Evil (TV series)

Evil
Genre	Supernatural Drama Thriller
Created by	Robert King Michelle King
Starring	Katja Herbers Mike Colter Aasif Mandvi Kurt Fuller Marti Matulis Brooklyn Shuck Skylar Gray Maddy Crocco Dalya Knapp Christine Lahti Michael Emerson
Composer	David Buckley
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Liz Glotzer Robert King Michelle King Rockne S. O'Bannon Benedict Fitzgerald
Producers	Robyn-Alain Feldman Aurin Squire Patricia Ione Lloyd Thomas J. Whelan
Editors	Matt Kregor Marnee Meyer Dan Erickson Ryan Allen James W. Harrison, III Wadeh Arraf
Running time	40–50 minutes
Production companies	King Size Productions CBS Studios
Original release
Network	CBS (season 1) Paramount+ (season 2)
Release	September 26, 2019 (2019-09-26) – present (present)

Evil is an American supernatural drama television series created by Robert King and Michelle King that premiered on September 26, 2019, on CBS. The series is produced by CBS Studios and King Size Productions. The series features an ensemble cast including Katja Herbers, Mike Colter, Michael Emerson, Aasif Mandvi, Kurt Fuller, Marti Matulis, Brooklyn Shuck, Skylar Gray, Maddy Crocco, Dalya Knapp and Christine Lahti.

In October 2019, the series was renewed for a second season. In May 2021, it was confirmed that the series would move from CBS to Paramount+. The second season premiered on June 20, 2021. In July 2021, the series was renewed for a third season.

Premise

A skeptical forensic psychologist (Herbers) allies with a Catholic seminarian (Colter) and a technology contractor (Mandvi) to investigate purported supernatural incidents.

Cast and characters

Main

• Katja Herbers as Dr. Kristen Bouchard, a forensic psychologist hired by David Acosta to help him distinguish between legitimate instances of demonic possession and insanity. Kristen is not religious and does not believe in demons or the supernatural, but finds her skepticism tested many times as she walks a thin line between what science can account for and what it has yet to explain.
• Mike Colter as David Acosta, a former journalist studying to be a Catholic priest. He currently works as an assessor, tasked with investigating and confirming events such as miracles and reports of demons. He takes hallucinogens in order to see visions, but he is not sure if they are from God or his own mind.
• Aasif Mandvi as Ben Shakir, a contractor who works with David as his technical expert and equipment handler. He plays devil's advocate, providing scientific explanations for supernatural phenomena.
• Kurt Fuller as Dr. Kurt Boggs, a psychiatrist and Kristen's therapist.
• Marti Matulis as George, a demon who appears to Kristen in her dreams. Matulis portrays other characters in several episodes: AR Demon in "Rose390", one of the Ghoul Orderlies in "Room 320", Townsend's Devil Therapist in "Justice × 2", "Book 27" and "U Is for U.F.O", and the Archangel Michael in “A is for Angel”
  • Euan Morton voices George and Michael Cerveris voices Townsend’s Devil Therapist, both uncredited.
• Brooklyn Shuck as Lynn Bouchard, Kristen's eldest daughter.
• Skylar Gray as Lila Bouchard, Kristen's second daughter.
• Maddy Crocco as Lexis Bouchard, Kristen's third daughter.
• Dalya Knapp as Laura Bouchard, Kristen's youngest daughter.
• Christine Lahti as Sheryl Luria, Kristen's supportive, hard-living mother.
• Michael Emerson as Dr. Leland Townsend, Kristen's professional rival and an expert in the occult. He is obsessed with encouraging others to commit evil acts. He has a particular interest in David, stemming from his contempt for those who believe themselves incapable of sin. The episode "Justice × 2" reveals that he is really Jake Perry, a former insurance adjuster from Des Moines working to influence others into acts of evil.

