In front of tonight’s explosive Nikita episode, “Consequences,” Melinda Clarke teased Amanda’s return after being MIA for the first three episodes of the season, and her plan for revenge.

“It feels like she’s gone off her meds this year,” Clarke jokes with TVLine. “But it’s also like [we’re seeing] the true Amanda. We want the audience to be fearful of her. She’s not in Division or having to constantly produce this leader. She’s still a leader, yes, but she’s rogue — and I think she’s having a good time, actually!”

Amanda has been missing for the first three episodes of the season, but we learned in the season premiere that she was responsible for the Dirty Thirty, as she warned Division agents not to follow the recall order that was sounded after Percy’s death. So while Team Nikita has been cleaning up that mess, according to Clarke, Amanada has “been building her little army of sycophantic Amanda followers, of course.”

Her partner Ari is also still around, and “they are surviving quite well,” Clarke teases. However, “You’ll find out that Amanda has some ulterior motives. And unfortunately, that starts to cause a lot of tension between the two.”

As for why Amanda resurfaces now, Clarke says, “Her plan is ultimately to get Nikita.” But she is not simply out to kill her former protege. Her revenge “will be done in Amanda style, which is emotional torture and physical torture — and it will happen to everyone. It’s the best way to get to Nikita, by targeting people she loves and those around her.”

Clarke adds, “Death isn’t necessarily what Amanda wants for Nikita. In fact, she wants her to live and suffer, because Amanda’s so motivated by betrayal… In a very twisted, psychotic, ego-driven, Amanda-way, she is not done teaching Nikita what she needs to learn.”

As for Amanda’s return coinciding with that of Owen’s, “Without giving away too much, Amanda targets Owen very specifically,” Clarke teases, “and what you’ll find out is that Owen and Amanda have a past. Remember that machine that Amanda used on Birkhoff [in Season 2]? Well, he wasn’t the only one she tried to used it on.”

As for Nikita’s reaction to Amanda’s return, Clarke calls it “a moment of ‘Holy sh-t!’” They’re playing what is “very much a cat-and-mouse game. This season, she’ll dangle the carrot in front of Nikita and then zip away. She’s very calculated and she’s only going to give just enough for Nikita to interested.”

“Consequences” airs tonight, November 9, at 9:00 p.m. ET.