Netflix’s ‘Black Doves’ Just Changed the Game Forever With Season 2

Published Nov 11, 2026, 11:15 PM EST

Liam Gaughan is a film and TV writer at Collider. He has been writing film reviews and news coverage for ten years. Between relentlessly adding new titles to his watchlist and attending as many screenings as he can, Liam is always watching new movies and television shows. 

In addition to reviewing, writing, and commentating on both new and old releases, Liam has interviewed talent such as Mark Wahlberg, Jesse Plemons, Sam Mendes, Billy Eichner, Dylan O'Brien, Luke Wilson, and B.J. Novak. Liam aims to get his spec scripts produced and currently writes short films and stage plays. He lives in Allentown, PA.

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Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Black Doves Season 2.

Black Doves is unique among major spy shows on television because it is about former agents in a secretive program who are brought out of retirement when their covers are threatened with exposure. It makes for a compelling story arc because Helen (Keira Knightley) and Sam (Ben Whishaw) are as much at odds with their own pasts as they are with specific villains, but Season 2 takes a significant turn by teasing a shadowy organization known as “Kestrel,” which has been manipulating events on the global stage since the Cold War era. Season 1 had shown that Reed (Sarah Lancashire), Helen's handler, had been the true mastermind involved in keeping everyone’s secrets secure, but Season 2 questions her authority by showing the extent to which Kestrel has infiltrated every level of infrastructure. Although Black Doves has yet to be renewed, the growing danger of Kestrel’s vengeance mission could very well be a major component of a potential Season 3.

Black Doves' first season reveals that Helen was originally sent to spy on Secretary of State for Defense Wallace Webb (Andrew Buchan), but ends up falling in love with and marrying him. Webb’s promotion to Prime Minister following a scandal that took down his predecessor may have given Helen a closer proximity to the source of power in Europe, but Sam is compromised by blackmail footage that puts him under the control of Patrick (Sam Riley), a powerful member of Kestrel. Although Season 1 sees Helen and Sam solving an international cover-up that could have inadvertently sparked global tensions, Season 2 positions them against a dangerous group that is deliberately attempting to destroy the Black Doves.

‘Black Doves’ Season 2 Introduces a New Major Threat

Although Reed had previously been shrouded in mystery, Season 2 breaks from the show's formula with a flashback episode that revolves around a younger version of her (played by Lauren Moakes) working undercover in East Berlin as an ally of the political extremist Franz (Artjom Gilz), even having a daughter with him. It’s a striking parallel to Helen's relationship with Wallace, but it ends much worse when Reed attempts to leave her assignment with her daughter, forcing the Black Doves to eliminate as much of Kestrel as they can. This backstory is critical because it sets up why Kestrel is determined to take down Reed and anyone loyal to her, and shows why they are so interested in disrupting the political negotiations that Wallace has begun with Russia. Unlike the Black Doves, who make ethical choices in determining what missions they take on, Kestrel is solely focused on eliminating their enemy at all costs.

The most effective complication in Black Doves Season 2 is that Sam is blackmailed by Kestrel with footage of Helen carrying out a hit on Reed's orders. It’s not just a narrative twist, but an emotional one, because Sam had just started to open himself up to the possibility of developing healthy relationships, having allowed himself to meet Helen’s family at the end of Season 1. This twist also comes at a time when Helen stands to lose more than ever before, as she is trying to salvage her marriage after Wallace suggests they could split after his term ends (implying that he is unlikely to win re-election). Season 1 has singled Wallace out as the one member of the British government who doesn’t have any black marks on his record, but Season 2 goes above and beyond to show him as a thoughtful leader willing to break bread with enemies and make unpopular choices if it means finding peace. If the footage of Helen were released, the consequences would not only cut her off from the family she has worked hard to protect, but also threaten Wallace's tenure as Prime Minister.

‘Black Doves’ Teases a Different Direction for Season 3

The brutality of Kestrel's agents toward the Black Doves organization is among the most intense scenes depicted in the show thus far, as there is a world of difference between cheap hired guns and well-trained assassins. The revelations about what Kestrel has done to dismantle Reed's authority are enough to generate sympathy for a character who is most certainly flawed; not only was Helen assigned to kill Franz (Rainer Wöss), but Reed’s abandoned daughter Vita (Bailey Fines) has risen through the ranks to become a high-ranking member of Kestrel, and fatally shoots Cecile Mason (Neve Campbell) before dying in her mother’s arms. Kestrel's psychological tactics also go beyond the realm of covert ops, as their attack on London is meant to invoke fear both amongst Wallace’s inner circle and the remaining Black Doves.