Recurring

• Patrick Brammall as Andy Bouchard, Kristen's husband and a professional climbing guide
• Boris McGiver as Monseigneur Matthew Korecki
• Kristen Connolly as Detective Mira Byrd, Kristen's friend
• Clark Johnson as Father Amara, an exorcist and David's spiritual advisor
• Nicole Shalhoub as Vanessa, a host of a ghost-themed reality show and Ben’s on-again/off-again girlfriend
• Danny Burstein as D.A. Lewis Cormier
• Noah Robbins as Sebastian Lewin, a young man targeted by Leland
• Darren Pettie as Orson LeRoux, a serial killer evaluated by Kristen
• Karen Pittman as Caroline Hopkins, a woman on whom the Church performs an exorcism
• Sohina Sidhu as Karima Shakir, Ben's sister, a tech genius
• Li Jun Li as Grace Ling, a prophet under investigation by the Church
• Renée Elise Goldsberry as Renee Harris, a defense attorney working for the Church
• Peter Scolari as Bishop Thomas Marx, a skeptical church official who assigns David’s cases prior to his ordination. His appearances in Season 2 were one of Scolari’s final performances before his death in 2021.
• Taylor Louderman as Malindaz, a popular YouTube beauty vlogger who is one of Leland’s clients.
• Andrea Martin as Sister Andrea, a powerful nun who advises David and serves as Leland’s polar opposite (season 2)
• Ashley Edner as Abbey (season 2), a succubus that taunts Ben during his dreams
  • Ciara Renée voices Abbey.
• Dylan Baker as Father Kay, one of David’s teachers. (season 2)
• Brian Stokes Mitchell as Father Mulvehill, a spiritually exhausted exorcist suffering from a crisis of faith. (season 2)l
• Tim Matheson as Edward Tragoren, an sinister business consultant and friend of Leland who romances Sheryl. (season 2)

Episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally released
			First released	Last released	Network
1	13		September 26, 2019 (2019-09-26)	January 30, 2020 (2020-01-30)	CBS
2	13		June 20, 2021 (2021-06-20)	October 10, 2021 (2021-10-10)	Paramount+

