Why does Aaliyah want Joe in Lioness season 3? Taylor Sheridan already gave us a clue

*Warning: Spoilers ahead for the Lioness season 3 finale*

Lioness season 3 episode 8 ended with a big twist: Aaliyah was the one who ordered Joe’s kidnapping. What’s more, it appears Aaliyah doesn’t want her dead – instead, she wants to use her as bait. 

In season 3 episode 7 of Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount+ series, Joe McNamara (Zoe Saldaña) is finally rescued after spending six days in captivity. But despite being physically safe, Joe is left with one massive question: who actually ordered her abduction in the first place?

Joe and the CIA initially suspected her kidnapping could be connected to Russia or Ukraine, but their investigation points elsewhere. They find out in the finale that the job was put out to contractors, with $250,000 per person offered to capture Joe and move her to Houston before handing her over to another group. 

But arguably the most telling intel they uncover is that whoever put out the contract is acting out of revenge. And the final sequence pulls the rug out from under us as it reveals who’s been pulling the strings all along: Aaliyah Amrohi (Stephanie Nur), a character we haven’t seen since Lioness season 1. 

And that’s not the only twist. When she’s told that the second attempt to take Joe out of the country has failed, Aaliyah replies, “We have to get her out. If we get her out, the others will come to save her. And then we have them all.”

In other words, Joe isn’t the target – she’s the bait. 

Why does Aaliyah want Joe in the Lioness season 3 finale?

Given everything that went down in season 1, the leading theory is that Aaliyah wants revenge for her father’s death – and she’s using Joe as bait to get to Cruz Manuelos (Laysla De Oliveira). 

To refresh your memory, the first chapter of the show saw Cruz recruited into the CIA’s Lioness programme and sent undercover to get close to Aaliyah. Her father, Asmar Ali Amrohi, was a billionaire businessman who the CIA believed to be a major financier of terrorism.

Cruz initially befriended Aaliyah while posing as someone outside the CIA in order for the agency to get close enough to assassinate him, but their relationship soon became far more complicated. 

Despite Aaliyah being engaged to Ehsan, she and Cruz developed genuine feelings for one another and eventually slept together shortly before Aaliyah’s wedding.

Cruz was then invited to the wedding in Mallorca, where the CIA realised Aaliyah’s father would also be present. But Ehsan discovered Cruz’s true identity after having a background check carried out. 

After confronting her, Cruz killed Ehsan and Asmar, before escaping the compound and being extracted by Joe and the team. Aaliyah was left behind, having lost both her fiancé and her father to a CIA operation carried out by the woman she’d fallen for. 

Fast forward to season 3 and it makes sense why Aaliyah has a very personal reason for targeting the Lioness team. And her insistence that Joe must be taken alive rather than killed suggests revenge on Joe alone isn’t the endgame. Her reference to “the others” could very well include Cruz. 

Taylor Sheridan’s original plans for Aaliyah and Cruz are very telling

Lioness hasn’t actually confirmed Aaliyah’s ultimate target, but Lioness creator Taylor Sheridan’s instructions for Cruz star Laysla De Oliveira certainly hint that this could be the case given how much emotion went into her relationship with Aaliyah.

Speaking to Deadline following the release of the season 1 finale, De Oliveira said she didn’t know this romantic arc was baked into the script. “There were only two episodes written at the time,” she explained.  

“Taylor writes based on the people he casts, which is why I think he writes so brilliantly. He said I would have to kill her father, and that she would be the only friend I’ve ever had. So I knew it was going to be something deep. It’s such a tragic love story.”

At the time, De Oliveira had no idea if we’d see Aaliyah again. “I feel like this story can go in so many ways. What do you do when you kill someone’s father?” she added, an interesting response given we now know she’s behind the kidnapping plot.

Lioness editor Chad Galster similarly described Cruz and Aaliyah’s storyline as a “love story”, with the season 1 finale marking its culmination. 

In other words, Aaliyah wasn’t simply the daughter of Cruz’s target. They fell for each other, only for their relationship to end with Cruz killing her father and fiancé and disappearing from her life.

That certainly gives Aaliyah and Cruz a lot of unfinished business – and makes Cruz one very obvious candidate for whoever Aaliyah means when she says she wants “them all”.

Is Lioness season 4 happening?

Paramount+ hasn’t officially renewed Lioness for season 4 just yet, but considering the season 3 finale only dropped on September 20, it’s still very early days. And there are already some pretty promising signs that another chapter is on the cards.

@screenrantplus

#Lioness star is so confident that the #TaylorSheridan spy thriller series will be renewed for a fourth season that she’s willing to put her money where her mouth is! @liamtcrowley #lionessseason3 #jillwagner #laysladeoliveira

♬ original sound – ScreenRant+ – ScreenRant+

Bobby star and Lioness producer Jill Wagner sounded very confident about the show’s future before the finale even aired. “We’re going to get a season 4. We will, we will,” she told ScreenRant, adding, “When people see what [Taylor Sheridan] wrote for the finale, we are getting a season 4 – or I will pay you $100.”

There’s also been movement behind the scenes. Writer Michael Idov reportedly revealed that he and his wife had joined Lioness as writers and supervising producers for season 4, despite Paramount+ not yet making an official announcement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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And after that Aaliyah cliffhanger, there’s certainly plenty left for a fourth season to explore. But for now, we’ll just have to wait for Paramount+ to make it official.

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Featured image credit: Paramount+