Who is the mole in Lioness? Explaining the wild Cruz theory after the season 3 finale

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Lioness season 3*

The Lioness season 3 finale finally revealed who was behind Joe McNamara’s kidnapping. But there’s one mystery it very deliberately didn’t clear up: who the hell is the mole?

Throughout the third chapter of the Taylor Sheridan series, there have been suspicions that someone on the inside has been feeding information to Joe’s (Zoe Saldaña) enemies. And just when it looked like Ukrainian intelligence officer Oleksandra Balakin (Elizaveta Neretin) could be responsible, the finale completely blew that theory apart.

Instead, the final moments reveal Aaliyah Amrohi (Stephanie Nur) – remember her from Lioness season 1? – was the person who ordered Joe’s abduction all along. And it appears she’s using Joe as bait, as she wants “the others” to come and save her. 

Following this reveal, some have speculated that the CIA mole doesn’t exist, but there’s one pretty wild theory that suggests they could be someone with a very personal connection to Aaliyah: Cruz Manuelos (Laysla De Oliveira).

But before we get into it, there’s a pretty important question to answer: does Lioness actually confirm there’s a mole at all?

The Lioness season 3 finale still leaves the mole mystery wide open

Ultimately, the finale doesn’t confirm whether there’s a mole still inside the CIA, but it certainly doesn’t rule it out either. 

The idea that there could be an infiltrator inside the agency has been circulating since the start of Lioness season 3, largely because whoever targeted Joe appeared to know far more about her and her movements than they should have. 

As said, the last scene of the finale revealed Aaliyah was actually the person behind the abduction attempts. 

If you’ve forgotten season 1, Aaliyah was the daughter of terrorist financier Asmar Ali Amrohi. Cruz was sent undercover to get close to her, but the pair ended up falling in love. Cruz was eventually exposed and killed both Aaliyah’s fiancé Ehsan and her father before escaping.

So yeah, Aaliyah has some pretty personal reasons for wanting revenge – and she doesn’t simply want Joe dead. 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.”

But that still doesn’t explain how Aaliyah knows enough about Joe to target her in the first place. The finale never explains exactly where that information came from, leaving open the possibility she had someone on the inside.

And that brings us to a pretty wild theory doing the rounds right now. 

The wild theory that Cruz could secretly be the mole

One Redditor has suggested Cruz could have secretly reconnected with Aaliyah at some point after season 1 and become the compromised link between her and Joe’s operation.

It's now clear as day…
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Let’s not get it twisted, there’s no confirmation of this whatsoever. But there are a few moments throughout season 3 that some fans are now looking at differently following Aaliyah’s return.

The biggest is simply their history. Cruz didn’t fake her feelings for Aaliyah in season 1 – their relationship was real, which made what she eventually had to do all the more devastating. After killing Aaliyah’s father and fiancé, Cruz was furious with Joe and the CIA over what the mission had turned her into.

The Redditor also pointed to Yurimov repeatedly warning Joe, “Even your ‘friends’ secretly hate you!”, indicating that he may have been subtly reminding her to look internally. And then there’s the mystery phone call Cruz received earlier on in the season. 

“Thas not been discussed or highlighted since,” they wrote. “That is still an open-ended thread. Who was on the other side of that call? Aliyah? One of the Russian mercs?”

There’s also the practical question of how Aaliyah knew enough about Joe to get to her. The first attempted abduction took place at Joe’s home shortly after she returned from Ukraine, meaning whoever organised it knew where Joe lived and had a good idea of her movements.

Cruz would obviously possess intimate knowledge of Joe and the Lioness programme, while also being the one member of the team with a direct personal connection to Aaliyah. 

But as others have pointed out, there are some pretty massive holes in the theory. Firstly, Cruz spends season 3 helping to find and rescue Joe, and her distress appears genuine. 

More importantly, Aaliyah’s final line could actually point in the complete opposite direction. If Aaliyah wants Joe abducted because “the others will come to save her,” Cruz could be one of the people she’s trying to lure into a trap. 

Given Cruz lied to Aaliyah, killed her father and fiancé, and then disappeared from her life, there’s every reason Aaliyah could want revenge against Cruz rather than be working with her on the sly. 

And there might not be a mole inside Joe’s team at all

Here’s where things get even more confusing. Despite all of the speculation, the Lioness season 3 finale never actually says Joe has a mole. In fact, it could be the opposite. 

At the start, Renat (Dimitry Rozental) covertly meets with Russian broker Dmitri Sokolov (Gene Farber). While discussing how Joe’s team managed to trace the kidnapping operation back through the people involved, Renat says, “They have a mole,” to which Sokolov replies, “I know.”

The wording here is interesting. Renat doesn’t say they have a mole inside the CIA. Given they’re talking about the Americans, he could actually mean the CIA has a source inside the network responsible for Joe’s abduction.

So, Cruz or someone else from the CIA could be hiding one hell of a secret, or there might not be a mole at all. Either way, it certainly feels like there’s more to come. 

Paramount+ hasn’t officially announced Lioness season 4 yet, but writers Michael and Lily Idov have already joined the Lioness team, suggesting work on another season could be underway. 

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Featured image credit: Paramount+