Lioness season 3 ended on Sunday with a half-shocking, half-expected big reveal, depending on what theory you were tracking throughout the season.

In it, we learn that the abduction of Joe was not some sort of insane triple-play by Ukraine as the US government was theorizing, but rather very much a straightforward tale of revenge, harkening back to Lioness season 1.

Despite the fact that the totally innocent and extremely helpful defector Oleksandra was killed on the assumption she was a mole, it was actually season 1’s Aaliyah who was behind the abduction of Joe, paying mercenaries and sending her Iranian compatriots to bring Joe to her.

Season 1 was all the way back in 2023, so a refresher is that Joe set up Cruz to infiltrate Aaliyah’s family to draw out her reclusive terrorist father and assassinate him. This involved Cruz becoming her best friend and eventual lover, which turned to horror when, on the day of her wedding, Cruz killed both her husband-to-be and father (perhaps she was less sad about her fiancée, whom she hated).

Once Iran started being mentioned, it seemed pretty obvious it would come back to this mission, despite all this talk about Ukraine which frankly, did not make much sense. Aaliyah has always been a loose end, and now with her father’s fortune, she has the ability to launch these kinds of operations indefinitely. She orders a third attempt to kidnap Joe after this (good luck with that).

I wondered why she wouldn’t abduct Cruz rather than Joe, given that she was the actual betrayer. She says that taking Joe would draw out the entire team, which I understand, but so would kidnapping Cruz. And frankly, taking Cruz rather than an actual CIA case officer would be a less high-profile grab. But I suppose the end result is meant to be the same.

This is probably the biggest cliffhanger Lioness has ever ended on, outright demanding a season 4. But despite high ratings, the show has not been renewed yet, which seems weird. But even more weird was the wait for the renewal of season 3, which took a full 10 months to happen. Extremely bizarre. Supposedly that was about scheduling and contract negotiations. I do imagine Lioness is an expensive show, not just due to the action, but given the fact it has A-listers like Zoe Saldana, Nicole Kidnap and Morgan Freeman starring. Still, it seems inevitable it will return.

I’d argue that this was the best season of Lioness so far, and watching the crew go to war with Aaliyah and her mercenary army in season 4 would be potentially even better.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy .