Lioness Season 3 Pulls A Double Plot Twist That Could Have Deadly Consequences

Zoe Saldaña's Joe McNamara has finally been rescued in Season 3, Episode 7 of "Lioness." Having been taken captive by what appeared to be an Iranian operative, Joe took advantage of a lucky traffic stop and escaped just as her QRF team swept in. It was a dramatic finale to what has been the CIA senior case officer's most harrowing ordeal yet. But just because Joe is finally free doesn't mean that ordeal is over. "Lioness" Season 3 Episode 6 revealed a surprise main villain, but Episode 7 has once again delivered a twist, suggesting that the real architect of Joe's suffering was working with the CIA all along. Now Joe is on the warpath, and while her fury is more than justified, it might just lead to tragic consequences.

"Lioness" Season 3 spent five episodes building a narrative that pointed to the Russians as being responsible for Joe's abduction. But Episode 6 threw a curveball. Though Joe's handlers were Russian or possibly Belarusian contractors, it turns out they were merely working for the mysterious and sadistic Iranian operative Babat (Kamyar Jahan). In the final moments of Episode 6, Babat promises Joe a painful death and suddenly we realize her entire abduction had nothing to do with Russia and was, in fact, payback for a mission Joe conducted on Iranian soil in Season 2.

But in Episode 7, Joe swiftly dispatches Babat with a headshot. At that moment, it becomes clear that Babat was yet another misdirect. After all, how can he be the real big bad of Season 3 when lasted all of five minutes? No, according to the CIA's latest theory, the real villain has been working with them all along: Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (FISU) agent Oleksandra Balakin (Elizaveta Neretin).

"Lioness" Season 3 began with Oleksandra Balakin approaching Joe McNamara and her team to provide details of a Russian Special Services Department (SSD) member. Joe, along with some help from Taylor Sheridan's Cody Spears, then scooped up the target from a Ukrainian battlefield and all appeared to be well. Soon, Oleksandra provided more details of United States citizens who had been compromised by Russian intelligence agencies, allowing the CIA to clean house. Soon after, however, Joe was abducted in what we all assumed was an act of Russian vengeance.

All the while, Oleksandra was given a fresh start in witness protection. She even helped Kyle McManus (Thad Luckinbill) zero in on Joe's location after the CIA came up short, thereby seemingly proving her ongoing fealty to the U.S. But in Episode 7, Nicole Kidman's Kaitlyn Meade has a conversation with her financial power player husband Errol Meade (Martin Donovan). He reveals that his firm was tasked with conducting in-depth analysis on who might have the wherewithal, resources, and motive to abduct a CIA case officer on U.S. soil. Their conclusion? Ukraine.

It just so happens that Kaitlyn and her team have been working very closely with a Ukrainian agent. Oleksandra has been dodgy since the very beginning, with even Joe and her crew suspecting the FISU agent of orchestrating a failed attempt on Joe's life at her home. When Kyle and the team originally worked her over, they came to the conclusion she was clean. Now, it seems they were wrong, and Oleksandra is looking even more formidable a foe than Babat. In two episodes, then, "Lioness" has delivered two twists. This latest one feels particularly ominous.

After Errol Meade tells Kaitlyn Meade about Ukraine being the likely architects of Joe's kidnapping, she takes it to CIA deputy director of operations Byron Westfield (Michael Kelly) and Secretary of State Edwin Mullins (Morgan Freeman). They seem to agree that the real mastermind behind Joe's capture is probably Oleksandra Balakin, and Byron advises Secretary Mullins that she should be killed.

Meanwhile, Joe McNamara finally returns home after a week of hell. But as she arrives outside she tells Jill Wagner's Bobby to keep driving. "I'm gonna figure out who was behind this," she says, "and I'm gonna kill them." While fans will no doubt be thrilled at the prospect of Joe enacting vengeance, there's something ominous at play here. All season we've been waiting for Joe to be reunited with her family, while her husband, Neal McNamara (Dave Annable), waits in anguish. To have Joe rescued as the result of a convenient traffic stop and bring her to the threshold of her own house, only to have her leave again suggests Taylor Sheridan has prepared a bombshell of a finale — one which Joe may not walk away from.

Season 3 ends with its eighth episode on September 20, 2026, and so far Paramount has yet to confirm a fourth season. That's despite the fact Season 3 improved its viewership from the prior season (via Variety) and continues to reign supreme in the Paramount+ charts. Meanwhile, there's speculation among fans that Zoe Saldaña could be leaving the show (though there's been absolutely no official word on her departure). For now, we remain in suspense. But with Taylor Sheridan leaving Paramount for NBCUniversal in 2029, it certainly seems possible that he'd look to wrap up "Lioness" ahead of his departure.