Season 1 (2019–20)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	1	"Genesis 1"	Robert King	Robert King & Michelle King	September 26, 2019 (2019-09-26)	4.56
Dr. Kristen Bouchard, a psychologist primarily employed by the Queens DA's office, learns that the defendant in her latest trial, Orson LeRoux, is claiming to be demonically possessed in order to claim an insanity plea. When the prosecution refuses to let her conduct further tests and fires her, leaving her unable to finish repaying her student loans, she accepts a job offer from David Acosta, a professional assessor for the Catholic Church, to determine whether or not LeRoux's claims are true. At first, Kristen is concerned that he may, in fact, be possessed, as she begins receiving threatening visits from George, a demon who taunts her for concealing her sexual attraction towards David. However, when LeRoux reveals personal information that Kristen never told him, she discovers that her therapy file was stolen by a man named Leland Townsend, who she deduces was responsible for convincing LeRoux to act on his murderous impulses and has been coaching him to act possessed. David tells her that "demons" are often just an excuse for evil people like Townsend to justify their desire to make others suffer for sheer amusement. Kristen decides to join David's team permanently.
2	2	"177 Minutes"	Ron Underwood	Robert King & Michelle King	October 3, 2019 (2019-10-03)	4.20
A girl, Naomi Clark, is miraculously revived seconds after her autopsy begins, and David's team is assigned to determine if there was any divine intervention. A review of security camera footage appears to show the image of a woman who died an hour before Naomi, which Ben suggests could be the result of digital manipulation. The DA offers to reinstate Kristen on a two year contract, which David agrees to match. However, when she goes to tell the DA, he informs her the offer has been rescinded and that Dr. Townsend has replaced her. Kristen's daughter Laura begins to see George in her dreams, terrifying her mother until she discovers (while watching a "scary film" with Laura and her sisters) that George is in fact a fictional character and is therefore not real. Based on the video, David determines that the hospital pronounced Naomi dead thirty minutes too early, exposing racist practices that he has Kristen report to a lawyer suing the hospital for malpractice. The image is left unexplained, as the priest overseeing the team's work refuses to discuss it. Later that night, David purchases hallucinogens, which he uses to receive visions from God.
3	3	"3 Stars"	Gloria Muzio	Rockne S. O'Bannon	October 10, 2019 (2019-10-10)	3.67
Kristen learns that Townsend intervened in an old case, reversing her expert opinion. David is asked to assess the case of Byron Duke (John Glover), a legendary Broadway producer who sold his soul to a demon named Joe in return for a promise that he would win a Tony Award. Ben and Kristen insist that "Joe" is part of a prank being pulled on Duke by hacking his virtual assistant. However, despite Ben's attempts to trace the hack, Joe manages to enter his house and takes control of his father's virtual assistant, taunting his sister until he destroys the device. With Duke beginning to suffer a complete mental breakdown, David locates the disgruntled IT tech who originated the prank, but he swears he had nothing to do with hacking Ben's home. Duke subsequently commits suicide after he receives a mysterious email telling him hell is only half full. Kristen uses a deepfake of a conversation she had with Townsend to get the judge to overrule him. David is advised to start writing down his visions; this leads to him identifying a puzzle involving the Salvator Mundi which points to a random area of convergence near New York.
4	4	"Rose390"	Peter Sollett	Davita Scarlett	October 17, 2019 (2019-10-17)	3.74
The McCrystal family requests a formal evaluation of their nine-year old son Eric to settle their belief that he is possessed by a demon, while Kristen believes that he is simply exhibiting common psychopathic behavior. During the evaluation, Eric bonds with David, and he takes the opportunity to try and improve Eric's character by encouraging him to ask God for what he wants most in life. Sheryl buys her granddaughters expensive augmented reality headsets, which include a digital game centered around a mysterious girl, Rose390. The girls become fascinated with the game, which Ben notices. His attempt to remove the game fails, and Rose390 taunts the girls by claiming that their father is dead. Afterward, Kristen takes the headsets away. Eric begins to show improvement, and asks David to teach him how to draw comics. When David arrives, he discovers Eric trying to drown his infant sister and barely saves her life. An emergency exorcism is approved by the Church, but when the team arrives, they realize that the McCrystals murdered Eric, leaving both David and Kristen with immense guilt for failing to save him.
5	5	"October 31"	Tess Malone	Dewayne Darian Jones	October 24, 2019 (2019-10-24)	3.48
