Carrie-Anne Moss on Female Rage and Power in AMC+ Series Yaga

“There’s never a moment when she’s not in complete control as Yaga’s mysteries unfold,” Carrie-Anne Moss says of her role as an enigmatic professor in AMC+’s new series, which premiered on October 23. Inspired by the Slavic folklore of Baba Yaga, the eight-episode drama follows an antihero femme fatale who plays a seductive cat-and-mouse game with men in the coastal town of Whittock, tvinsider.com reported.

Mythology Influences Moss as She Plays Katherine Hargrove

Moss stars as Katherine Hargrove, an osteologist whose self-assuredness drives the narrative of Kat Sandler’s television adaptation of her own play. Before accepting the role, Moss was revisiting Clarissa Pinkola Estés’s book Women Who Run With the Wolves, which explores the rites of passage women experience as they age through mythology. The coincidence proved decisive for the actor. “About a week before I got offered this role, I had opened the book up again,” Moss tells tvinsider.com, noting the parallel between her personal writing for her website, Annapurna Living, and the exploration of the maiden, mother, and crone phases.

The series explores themes of female aging and rage against corrupt systems that turn vulnerable people into collateral damage. Sandler shaped Katherine’s character with specific villainous archetypes in mind. “I wanted to write a female character whose badness we could enjoy along with her,” Sandler previously told tvinsider.com, drawing inspiration from figures like Hannibal Lecter and Dexter Morgan.

The Cat-and-Mouse Dynamic with Noah Reid

In Episodes 1 and 2, Katherine crosses paths in a local bar with private investigator Charlie Rapp, played by Noah Reid. Rapp arrives in Whittock hired by a wealthy family to find their missing son, Henry, portrayed by Hudson Williams, who also plays Henry’s lookalike friend, Logan. Reid’s character attempts to disarm Katherine, but she remains unimpressed. Moss highlights the tension of their initial bar encounter. “Noah’s a great actor,” Moss tells tvinsider.com, adding that “there was a lot of anticipation” around the scene where Katherine whispers the sensuality of bones into Rapp’s ear.

The power dynamics shift during an office interrogation scene where Rapp and Sergeant Carson—played by Clark Backo—question Katherine about Henry. Moss describes the encounter as “two manipulators meeting toe to toe,” contrasted with Carson’s cleaner execution and moral stance. Carson struggles with Katherine’s open sensuality, learning an unspoken language shared between women while facing the town's festering secrets.

Yaga Episodes Release Fridays on AMC+

New episodes of Yaga release on Fridays on AMC+. The central mysteries surrounding Henry’s disappearance, Logan’s connections to the wealthy Park family, and the community’s fascination with the Baba Yaga legend continue to unfold across the eight-episode season.