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01 You are dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.

ASomeone who already has three contingency plans running and is calmly working through all of them. BSomeone who reads the terrain by instinct and knows exactly how to use it against the enemy. CSomeone who keeps their nerve and their sense of humor while everything falls apart. DSomeone who knows the history of wherever we are and what we are walking into. ESomeone with the right contact, the right cover identity and the right exit already arranged.

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02 You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.

AOn foot through terrain nobody else would attempt. I move where vehicles cannot follow. BOn a motorcycle, a cargo plane, or anything that gets me there before I think too hard about it. CIn something that belongs to someone else: borrowed, stolen, or improvised under fire. DFirst class, with a cover identity and a gadget I will not explain until it is needed. EBy whatever is available. I have driven, flown, and once arrived by camel. The destination matters, not the method.

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03 You are cornered and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what somebody is really made of.

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04 The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who somebody is when the pressure drops is who they really are.

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05 How do you want your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between a partner and a liability.

APrecise and minimal. Tell me what I need and nothing else. Every word has a cost. BDeadpan and dry. Keeping it light keeps me sharp, even when everything is on fire. CEnthusiastic and slightly chaotic, but always with useful information buried in the noise. DCalm and controlled through an earpiece, with a plan covering every variable I have not thought of yet. EBarely at all. Silence is a language and they speak it fluently.

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08 What does your ideal partner bring that you could not replace? A great partner fills the gap you did not know you had.

ATechnology that should not exist yet and the training to use it in any conditions. BSurvival instinct so refined it borders on supernatural, and the scars that prove it has been tested. CKnowledge of history, language and culture that makes them priceless where force is useless. DThe ability to walk into any room on earth and immediately become the most trusted person in it. EStubbornness that will not accept a situation is hopeless, and the improvisation to back it up.

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Partner assignedYour perfect partner is

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Rambo The 1982 original You will never need to ask whether he has your back. You will just know.

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From the Collider file

• Eon has made twenty-five Bond films since Dr. No in 1962, across six actors.
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Charm as a tool Always briefed Unbothered

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Your partner knows the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is the most important object in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless and occasionally impossible, and also one of the most genuinely resourceful people you could have beside you. He hates snakes and gets attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It will not matter. Why he is your partner

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From the Collider file

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• Raiders was filmed in about 73 days, which was fast even in 1981.
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Knows the history Reckless scholar Improviser

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John McClane Die Hard, 1988 His superpower is stubbornness and his contingency plan is improvisation.

Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything resembling the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and a flat refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it plainly is. John McClane is the great accidental hero of action cinema, a man whose capacity to absorb more than anybody should and keep going would be alarming if it were not so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will come through. Why he is your partner

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From the Collider file

• Die Hard came from Roderick Thorp's novel Nothing Lasts Forever, a sequel to a book filmed in 1968.
• Nakatomi Plaza is Fox Plaza, which was the studio's own headquarters at the time.
• Bruce Willis was a television comedy actor then, and a long way down the casting list.

Pure stubbornness Improvises Complains throughout

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Ethan Hunt Mission: Impossible, 1996 The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.

Your partner has run seventeen scenarios before you finished the briefing, and the one he settled on involves at least two things that should not be physically possible. Ethan Hunt works at the outer edge of human capability, technically and physically, and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organizations that should not exist. He is not easy to know and he will never tell you everything. He will carry the weight anyway. Why he is your partner

• He takes the risk himself rather than assigning it.
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From the Collider file

• Cruise hung off the side of an Airbus A400M at a thousand feet for the opening of Rogue Nation.
• The HALO jump in Fallout took 106 takes, filmed at dusk for the light.
• The Final Reckoning in 2025 was the eighth film, and was sold as the last.

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Even if several Kestrel agents are wiped out by the end, Black Doves sets up even higher stakes for the show's future with the reveal that Patrick is still alive. The consequence of Helen being thrust into the limelight is that greater authority means more danger; she’s now Reed's official partner and has begun to spill the truth to Wallace, which means that there is a target on her back. Not every Netflix series maintains momentum in a way that makes future seasons feel necessary, but Black Doves is setting up a major shift within its world of espionage.