SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from “Butterfly” Season 1, now streaming on Prime Video.
Piper Perabo can get used to playing villains.
In the new Prime Video action-packed spy series “Butterfly,” Perabo is Juno, the evil head of a private intelligence corporation in South Korea.
“Playing the villain is so much fun,” Perabo tells me. “I think the villains in Hollywood keep that secret to themselves so that they don’t have to give up the great parts. I think it’s so relaxing. The getaway car pulls up to you, there’s no running. You have an endless supply of weapons. It’s very relaxing.”
“Butterfly,” based on the graphic novel series of the same name, follows David (Daniel Dae Kim), Juno’s former partner, who comes out of hiding to save his daughter, Rebecca (Reina Hardesty). David had left Rebecca in Juno’s care nine years earlier when he faked his death after one of his missions went terribly wrong.
Juno not only raised Rebecca, but she trained her to be a blood thirsty assassin.
“I like how clear Juno’s sense of purpose is,” Perabo says. “I always think of her like when you were a kid and you’re on the athletic fields and there’s this parent on the sidelines who’s screaming at their kid and just humiliating them and pushing them. That’s who I think Juno is.”
In “Butterfly’s” 6-episode premiere season, Juno tries to win Rebecca back when David, with his new wife and young daughter in tow, convinces Rebecca to escape to Vietnam for a new life.
Were you sad or relieved that you didn’t have to do any of the action work on the show?
Both. I’m usually the one who’s assassinating people [Perabo starred on USA Network’s “Covert Affairs” as a CIA agent for five seasons], so it’s weird to just point and tell others to kill people, but I thought I’d give it a try. Maybe I’ll come back to the assassinations if I am given a chance.
I was rooting for David because he wants to save his daughter, but why did it take so long to come back for her?
Right? And he even took the time to have another wife and another daughter. I know David thought he was protecting Rebecca, but I think she was better off with me. I think it’s better over at Juno’s house. Why? I have a lot more money. You can work for me and make your own money. It’s very healthy over at Juno’s house compared David’s. It’s not safe. There are a lot of secrets. Juno’s is much more nine-to-five.
In the finale, David’s wife is killed. We assume it was Rebecca because she’s nowhere to be found when David finds his wife bleeding to death. What did you think when you read that last script?
I was shocked, but also I was excited, because I feel like it leaves us in a really yummy place. I think this series has a lot of tentacles that can spread out and move in a lot of different directions. One of the things that was fun about being at Comic-Con with “Butterfly” was that Marvel and DC are amazing and have legacies and a depth of all these myths, but it’s so much fun to be in a new universe. When I read the last episode, I was excited because I thought this leaves a lot of open windows.
Truth be told, we don’t know for sure it was Rebecca who killed David’s wife because we don’t see it happen. But she has run off. Do you think she’s going back to Juno, going after Juno? Can Juno ever trust Rebecca again?
Juno doesn’t trust anybody, even her own son Oliver [Louis Landau], and she figures out a way to kind of live with you anyway. Juno’s not gonna burn the bridge just because you screwed her over. There’s a lot more juice in that orange, so let’s not just throw everything away. Like I said, Juno has this clear sense of purpose. It would be foolish to get rid of Rebecca.
I love the scene where Rebecca is shackled to the table, and Juno starts eating a fast-food burger. I did not expect to see Juno munching on a burger.
Juno doesn’t eat very much. Juno doesn’t like to consume very much. Everything has to be so controlled. And then [showrunner Ken Woodruff] said, “When you finally get Rebecca, you are going to be able to just relax and have a burger.” And I was like, “Oh, really? OK, we’re gonna need a lot of burgers.”
How many burgers did you go through shooting the scene?
A lot.
Did you have a spit bucket?
No, I ate them all.
Does Juno ever take off her heels?
I think she probably showers in them.
When you’re on the plane leaving South Korea, I was like, “You can take them off now.”
It’s very out of the armored car and into the private jet. Very cab to curb.
What do you think the body count is in “Butterfly?”
A lot, a lot, a lot. Even in the opening of the first episode of Rebecca in the hotel. I remember the costume fittings for that when Reina, who plays Rebecca, was like, “The strap of the purse needs to be this long if I need to strangle him, but I also have to have my entire [getaway] hotel outfit in the purse.” I was like, “This is my kind of fitting.”
How much have you talked about a second season?
A little bit. In my case, we talked a little bit about Juno’s hopes and dreams. I want to put her in the worst situation possible and watch her dig her way out. I want even more guns.
Before we go, I have to ask: any update on the “Coyote Ugly” sequel?
[Laughs]. There’s no update. A couple of days ago, somebody did call me and told me to stop talking about it. I probably shouldn’t say that either, but it’s all really fun.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