Kristen and Dr. Boggs are forced to weigh in on the Church's decision to perform an exorcism on Caroline Hopkins, a woman demonstrating signs of schizophrenia but also elements associated with demonic possession. Their concerns that Caroline is being tortured and deprived of medical care conflict with the fears of the priests that she will succumb to evil unless the exorcism is properly finished, and both sides argue over what to do. David ultimately cures Caroline by persuading her to reject the demonic influence eating at her soul, instantly returning her to sanity. Ben guest-stars on a paranormal "ghost-finders" show, where he exposes the host's use of a potentially lethal chemical projector to fake a ghost sighting. His co-host Vanessa gives him her number afterward. Townsend meets Sheryl at a restaurant, seducing her by playing on her desire for love. While watching her grandchildren for Halloween, a masked guest named Brenda takes advantage of her negligence and takes the kids to a graveyard to torment them with the story of a young girl disfigured by her cruel parents. She then disappears, leaving behind only her mask.
6	6	"Let x = 9"	Kevin Rodney Sullivan	Aurin Squire	November 7, 2019 (2019-11-07)	3.50
The team is faced with a serious issue confronting the Church: a woman named Grace Ling who claims to be a prophet of God has been making prophecies that line up with a 500-year old codex describing the end of the Church itself. David is tasked with learning whether Grace is truly speaking the word of God, but his superior pressures him to label her a false prophet and discredit her gift. Dr. Boggs teaches Kristen a simple exercise to let her control her dreams, which allows her to deal with the sudden return of George. Sheryl invites Townsend over for dinner, while Kristen visits David while he is under the influence of hallucinogens. When she returns home and sees Townsend playing with her daughters, she takes him out back and slices his neck open, forcing him to leave while trying to convince her mother not to see him again. David confronts his superior and learns that the prophecies are not of the Church ending, but the world itself. Grace is arrested by immigration officials, and is only able to transcribe part of the remaining texts for David. Sheryl secretly visits Townsend and they have sex.
7	7	"Vatican III"	Jim McKay	Patricia Ione Lloyd	November 14, 2019 (2019-11-14)	3.32
Townsend mentors a young man named Sebastian, telling him to embrace his hateful attitude towards women. A team of assessors arrive from the Vatican to question the team about Grace, and provide them with access to the original codex, parts of which Kristen illegally photographs. During her exorcism, a housewife named Bridget (Annaleigh Ashford) confesses to several murders while possessed by a demon named Howard. As it is unclear if Bridget or Howard is truly responsible, Kristen and David are brought in to conduct an investigation. David reminds Kristen that since Bridget is technically her patient, she is prohibited by confidentiality rules from reporting her to the police unless they can get her to state that she intends to kill again. Kristen skillfully uses Bridget's own emotional instability to weaken Howard's influence over her, and realizes that she is not the killer, but rather covering for the real one. When her husband has her arrested, David visits him in secret, chokes him out, and finds evidence that he is the killer. Using the photographs of the codex, the team determines that there is a hierarchy of demons on Earth, each of whom has a unique mark. David recognizes one of them in several paintings created by his father.
8	8	"2 Fathers"	James Whitmore Jr.	Davita Scarlett & Nialla LeBouef	November 21, 2019 (2019-11-21)	3.43
David and Kristen visit David's estranged father Leon (Vondie Curtis-Hall). David learns that his dad has now remarried and is using the mark in all of his paintings, claiming that it gives him a clarity he didn't have before. Ben meets Vanessa for the first time in three weeks and confronts her for not calling back; she explains that her "sister", who inhabits the right side of her body, didn't want them to get together. Despite some initial concerns, he decides to continue their relationship. David and Kristen both consume hallucinogenic drugs, causing them to have visions: Kristen witnesses Leon's wife give birth to a ghoul while David meets Annie Commerce, who Leon explains is a slave ancestor of theirs who died in 1859. The mark turns out to be the brand of the slaveowner who purchased Annie, which Leon rediscovered and chose to reclaim as his own. David is shocked by his father's decision, but accepts that he is allowed to deal with the pain of their family's history in his own way. David drives Kristen home to find that her husband Andy has finally returned.
9	9	"Exorcism Part 2"	Frederick E.O. Toye	Louisa Hill	December 5, 2019 (2019-12-05)	3.34
David and the archdiocese are sued by Caroline Hopkins for botching her exorcism. A church lawyer, Renee Harris (Renée Elise Goldsberry), volunteers to defend David, based in part on their previous relationship and because he once dated her sister. Kristen and Andy discover a stray cat in their pantry who clearly hates Kristen. Townsend starts preparing Sebastian to act on his hate by instructing him to make threatening gestures towards women and having one of his associates teach him how to handle guns. Caroline's lawyer, Judith Lemonhead, is able to mount a strong case against David by exposing his history of arrests and drug addiction, so Kristen gets Renee to go on the offense by having her and Dr. Boggs argue that the medical care Caroline received after the exorcism was responsible for her deteriorating health. Lemonhead informs the Church that Caroline is ready to settle the case for a reasonable sum. Afterward, Harris tries to force David to give into his feelings for her. Andy tells his wife that she should consider taking up mountain climbing again. Sebastian accidentally shoots himself in the head while posing with his guns.
