Victoria Smurfit is set to become Cruella de Vil again in hit TV fantasy series Once Upon A Time, despite being killed off last season.
The Dublin native’s role as Cruella has been one of her biggest acting jobs yet as the show’s episodes pull in up to 12 million viewers each week.
Many deceased characters will return for the series 100th episode, however Victoria will appear in several episodes towards the end of the show’s fifth season.
Villains: Cruella stars alongside fellow villains Maleficent and Ursula
The second half of season five will supposedly focus on the underworld, which explains why characters that have been killed off are making a return.
The 41-year-old joined the show as Cruella in season four alongside other famed evil queens such as Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent and The Little Mermaid’s Ursula.
Victoria recently revealed that the show’s producers gave her barely any notice that her character was going to be killed off.
“I only found out a week before that they decided to make Cruella unrepentantly evil and kill her off,” she said.
“So I only had a few days to say: ‘please don’t kill me’.
“Even when I first turned up for filming, I’d only packed for a weekend when a guy from the transport department told me I’d be in Vancouver for five months.
“I was like ‘I have three kids’, but you just have to figure it out,” she added.
Back from the dead: Victoria will return as Cruella in the fantasy series | VIPIRELAND.COM
Taking on the role of Cruella has resulted in Victoria working with some amazing props – including the vintage Zimmer Golden Spirit car that the villain famously drives.
“I love driving it… When I first got in, I took it fairly easy just getting used to the size because its nose is extremely long, and once I got my confidence up,” she said.
“I think I terrified poor Merrin [Dungey], who plays Ursula, several times because I screeched around corners. But it was great fun. I love, love, love that car. That car is a little bit of heaven.”
Evil queen: Victoria loves getting into character for her role as Cruella de Vil | TWITTER
Victoria admitted that Cruella wouldn’t be the evil queen she is without her envious wardrobe of fur coats, which help her get into character.
“I love that juxtaposition between this weedy, angular looking woman in this extraordinary luxury and I love the fact that Cruella thinks she’s beautiful,” she told the Herald.
“When you’re sitting in just a skull cap and the makeup is going on, it can be pretty frightening because you’re borderline man in drag.
“But then, when everything goes on, it pulls it all together and I become Cruella,” she added.
