Here’s the ‘Evil’ relationship Katja Herbers and Aasaf Mandvi say is unique on TV

There are a lot of complicated relationships in Evil, and certainly more than a few relationships are not what one would call, well, healthy. 

There are also some great relationships on Evil, however, and actors Katja Herbers and Aasaf Mandvi, who play Kristen and Ben respectively on the show, think their characters’ relationship is kind of great.

SYFY WIRE had the chance to interview Herbers and Mandvi together in the lead up to the Season 3 premiere of the show. During that discussion, the two delved into their characters’ relationship and how it in certain ways it reflects their real-life one.  

“What we don't get to see that often is just a genuine friendship between a man and a woman,” Herbers told SYFY WIRE. “In American culture especially… there's such a taboo on having female friends as a man.” 

(L-R) Katja Herbers as Kristen Bouchard and Aasif Mandvi as Ben Shakir of the Paramount+ series EVIL. Photo: Elizabeth Fisher/CBS/Paramount+

Mandvi agreed with his co-star about their characters’ relationship. “I think that Kristen and Ben have that best friend dynamic because we are similar and yet we are different enough,” he said. “Ben also has a real soft spot for her daughters. Ben doesn't have children of his own, you know? And he's alone a lot of the time except maybe when he is with his sister… Ben is like an uncle to these girls, whose dad is often not around, and so that's an interesting dynamic with him and Kristen — he's like a best friend and a kind of uncle to her kids.”
 
“I do think we flirt, but in a friendship kind of way,” Herbers added. “I'm hoping that we never get romantic, just so we have a true friendship on the smaller screen between a man and a woman.”

That strong platonic friendship is something that echoes the two actors’ relationship. “Aasif could call me at three in the morning with a problem and I would pick up, you know what I mean? Like, don't do that,” she joked to Mandvi. “But you know, I think that's what Ben and Kristen have as well.”

You can see Ben and Kristen's platonic relationship in action when Season 3 of Evil premieres on Paramount+ on Sunday, June 12. 

Looking for more supernatural mystery-solving? Stream SurrealEstate now.