Catherine Zeta-Jones Talks Kill Jackie Stunts & Teases Major Twists at New York Comic Con

Female empowerment takes the stage this fall at AMC+, and when Catherine Zeta-Jones says “if she had balls, she’d scratch them” about her titular character Jackie in Kill Jackie, you know you’re in for a treat.

Zeta-Jones, alongside showrunner, writer, and executive producer Tom Butterworth, and executive producer Peter Lawson, teased the upcoming series at the AMC panels at New York Comic Con on Friday, October 9, and offered a taste of what’s to come with a sneak peek at Episode 3 (above), ahead of its October 16 release.

One major change fans of the original book, The Price You Pay, may notice is the transformation of its protagonist from Jack to Jackie, with Zeta-Jones sharing, “The protagonist is someone we fall in love with. Yes, she’s a dubious person. Yes, she’s violent, and she’s in love with her tax lawyer who has no desire to be in love with her.”

AMC+

Still, Zeta-Jones believes there’s more to Jackie’s representation than what people can see. “You don’t see a woman usually in these kinds of whatever the genre Jackie is; it’s usually the woman at home who doesn’t know whatever is going on. She’s hands-on in there,” Zeta-Jones stated, teasing that audiences should look forward to the surprises in Episode 7 and the “reinvention” of the book.

One of the show’s standout elements is the physicality of its characters and the impressive amount of stunt work involved. Zeta-Jones reflected on how her dance background helped prepare her for the action-heavy role, saying, “It has carried me through not only sword fighting in Zorro but dancing as Velma in Chicago, but doing this in Kill Jackie: It’s choreography, and once you know choreography you can pretty much act the physicality of it. I didn’t really bite off his ears, and he didn’t really put me up like a ragdoll; I was dancing the ragdoll.”

Zeta-Jones also offered a word of advice to anyone considering a dance career, explaining that it provides “the most amazing thing for confidence and a physical muscle memory that never goes away. It gets a little loose and slack, but then you get to work at it again. I think without my dance background I’d never be able to do the stunts or have any desire to do them because I’d be physically scared that my body would throw my back out.”

The Kill Jackie team teased plenty of action and surprises ahead, leaving audiences to discover just how far Jackie will go as the series unfolds.

Kill Jackie, Series Premiere, October 16, AMC+