10	10	"7 Swans a Singin'"	John Dahl	Rockne S. O'Bannon	December 12, 2019 (2019-12-12)	3.61
A Catholic girls school reports instances of students singing a repetitive melody nonstop. Kristen and Ben discover that the melody comes from an Internet cartoon about marijuana, and that all of the affected students heard it through a video posted by a popular influencer, Melindaz. Lexi asks Sheryl for advice on dealing with a bully. Sheryl tells her to hit the girl with a rock and then lie about it when Kristen finds out. Unbeknownst to everyone, Townsend has been secretly instructing Sheryl to undermine her granddaughter. Someone sends David incriminating photos that expose his relationship with Renee, and so he decides to talk to her. After the melody infects Lila, Ben determines that it has been modified to transmit a secret message to anyone under 16 compelling them to commit suicide. The team confronts Melindaz, who goes to see Townsend, her "producer", for help. He tells her to apologize and take down the video, knowing that it will only encourage teenagers to continue sharing it. David goes to confession, and takes a walk outside. A bearded man stabs him in the chest and flees as Kristen calls his phone, which has fallen just out of reach.
11	11	"Room 320"	Peter Sollett	Aurin Squire	January 9, 2020 (2020-01-09)	3.10
While David is in the hospital recovering from surgery, Kristen and Ben team up with Kristen's predecessor on the team, Judy James, to find his attacker, who they suspect is a former victim named Richard Ghana. David learns from a fellow patient, Harlan, that the attending nurse, Linda Bloch, is an angel of death who targets black patients and collects their wristbands as trophies. David makes several attempts to worm out from under Bloch's control, but fails each time. He then sees Harlan being escorted away by the spirit of Death in a dream, and receives a warning from Grace Ling that he must remember Matthew 13:25. The team visits Ghana's old roommate, who gives them a lead: Ghana's online avatar is Rose390. Ben creates his own avatar, posing as Lila Bouchard, and links up with Rose390 while Judy uses tracking equipment to trace Ghana's location and send it to the cops. David manages to contact Kristen, who learns of Bloch's culpability through a clever deception and brings in Dr. Boggs to get David released. Before they can catch Bloch, however, she escapes, leaving behind her collection of wristbands.
12	12	"Justice × 2"	Rob Hardy	Dewayne Darian Jones	January 16, 2020 (2020-01-16)	3.29
The Queens DA calls Kristen in to help stop an effort by Townsend to get Orson LeRoux released by having another inmate claim responsibility for his crimes. David is contacted by a woman named Sonia who needs spiritual advice; he discovers that she is keeping a comedian, Lando, imprisoned in her basement, claiming that he was involved in the murder of her family and neighbors. Sonia locks him up as well and prepares to kill Lando despite both men's pleas for mercy. In court, Kristen is called to the stand and forced to admit that she taunted Orson, which is enough to convince the judge to overturn his conviction. Townsend goes to gloat and threaten Kristen, who finally snaps and tells him that she knows his real name and that he's nothing but a loser. Ben shows up to take her to the hospital where Laura is undergoing surgery for her heart condition, learning that she was miraculously healed during the procedure. Sonia shoots Lando and calls an ambulance for David before turning herself in, saying that she did it not for revenge, but for justice. Townsend and his demon therapist meet to discuss how to deal with Kristen.
13	13	"Book 27"	Michael Zinberg	Patricia Ione Lloyd	January 30, 2020 (2020-01-30)	3.19
LeRoux takes advantage of his freedom by harassing Kristen. Townsend formally proposes to Sheryl. When she goes to ask for Kristen's blessing, her daughter forbids her from ever coming near her family again. Dr. Boggs refers one of his patients, Eleanor, to David as Eleanor believes that her unborn son is a demon. After the boy's twin sister mysteriously dies in utero, David arranges an exorcism but Eleanor's baby is born before it can be completed. He and Ben look into RSM Fertility, the clinic that administered Eleanor's IVF, and discover links to families they had previously worked with. David proposes a theory: the clinic is secretly a front for the hierarchy, who are spiritually corrupting the eggs of expectant mothers to create a generation of humans who will be more susceptible to temptation and sin. Kristen reveals that her daughter Lexis was born after she was treated by RSM Fertility. David has another vision, this time of Kristen walking towards a demon. Kristen gets a call that LeRoux was found bludgeoned to death in his home. She then burns her hand picking up a crucifix, suggesting evil is within her.

