Evil's Katja Herbers on Kristen's Witchy Seduction: 'She Likes Danger, and She Likes Flirting'

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for Evil Season 4, Episode 6, "How To Dance in Three Easy Steps."]

It's time for Evil to take a page out of The Crucible's book. 

In Thursday's episode of the Paramount+ drama, Kristen (Katja Herbers), David (Mike Colter), and Ben (Aasif Mandvi) debate the age-old question "Are women who dance in the woods really witches?" when they investigate a potentially possessed dance troupe. The troupe is accused of hexing a fellow dancer, who went on to kill her children. But Kristen, who reminds the guys that the amount of women they've assessed more than triples the amount of men, argues that the misogyny of the Catholic Church could be to blame for this literal witch hunt — a hunch that proves to be correct when a bitter former troupe member turns out to be the one behind the violence.

Still, the dancers have powers of their own. Kristen is especially intrigued by their de facto leader, Isabella (Stella Everett), who's equally intrigued by Kristen. "How To Dance in Three Easy Steps," written by Louisa Hill and directed by Joe Menendez, leans into the attraction between Kristen and Isabella, who end up dancing together in the woods while the troupe conjures up a floating spirit they call a muse. 

"Going to this dance and indulging — although she knows that there's something potentially weird going on with these ladies — it's just a nice refuge for her," Herbers told TV Guide. Kristen's husband, Andy (Patrick Brammall), is in a psychiatric hospital upstate to deal with the aftermath of Leland's (Michael Emerson) brainwashing, and she's feeling the effects of his absence differently than she did when he was off climbing Everest. "She might be a little more chaotic and throwing herself into the work more than usual."

As always, Kristen's chaos makes for a fun episode of Evil. Herbers spoke to TV Guide about finding her character's moves, the early roots of Kristen's bisexuality, the power of her wardrobe, and taking off her shoe to flirt.

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Do you have a dance background? 
Katja Herbers: I do not. But my grandmother on my dad's side, she came from Germany, and she was an Ausdruckstänzerin, which is sort of the more modern dance in the 1930s, and I did study some of her moves because I thought it'd be fun. I felt like the moves that these dancers were doing sometimes very much resembled what my grandmother did. So I had that little bit in the kitchen where I took some of her old photos and tried to make that into movement.

How did you figure out how comfortable Kristen should be moving? 
Herbers: With everything that has happened, I think she's just interested in getting back into her body and embracing her sexuality. And there is a history of her with women that the previous episode also alluded to, and we've hinted at in the first season as well. She's drawn into the pleasure of what these dancers seem to access, and it's a welcome distraction from all the craziness in her life. I think she's very comfortable moving. We've seen her be comfortable with her body throughout the seasons many times. I guess I just thought, "I'll move how I would move, and then that's how Kristen would move."

And how much of the dancing in the woods was choreographed versus improvised?
Herbers: My dance with [Isabella] was improvised, but all the dancers themselves, they had a great choreographer, [Lisa Shriver].

Was there music on set in the woods? 
Herbers: No, how they always do it is like, you'll hear it for a second, and then there's no music, which is just super dumb. [Laughs.] I remember Mike and I, in the first season, we had that episode where we went to his dad['s farm], and we were high out of our minds on psilocybin, and we had to dance, and there was also no music whatsoever. You just had to keep it in your head. But these dancers are obviously all so musical, and so great, so it's not that hard.

You've talked before about playing bisexuality in Kristen sometimes. Did this episode come out of that? Were the writers taking those cues from you, or were you just separately reaching the same conclusions?
Herbers: There was one line in the first season that I decided to play sexually, where — do you remember I had the cop friend [Mira], played by Kristen Connolly? There was this one line where she said something like, "You and me in a portaledge," you know, however many feet above the ground. And her and I on the day thought it would just be fun — and maybe that was always in the writing, I don't know — but just fun to have as a secret that we had some real romantic nights there or something, but there had been some sex. And I remember that was just a fun thing to play, and it gave me a little secret. I don't know if the writers took [her bisexuality] off that, or if they always meant it, but we do bring that back. I guess last episode was the first time when my other friend, Yasmine, said it to my daughter, that I used to also date women. I just think it's fun. It's great to have a bisexual history for [and] sexuality for Kristen.

I know you filmed a while ago, but is there anything in particular that you remember about working with Dan Lawson on Kristen's wardrobe for this episode? I liked that she goes from wearing red to, after Isabella tells her to wear white, she starts out just wearing some white, and then finally, in the woods, she wears all white.
Herbers: Dan Lawson is so amazing. And I particularly loved what he did with the demon or the spirit that comes [to the dancers]. Every episode with him is great, and he always gives me something that enhances whatever I have to play as a character. The all white is so different from Kristen herself. I don't know if I have any particular stories, but I loved what he did. 

It seemed like they would all be pieces that she would have, even if she wouldn't wear them together. 
Herbers: Yeah, that was very well done. Kristen's closet, to be honest, is a closet we all aspire to have. She's got so many things. I think maybe we all at some point had a white jean, so it might be something she still had from when she was way, way younger. She didn't go shopping, it seems, but she still looks cute. 

In general, how does her wardrobe inform the character for you?
Herbers: Oh, clothing is such a huge deal. She's very well put together. I feel like sometimes she's a little spicier than other times. She's professional but a bit flirty in her choices sometimes. Especially the long coats, the many long coats that I have, they make me feel like a bit of a detective. It's wonderful. And there's little things where sometimes [Dan Lawson] will give me something like, particularly long sleeves of a sweater, if the character's a little nervous, and I can play around with clothing, which I really like. It gives me some behavior that really helps. 

I have to ask about the scene where Kristen takes off her shoe for Isabella. I'm curious what you thought when you got the script and saw that this week on Evil, Kristen is showing a woman her foot. 
Herbers: I remember first reading it, and I took a picture of it because I just thought it was hilarious. I think it's funny. She likes danger, and she likes flirting, and the way that it happened, it was sort of intriguing to her. I liked the idea of putting my leg up on [the barre] like she was stretching, and showing her my foot like that. I thought it kind of one-upped her. So it just made for a fun, fun play. And I like doing it in front of the boys. I mean, they know what's going on with me already, the craziness and the unhinged behavior on my part.

So it wasn't in the script that Kristen put her foot up on the barre?
Herbers: No, that was not in the script. It was in the script that I take my shoe off. That was my offering.

New episodes of Evil Season 4 stream Thursdays on Paramount+.