The season 3 finale reveals who’s behind Joe’s abduction as her family reaches a breaking point
Credit: Ryan Green/Paramount+
Warning: This article contains spoilers for the season 3 finale of Lioness, now streaming on Paramount+.
NEED TO KNOW
- The Lioness season 3 finale reveals the people behind Joe’s abduction have a surprising connection to season 1
- Joe learns her kidnapping is part of a revenge plot as her enemies prepare to make another attempt
- Zoe Saldaña’s character also faces a devastating turning point at home when her family leaves her
Lioness just brought Joe McNamara’s story full circle — and left her future hanging in the balance.
The season 3 finale of the Paramount+ drama, which dropped on Sunday, Sept. 20, reveals that Joe’s (Zoe Saldaña) abduction wasn’t part of a Russian or Ukrainian operation after all. Instead, the people ultimately seeking revenge against her have a connection stretching all the way back to season 1: Aaliyah Amrohi (Stephanie Nur) and her husband, Ehsan Al Rashdi (Ray Corasani).
The revelation comes as Joe and the CIA continue investigating who orchestrated her kidnapping. They learn that the job had been placed on the “open market,” with contractors offered $250,000 per man to capture the senior CIA officer.
One of the contractors explains that the plan was to abduct Joe in Virginia, transport her to Houston and eventually hand her over to KSS. The group operates through layers and does not work directly with Iran, making it more difficult for the CIA to identify who is ultimately pulling the strings.
Credit: Lauren “Lo” Smith/Paramount+
But the conversation provides a crucial clue: The operation isn’t preemptive — it’s about retribution.
“Whoever hired KSS is seeking revenge,” the team realizes, leaving them to determine exactly what someone wants revenge for and who has a reason to want it.
The answer reaches back to one of the show’s biggest season 1 storylines.
Aaliyah’s father, Asmar Ali Amrohi, was killed by Cruz Manuelos (Laysla De Oliveira) under Joe’s orders. Now, Aaliyah and Ehsan are connected to the effort to take Joe, turning the consequences of that mission into a threat that has followed her years later. And they aren’t finished.
After two unsuccessful attempts, Joe’s enemies discuss trying for a third time. Their objective isn’t simply to kill her. They need to successfully get Joe out so another target will come to her rescue, giving them an opportunity to get both.
“The difficulty isn’t getting to her. It’s getting her out,” one says as they discuss their next move. “If we get her out, the other should come to save her. And then we have them all.”
The threat comes as Joe’s personal life reaches a breaking point of its own. Despite everything she’s endured, Joe refuses to walk away from the investigation and return home. Her decision has devastating consequences when her family leaves her, creating a massive question about whether the life she’s spent fighting to protect will still be waiting for her.
Credit: Lauren “Lo” Smith/Paramount+
Joe is eventually ordered to go home rather than continue sleeping at the office, but the damage to her family has already been done. When she finally makes her way home, she finds a note from her husband Neal (Dave Annable) revealing that he has moved out and taken their two daughters with him.
The finale also delivers another grim development when Oleksandra Balakin, a.k.a. Alessa (Elizaveta Neretin), is found dead.
Meanwhile, Joe’s search for answers leads the team to Dmitri Sokolov, a Russian national with ties to contractors and illicit operations. During surveillance, Joe recognizes one of the men involved in her abduction, setting off an operation that erupts into a deadly restaurant shootout.
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The disastrous confrontation creates another problem for the CIA, with the political fallout potentially pulling the team into a new operation involving Mali and the Tuareg Rebellion.
By the end of the finale, Joe has uncovered the motive behind the plot against her, but she’s far from safe. Her enemies are preparing another attempt, her family has walked away and the consequences of a decision she made in season 1 have returned to threaten everything she has left.
And with Caitlin (Nicole Kidman) indicating that she and Joe still need to have a serious conversation about her future, the finale leaves questions hanging over both sides of Joe’s life: whether she can repair her family and whether she can continue doing the job that helped tear it apart.
Lioness is streaming on Paramount+.
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