Season 2 (2021)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
14	1	"N Is for Night Terrors"	Nelson McCormick	Rockne S. O'Bannon	June 20, 2021 (2021-06-20)
Kristen's guilt over murdering LeRoux begins to affect her professional life; she confides in Dr. Boggs, who promises not to reveal her secret. Bishop Marx assigns the team a new case: Townsend, having made generous donations to the Church, wants to undergo an exorcism. Ben suggests that they hear out Townsend's request in order to learn more about him. While searching his apartment, they find a sigil map similar to the one David uses. During a dental procedure to shave down her canines, which are unusually long, Lexis bites off the dentist's finger, but doesn't remember doing so afterwards; Kristen chooses to keep this a secret from her daughter. Ben receives a visit from a succubus named Abbey, who continues to torment him when he sleeps. Kristen and David present their findings to Bishop Marx, who approves the exorcism against their advice but asks them to be present so they can confirm the truth. While monitoring Townsend through his computer, Ben is taken aback when he stares directly at him and starts laughing manically.
15	2	"A Is for Angel"	John Dahl	Davita Scarlett	June 27, 2021 (2021-06-27)
Bishop Marx gives David a strange case: Raymond Strand, a construction worker who claims that the Archangel Michael acts through him. Raymond's pregnant wife, Ashley, is concerned because her husband is giving away their possessions and treating her as his inferior. As part of his investigation, David tries to speak to Michael himself; a nun, Sister Andrea, teaches him a process to do so successfully, and David learns of a coming disaster that will kill half of the world's population. Townsend, enraged to learn that his exorcism has been delayed, breaks off his engagement to Sheryl; Sheryl angrily kicks him out and rejects Townsend's attempts to reconcile. When Raymond's condition gets worse, Bishop Marx goes to speak with him personally, but finds that he already killed Ashley for defying him. David is forced to hear Townsend's confession; Townsend deliberately provokes him, but David keeps his anger in check. When he goes back to his room, he finds Sister Andrea there working on his sigil map and offering to help.
16	3	"F Is for Fire"	Frederick E.O. Toye	Dewayne Darian Jones	July 4, 2021 (2021-07-04)
With Sister Andrea's assistance, David translates one of the names on Townsend's map: Mathilda Mowbray. Mathilda is the adopted child of Catholic-Muslim parents, who has been blamed for setting several fires but says she didn't do it. Instead, she claims a demon is haunting her. The team takes up the case and soon identifies Mathilda's demon as an ifrit or fire jinn. Sheryl visits Dr. Boggs using a fake name, and gets him to advise her on how to reconcile with Kristen. Boggs eventually learns the truth and refuses to continue seeing her as a patient; Sheryl begs him to change his mind and he decides to at least help her find another therapist. The team arranges for an exorcism, but Matilda's parents also bring in an imam to perform a Muslim exorcism, and David persuades the two men to cooperate. Though they seemingly manage to drive the ifrit from Mathilda, the demon attaches itself to Kristen instead; its influence nearly causes her to cheat on her husband before she manages to stop herself. Mathilda quietly sits outside and watches as a trash can next to her catches fire in the same manner as the ifrit.
17	4	"E Is for Elevator"	Alethea Jones	Robert King & Michelle King	July 11, 2021 (2021-07-11)
David prepares to deliver his first homily; to the displeasure of his instructors, the homily begins with a discussion of race. A family contacts the team with a request to find their son Wyatt, who vanished several months earlier and left the mark of a pentagram in his room. Kristen's daughters help her deduce that Wyatt is a victim of the "Elevator Game", a Japanese legend in which pressing elevator buttons in a specific manner can open a direct passage to Hell. After starting, but not finishing, the game with Kristen, Ben talks to Vanessa and she encourages him to finish the game. David is invited to meet with other black seminarians and faces questions about the Church's historical attitude towards black priests; this rattles David as Townsend had previously questioned why he would serve an institution that doesn't treat him with respect. Ben finishes the game himself and becomes trapped after finding Wyatt's decaying corpse in a forgotten subbasement. Abbey shows up and tries to push him into despair, but Ben resists and is rescued by David and Kristen, breaking down in tears as they bring him to safety.
18	5	"Z Is for Zombies"	Nelson McCormick	Patricia Ione Lloyd	July 18, 2021 (2021-07-18)
Father Mulvehill, David's new exorcist, discreetly asks him for help. David initially believes that the priest simply has a small gambling problem, but Ben's efforts soon uncover that he is actually $40,000 in debt. David confronts Mulvehill, but he refuses to take time off to deal with his addiction. Lila and her friend Alex go to a mystic for help with Alex's father after discovering that he is being mistreated by his employers. The mystic gives them two potions: the first causes Alex's father to sleep in, keeping him from being injured in a serious accident at work, while the second causes his abusive manager to appear drunk, resulting in him being fired. David enlists Sister Andrea to assist with Townsend's upcoming exorcism as he mistrusts Mulvehill. His suspicions prove correct as Mulvehill botches the exorcism; Sister Andrea steps in and frightens Townsend by burning him with "holy water". However, she refuses to help David any further. Mulvehill agrees to go on retreat rather than be reported. Lila and Alex are distraught to find that Alex's father, now a manager, has become just as abusive as the man he replaced.
19	6	"C Is for Cop"	Ron Underwood	Aurin Squire	July 25, 2021 (2021-07-25)
Following the shooting of a black driver by a white cop, the police union asks for an assessment to prove that their officer may have been possessed. The team is disgusted by the request, but are forced to accept it. They soon learn that the officer is a "Protector", a member of an NYPD clique obsessed with the popular cop show Justice Served. The show's producer, Mick Carr, defends his show, saying that he only wants to promote a positive image of the police. The assessment is subsequently canceled when a grand jury refuses to indict the officer, but both David and Ben are subject to police harassment for investigating Carr. Ben tries a new approach to rid himself of Abbey by utilizing a recording of a video game to induce lucid dreaming, during which he sees David beside him. With the LeRoux inquiry focusing on her, Kristen becomes increasingly unnerved, until she sees LeRoux's ghost outside; LeRoux tells Kristen that she, like him, is a born killer. Just then, Kristen is surprised by Detective Byrd, who reveals that she knows the truth and assures her friend that she will protect her from any consequences.
20	7	"S Is for Silence"	Robert King	Robert King & Michelle King	August 29, 2021 (2021-08-29)
