Meet 24's New Bad Girl!

Poor Laura Harris. It seems the 24 star was the last to discover that her character, spoiled rich brat Marie Warner, was actually a cold-blooded terrorist. "I found out [the week] before we shot it," she tells TV Guide Online, adding that she suspected something was up when "crew members on the set started calling me evil. I was like, 'Why are they saying that?' And then it became clear, and I was like, 'Oh, they do actually like me! It's okay.'"

Viewers learned of the shocking plot twist at the climax of Episode 11 on Jan. 15, when Harris's alter ego shot and killed her fianc&#233 Reza (Phillip Rhys). Was it just us, or did the 26-year-old look mighty comfortable clutching a firearm? "I did gun training to be able to shoot with confidence," she says. "It's really difficult to point a gun at someone's head, I have to say. I've never done it before. And now, it's like a habit!

"I love playing bad," adds the Canadian-born actress, who visited the dark side in the 1998 horror flick The Faculty. "Before you realized [Marie] was bad, she was irritating and high-strung. But as soon as she killed somebody, it was almost redemptive. It's like, 'Oh my God, she's not irritating, she's bad!'"

Of course, the downside of playing a ruthless killer on TV is that, well, they tend not to have very long shelf lives. But Harris is happy to report that, "I'm still alive and we're shooting episode 16. So far, so good." Another drawback: nasty run-ins with fans. "I haven't really been out enough yet, but I've been told by [other villains] that people will approach me and be angry," she says. "But I kind of want to go to 7-Eleven and see what happens." Just to be safe, though, she won't be heading there alone. Laughing, she adds: "I'll bring my gun."