‘Lioness’ Season 3 Ends With Massive Twist — What That Shocking Return Really Means
Spoiler Alert
What To Know
- Lioness‘ third season ended with a major twist.
- Here’s what that big character return means.
Well, we were promised a cliffhanger, and boy, do we get one in Lioness‘ Season 3 finale. Warning: Spoilers for Lioness Season 3 Episode 8, “The Unraveling,” ahead!
The penultimate episode of the season saw Joe McNamara (Zoe Saldaña) successfully rescued and, instead of returning home to her long-suffering family, decide to continue in the field until she gets revenge against whoever attacked her twice.
In the finale, it’s determined that the team’s double agent, Oleksandra (Elizaveta Neretin), is responsible for the attack. They decide to let Yurimov go, in hopes that he will share information with them, and they deliver him to the embassy on a silver platter. Meanwhile, Kyle (Thad Luckinbill) shows up at Oleksandra’s safehouse and takes her out. Her body is later found in a riverbank.
A shootout at a D.C. bar brings some of the QRF team into question for their carelessness, and ultimately, we’re still left to wonder who, really, is behind all of this. Is there a mole? Why doesn’t anything truly add up?
The answer, we soon learn, is that Aaliyah (Stephanie Nur) is the one pulling the strings, and she has no plans to stop trying to kidnap Joe. The reason? If they take Joe, the rest of the Lioness squadron will follow.
Ryan Green / Paramount+
So, what does this mean for the future of the show? Well, for one thing, things have finally come full circle to the gutwrenching events of Season 1. That season saw Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) fall in love with Aaliyah and then have to betray her out of duty, slaughtering both her fiancé, Ehsan (Ray Corasani), and her father, Asim Amrohi (Bassem Youssef), on behalf of the U.S. government.
It took a while for Cruz to get past the hurt she experienced having to do that, but the last two seasons have shown her not only coming to forgive Joe, but also learning to love her — as their emotional reunion in the Episode 7 climax well proves.
With Aaliyah back in the picture, chances are, she’s going to be after Cruz — and maybe even her new love, Josie Carrillo (Genesis Rodriguez), not to mention the QRF team writ large.
Lioness hasn’t officially been renewed for Season 4 yet, but with a twist like this, it’s only a matter of time.
Lioness, Streaming Now, Paramount+
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