the day before the 10th episode script came out.” Evil co-creator Michelle King called her, Lahti recalled, and said “I’m really sorry to tell you this because we love Sheryl and we love you, but she’s dying in the next episode.”
“I was so shocked and sad, because I love her. I love being on the show. I love the character, especially this fourth season. They were writing the shit out of this character, and they were giving her so much complex, wonderful dimension and stuff to do,” Lahti continued. “But Michelle explained to me, and I understood, that in a show called Evil, if we have a showdown between Sheryl and Leland, Leland is going to prevail, and that it was the most organic thing to do, story-wise.”
Read on for more of io9’s interview with Lahti.
Cheryl Eddy, io9: In the end, do you think Sheryl was finally at peace?
Christine Lahti: I do think she was at peace. She wanted two things: [first,] she wanted to bring down Leland. [She’s] been playing the long game on that, I think, for many seasons. And even though she couldn’t kill him, she left those tapes that will put him in prison at the very least. And secondly, she wanted, maybe more importantly, connection and forgiveness from her daughter, and understanding some kind of redemption with her daughter. I think she got it. I haven’t seen the scene [yet], but when we played it, when we shot it, there was a real feeling of love and forgiveness between Kristen and Sheryl.
io9: Her relationship with Leland went from romance to frenemies to full-on deadly enemies. What was it like being on that roller-coaster?
Lahti: Really fun. First of all, Michael Emerson is a complete dream to work with. He’s completely present and fearless and game to try anything. But it was so fun because [Sheryl and Leland] were supposed to get married. And then the way he broke up with her, I think was the dealbreaker. He said, as I recall, something like, “take your dried up old ovaries and go back under the rock I found you under.” And something snapped in Sheryl at that moment, because she had a whole history—a backstory that I made up—with bad men in the rock and roll scene, and she was a groupie and just being mistreated and undervalued by men. And this snapped something in her that from now on, I will get power, number one, at any cost. And I will bring you down, motherfucker, at any cost. And I think that’s the long game she’s been playing.
io9: I’m glad you brought up the backstory because I was going to ask you about that. We never learned, like, who Kristen’s father was or what her childhood was like having Sheryl as a mom.
Lahti: I think the father was—we got divorced, in my mind. I don’t think he was very much a feminist. And I think he undervalued and mistreated and maybe even abused Sheryl. So we got divorced, and I think [her] upbringing was in a very sexist, patriarchal, toxic, masculine world. And I think she was just determined to get power over these men and specifically [Leland].
io9: She did some horrible things to Kristen and Kristen’s husband Andy, and yet she always prized her relationship with her granddaughters above everything else. How do you think she was able to balance out such opposing actions?
Lahti: So, every time [Sheryl] did something horrible to Kristen, to me it was always justified because Sheryl loved Kristen. Carrying on her relationship with Leland was always with the thought of bringing him down, [something] that Kristin would never understand. She kept saying, “I will never see you again if you continue this relationship with this man.” But Sheryl had to continue her relationship with him in order to bring him down. So she was able to justify all indirect things that happened to Kristen because of her actions.
Her granddaughters, she just wanted to empower and to protect. Putting their father on a shelf and draining his brain fluids was maybe not the kindest thing to do to her son-in-law, but she was protecting her family from this absentee, no-good dude who was [married to] her daughter. [Sheryl] didn’t feel [Kristen] had the strength to kick [Andy] out, but he was a horrible influence on them and not present. So that was the way I, Christine, the actress, was able to justify all [Sheryl’s] bad stuff. I mean, she didn’t kill him. She just put him on a shelf and drained his brain fluid. What’s the big deal?
io9: I loved the scenes with Rad G and the granddaughters. What was it like performing with those four young actresses?
Lahti: Extraordinary. Love them. There was so much improv, and they’re all so gifted, and I got very close to them. I felt very grandmotherly or motherly toward all of them over the four years I got to watch them grow up. I will miss them. That was part of that hospital scene that I haven’t seen yet, but we shot in the 10th episode where I’m saying goodbye—I didn’t have to do any acting. I was just literally Christine, having to say goodbye to these four beloved young women that I had become so close to.
io9: Sheryl was by far the best-dressed character on Evil. Did you have any input into the costume choices?
Lahti: Dan Lawson is an extraordinary costume designer. And we would go into the fitting room and just play. He loved to push the boundaries for Sheryl. And, you know, sometimes it would be too much, and sometimes I would balk, and then he would convince me to go for it anyway. Because she was really out there, and I think it was a lot of rock and roll influence and the leather and the studs and the shoes. She was a scrappy kind of street fighter. And I love that he captured that, but also captured the kind of creativity that she had with her wardrobe.
io9: The bulletproof dress was great. Or knife-proof, I guess.
Lahti: Knife proof? Yes, exactly. It wasn’t, as it turned out, bulletproof. But she knew that Leland’s weapon of choice would be a knife.
New episodes of Evil arrive Thursdays on Paramount+.
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