.jpg?width=1200&auto=webp)
Are you well and truly obsessed with the Netflix thriller Black Doves? Considering asking for hand-to-hand combat lessons for Christmas? Hoping breakout star Ella Lily Hyland gets her own spin-off show as Williams the assassin?
You don’t need a secretive spy network to have all your questions answered.
How did Black Doves end?
Well, consider this your spoiler warning if you haven’t already watched it!
Black Doves ends on a surprisingly happy note, with undercover agent Helen (Keira Knightley) enjoying a cosy family Christmas with her children and husband Wallace (Andrew Buchan), who is tipped to be the next Prime Minister of the UK.
Sam (Ben Whishaw) gets closure with his ex-boyfriend Michael (who he ran out on when he fled London after a failed hit job from Lenny Lines (Kathryn Hunter) and gets an invite to Helen and Wallace’s family Christmas. He’s also completed his mission to keep Helen safe. But trouble is looming. Hector (Luther Ford), the boy Sam failed to kill for Lenny all grown up and running his own criminal empire, has approached him with a deal – join him or leave London for real this time.
Helen has found some closure over the death of her civil servant lover Jason (Andrew Koji). It turns out he was an MI5 agent investigating Helen, but ultimately protected her by hiding her identity as a Black Dove. Her handler Reed (Sarah Lancashire) gives her a hard drive of evidence, but she throws it into the River Thames to preserve the memories of their love.
“She has enough information about him, which is that he loved her, and he saved her, and the details are superfluous because she's invented a whole new set of details for herself,” says Black Doves series writer Joe Barton.
Jason’s murder was ordered by Trent (Angus Cooper), son of crime boss Alex Clark (Tracey Ullman). Helen almost shot Alex in revenge, but it was Sam who gunned him down in the end – along with Alex. Who will fill the vacuum left by the extermination of the Clark family remains to be seen.
Chinese ambassador Chen, it turns out, was accidentally killed by Trent, who was dating his daughter Kai-Ming (Isabella Wei). Trent was supplying her with heroin, and when Chen confronted him about it he pushed him over into a heavy marble table, prompting his mother to order the hit on Jason who had the CCTV of the accidental killing.
Sam’s decision to kill Trent to spare Helen the moral injury ties them closer together than ever, says Barton. “He does it because he loves [Helen] and because he owes her and because he’s trying to protect her from the burden of killing that kid,” said Barton. “He’s always lived his life by this code of not killing innocent people. Though you can argue that Trent isn’t innocent, that he’s done bad things, he’s still a gentle soul who's made a terrible mistake.”
But it also means he’s sacrificed his route out of being a gun for hire. “The idea was that Sam makes a personal sacrifice for his friend because he loves her,” added Barton. “She sacrificed her own chance to get out in order to help him. He’s there to do anything for her, so he does it.”
As for Kai-Ming, she survives to enjoy a Christmas party with Lenny’s assassins, Eleanor (Gabrielle Creevy) and Williams (Hyland).
Is Black Doves based on a book or true story?
Sort of.
Barton wrote the series last Christmas after reading about the spy cops scandal, where undercover police officers infiltrated activist groups by striking up romantic relationships.
“I had been reading as well about those spy cops, those guys, and they infiltrated that environmental group and had ended up having children with them. I mean, a really horrific story, much darker than this,” Barton told the Radio Times “That idea, that duplicitousness of having a pretend marriage lasting years and years and years and then it's disappeared.”
This real life horror story turned into the start of Helen duplicitous marriage to a rising politician, to the extent she’s had children with him, and Sam pulling a disappearing act on Michael after lying to him about his life.
Will there be a season 2 of Black Doves?
Yes! It’s not always a given that a beloved show will be renewed, but Netflix has greenlit a second season.
It hasn’t been written yet, but Barton has teased that Helen is at risk of “getting pulled deeper into the world of spies having been so close to leaving.” With her husband set to become a world leader, her role in the Black Doves will only get more dangerous.
Helen’s handler Reed could also be stepping into a villain role in season 2. “I think Reed genuinely cares about Helen... but also would absolutely have her taken out if she had to,” teases Barton. “And Helen feels the same way about Reed. They could work together and everything could be fine, or they could end up being nemeses. We’ll see how it goes.”
Williams and Eleanor will definitely be back, and may even team up with the late ambassador’s daughter. “Kai-Ming would have to stop being a heroin addict party girl, probably,” says barton. “Maybe they could start their own little assassin agency working out of their canal boat. I’d like to see that.”
Unfortunately, it’s confirmed that Sam and Michael won’t be getting back together, despite their sweet dance. “He’s just not able to be with the man that he loves because he’s dangerous,” say Barton. “Michael isn’t even an option, so it’s kind of over.”
Black Doves is streaming on Netflix.
