'Lioness' season 3 finale reveals who orchestrated Joe's kidnapping all along

*WARNING: Spoilers below

“Lioness” season three is officially in the books, and it gave fans a wild surprise at the end.

Season three of Taylor Sheridan’s hit CIA/military series focused heavily on the kidnapping of Joe (Zoe Saldaña) and the attempts to rescue her.

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She was eventually rescued in episode seven in a brutally violent and bloody gunfight. That left one major problem unresolved:

Who was the puppet master behind it all?

Fans were led to believe throughout different parts of the season that it could be the Russians, Ukrainians or the Iranians.

The answer was revealed on Sunday.

Something much more complex and rooted in the history of “Lioness.”

It was revealed in the final moments that Aaliyah Amrohi, the daughter of the season one target, was the puppet master who orchestrated the entire operation against Joe as revenge for the killing of her father.

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It’s also clear that Aaliyah isn’t going to stop, and the stage is set for the fourth and likely final season. The season finale – titled “The Unraveling” – also featured an epic restaurant shootout scene when Joe ordered her team to engage the man who kidnapped her. Let’s just say things didn’t go as planned.

Reactions to the season finale poured in on Reddit. Check out some of the reactions from viewers below:

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The surprising twist, which I figured out during the interrogation scene, is another example of Sheridan keeping fans on edge and always guessing what’s coming next.

It’s actually a bit surprising he managed to keep such a large reveal hidden from the public. It came shockingly close to slipping out, judging from a random Reddit post.

A woman shared a photo of herself with Stephanie Nur, the actress who plays Aaliyah, taken when the show was filming in Fort Worth after seeing her at a coffee shop.

It certainly feels like the next season will be the conclusion of the show, and seeing as how so much of Cruz and Joe’s arcs are tied back to the actions of season one, it makes perfect sense. While I have no idea what’s coming, my guess is many characters won’t make it out alive. It wouldn’t make any sense if they had happy endings.

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It goes against everything the show has given fans through three seasons.

Do you have a theory on how “Lioness” will conclude? Let me know at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.