The bishop sends the team to a monastery, where they are forced to observe a vow of silence while investigating the case of Father Thomas, a deceased monk who the Church is considering for sainthood, requiring an evaluation of his perfectly preserved body and proof of a miracle. Kristen, appalled by the chauvinistic attitude of the monks, bonds with a Dutch-speaking nun, Feena, who has marks on her body consistent with the wounds of Christ. David, finding himself beginning to succumb to temptation due to his unrequited sexual attraction towards Kristen, joins the monks in worship to calm his mind, only to be disappointed. Ben secretly enters the monastery's crypt to conduct his own research. When an irritated Kristen deliberately breaks her vow, Feena and several monks become stricken with hideous wounds, requiring an exorcism. The process unintentionally exposes the "demon" plaguing the monastery: an outbreak of botflies. Father Thomas's body begins to rot, disproving his saintliness, and the team is allowed to depart. Kristen secretly leaves a gift for Feena as a symbol of their bond.
21	8	"B Is for Brain"	James Whitmore Jr.	Louisa Hill	September 5, 2021 (2021-09-05)
Andy returns home from Colorado to find that Kristen is not as he remembers; she is more aggressive and forceful, even assaulting a man at the grocery store for cutting in line. Bishop Marx assigns the team their next case, involving an experiment in which subjects have their brains stimulated with magnetic waves, triggering spiritual visions. Ben, David, and Kristen all take part in the experiment: Ben sees his late mother, Kristen sees a false vision in which David discovers that she murdered LeRoux, and David sees nothing. Sister Andrea warns him that by using technology, he has disrupted his ability to commune with God and must work to restore it. Andy, realizing the damage his absence has caused, decides that he's willing to give up his career as a climber to save his marriage. However, when he asks Kristen to do the same, she defiantly states that her work is too important to give up. The team presents their findings to the bishop, but for once, all three of them disagree on what should be done. That night, Kristen slips out of bed, heats up her crucifix, and burns it into her skin, alongside several other similar marks.
22	9	"U Is for U.F.O"	Clark Johnson	Nialla LeBouef	September 12, 2021 (2021-09-12)
An Air Force pilot and a college student both report an encounter with a mysterious flying object; the team is asked to determine its true nature. Kristen and Ben quickly figure out that the object is not man-made, and the Church even sends a special investigator from Rome to look into the matter. A mysterious man then arrives, orders the inquiry closed, and persuades both witnesses to recant their claims. David identifies him as part of the "Entity", the Church's secret service. After seeing how her daughters are beginning to emulate her bad behavior, Kristen decides to start working on her anger following a conversation with David. Townsend meets again with his demon therapist, but becomes furious when the therapist questions the extent of his commitment to the "plan". He then gets his hands on an axe and decapitates the therapist before cooking and serving him at a dinner to which he invites Sheryl. David, upset that the Church is interfering with his work, persuades Kristen and Ben that they should conduct an off-the-books investigation into RSM Fertility.
23	10	"O Is for Ovaphobia"	Stacey K. Black	Aurin Squire	September 19, 2021 (2021-09-19)
During her search for leads on RSM Fertility and its practices, Kristen discovers that a Dr. Cara Autry has been making payments for the last six years to keep her eggs frozen. The doctor denies doing so, but when Ben and David tail her, they see her entering Townsend's apartment complex. Ben tries to help Vanessa deal with her sister Maggie's intrusion into their relationship, but then runs out in horror when he gets a call from Vanessa and realizes that Maggie has taken her place. Townsend introduces Sheryl to his business associate Edward; the two men give Sheryl a drug to paralyze her entire body before infusing an unknown substance into her blood. Townsend also checks on Dr. Autry, who is being kept as a prisoner in his apartment. Kristen obtains a court order to force RSM Fertility to turn over her eggs to a different clinic, but one egg cell is unaccounted for. David meets Edward, accompanied by an upbeat, happy Sheryl, while looking for Townsend. Kristen notices that Lexis is disgusted with her body and teaches her daughter the importance of self-acceptance, not knowing that Lexis has grown a tail.
24	11	"I Is for IRS"	Nelson McCormick	Dewayne Darian Jones	September 26, 2021 (2021-09-26)
Townsend begins using Sheryl as a honeypot to hunt various men and women, who are then killed and drained of their blood. The IRS asks the Church to evaluate the "New Ministry of Satan" before deciding whether to grant tax-exempt status. In the course of their investigation, Kristen winds up having sex with Graham, the ministry's founder, but soon feels shame for cheating on her husband. When Dr. Boggs suggests a new prescription, Kristen accuses him of trying to manipulate her and fires him as her therapist. The team advises the IRS that the ministry is a fraud, and when confronted by Graham, Kristen lies about sleeping with him. David attends Townsend's last two exorcisms with Kristen in tow; during the first, Kristen has a vision of a demon crawling out of her womb, then suffers physical pain during the second until she chooses to accept God as her savior, thereby freeing herself from the ifrit's influence. She and Andy reconcile after performing a Tibetan Buddhist ritual to purify themselves. Townsend is happy to see that the ifrit has possessed him.
25	12	"D Is for Doll"	Kevin Sullivan	Davita Scarlett	October 3, 2021 (2021-10-03)
When Kristen goes to reconcile with Dr. Boggs, he asks her to help one of his former patients, Nathan. Nathan claims that demons have infested his home and are tormenting his son Elijah. David meets with a black former Catholic priest who urges him to abandon the Church; David turns him down, but the experience causes him to further doubt his commitment to the priesthood. Ben uncovers an antique doll in Nathan's attic, similar to a doll owned by Sheryl that she believes is possessed by a demon. Sister Andrea confesses to David that she gave up the love of her life to become a nun and argues that they are both serving a far greater purpose. The Church assigns a layman, Gregory, to cleanse Nathan's house. The exorcism fails, and Nathan asks for his doll back, admitting that he is willing to accept a demonic presence in his house if it stops his suffering. Under Edward's direction, Sheryl performs two sinful acts and earns the right to take his place in a secret society that represents the 60 demonic houses on Earth. Sheryl accepts his sigil and performs an initiation ritual to formalize her new position.
26	13	"C Is for Cannibal"	Alethea Jones	Rockne S. O'Bannon	October 10, 2021 (2021-10-10)
As the day of David's ordination approaches, he agrees to accept one last case: Mitch Otterbean, who believes that a demon is trying to force him to engage in cannibalism. The team initially concludes that he is mentally ill, but David changes his mind when he physically encounters Mitch's demon. Sister Andrea then reveals a secret: both she and David are among a few million humans who are close enough to God that they can see demons, and thus know of the true existence of Hell. Dr. Boggs, rattled by a previous encounter with Abbey, informs Kristen that he is taking a two-month break and won't be meeting with her in the near future. As David is ordained into the priesthood, Townsend uses his new job as a Church assessor to take over Mitch's case. He invites him to a gathering of the 60 demonic masters, where he and Sheryl induct Mitch into their group by having him eat the flesh of a deceased member. Learning that Townsend has been speaking to Lexis, Kristen contemplates killing him, but instead goes to David to confess her unfaithfulness and murder of LeRoux. After forgiving her sins, David breaks his vow of chastity by kissing her.

