French actress and former Bond girl Eva Green has played no shortage of witchy women in her career—including a 300-year-old sorceress in The Golden Compass and Johnny Depp’s supernatural seductress in Dark Shadows. But in the Showtime horror drama Penny Dreadful, the actress dials up the intrigue and mystique for her most enigmatic character yet. As Vanessa Ives, a Victorian-era spiritualist on the hunt for a woman being held hostage in some kind of denomic underworld, her character encompasses the duality of good and evil under a veil of secrets. And in Sunday’s episode, “Closer Than Sisters,” we finally learn some of them.

Last week, we phoned Green to discuss the episode at length as well as the difficulties of playing crazy, Victorian psychiatric treatments, and her masterful séance scene earlier this season.

[If you have not yet watched tonight’s show, do not read further.]

Julie Miller: Your character is so complex and full of contradictions. How did [Penny Dreadful] creator John Logan describe her to you when he pitched the character?

Eva Green: He didn’t really have to. He sent me the first five episode [scripts] and I kind of connected with the character straightaway and I loved that she had such an amazing journey full of twists and turns. You discover her secrets little by little. It’s an extremely complicated character that I was lucky to be offered.

Other characters in the TV series are based on famous literary figures, like Dorian Gray, Frankenstein’s monster, and Mina Harker. Did John say if Vanessa was based on any famous literary or real-life figures?

No, I mean, sometimes I feel like I am playing John Logan himself. [Laughs] It’s a completely original, fictional character.

Did you consult any mediums or spiritualists before filming?

Oh yeah! I saw two psychics in Paris—one that kind of showed me how to spread the Tarot cards. I kind of got into that weirdly. I thought that was fascinating and if it’s well done, it can give you some [insight] into how to make the right decisions. I spoke to people who had visions and said they can see the future. It’s a bit scary but I completely believe in it now because I met a psychic who told me things [about my life] that nobody knows. She knew what had happened and told me what would happen in the future—so we’ll see if she is right.

Vanessa’s character is so offbeat, especially for a woman during that time period, and, at times, frightening. Where did you find this character inside yourself?

At the end of the day, she is a very tormented, torn human being and she is at war with herself constantly. She seems very smooth and in control, but underneath is all of this fire and all of these demons. She seems very cold sometimes and then she has these mad moments, especially for that time period. Victorian women were so uptight and almost seen like wax figures but she is kind of a rebel. She is ballsy and hungry to live, dance, and explore.

In [tonight’s episode] you discover the background of Vanessa and will understand why she is like this and how she has all of these powers and how she is completely consumed by guilt after her betrayal of Mina, Sir Malcolm’s daughter. And this guilt will manifest in a kind of sexual hysteria—or that’s what people think has happened. So I have lots of absolutely insane scenes, literally, that I had to do and they were a challenge. I love extreme scenes—it’s fun to let it all out rather than play the boring girlfriend or something.