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.

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. The series left Netflix in the US on October 1, 2021.

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-TV channel ProSieben Fun on August 7, 2020, followed by a free-TV premiere on February 17, 2021 on ProSieben.

Reception

Critical response

The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a "certified fresh" 92% approval rating based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 7.73/10. 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, indicating "generally favorable reviews". 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 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 8.50/10. 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, indicating "universal acclaim".

Ratings

Viewership and ratings per episode of Evil

No.	Title	Air date	Rating/share (18–49)	Viewers (millions)	DVR (18–49)	DVR viewers (millions)	Total (18–49)	Total viewers (millions)
1	"Genesis 1"	September 26, 2019	0.6/4	4.56	0.7	3.40	1.3	7.96
2	"177 Minutes"	October 3, 2019	0.6/3	4.20	0.6	2.96	1.2	7.17
3	"3 Stars"	October 10, 2019	0.6/3	3.67	0.5	2.59	1.1	6.27
4	"Rose390"	October 17, 2019	0.7/4	3.74	0.5	2.61	1.2	6.36
5	"October 31"	October 24, 2019	0.5/3	3.48	0.6	2.46	1.1	5.94
6	"Let x = 9"	November 7, 2019	0.5/3	3.50	0.6	2.75	1.1	6.25
7	"Vatican III"	November 14, 2019	0.5/3	3.32	0.5	2.54	1.0	5.86
8	"2 Fathers"	November 21, 2019	0.5/3	3.43	0.5	2.57	1.0	6.00
9	"Exorcism Part 2"	December 5, 2019	0.5/3	3.34	0.6	2.68	1.1	6.03
10	"7 Swans a Singin'"	December 12, 2019	0.5/3	3.61	0.6	2.68	1.1	6.29
11	"Room 320"	January 9, 2020	0.4/3	3.10	0.6	2.65	1.0	5.88
12	"Justice × 2"	January 16, 2020	0.4/3	3.29	0.6	2.61	1.0	5.90
13	"Book 27"	January 30, 2020	0.5/3	3.19	0.5	2.61	1.0	5.80

Home media

CBS Home Entertainment released the complete first season on DVD on June 30, 2020.

External links

• Official website
• Evil at IMDb