Lioness season three returned with a bang on Paramount+, leaving audiences reeling. The opening episode of Taylor Sheridan’s spy action-thriller saw Joe McNamara (played by Zoe Saldaña) thrown into new peril as danger was brought to her front door. Be warned, this article contains spoilers from Lioness season three, episode one. The season premiere saw Joe kidnapped from her car while on the way to work, with viewers getting a flashback to six months before when she and her team were sent into Donetsk, Ukraine, to take a Russian asset.

Joe and Cruz will be facing more danger in Lioness season 3 (Image: PARAMOUNT)

The mission was fraught with danger as one person described it as World War I and Star Wars “smashed together” thanks to the use of drone swarms, vicious K-9s and trench warfare, reports the Mirror.

Episode one, which was titled The Spider and The Fly, concluded with two men turning up at Joe’s home in the middle of the night and claiming to be police officers as they tried to gain entrance to the property.

After the shifty men tried to break into the house, Joe shot them both dead as fans were left gobsmacked by the scenes and promptly took to social media to share their reactions.

One person wrote on X (previously Twitter): “The way season 3 episode 1 ended we’re so back! #Lioness.”

A second audience member commented: “Oh man!!! Season 3 Episode 1 was. Fans are in for a great season! #Lioness.”

A third commented: “So correction #Lioness S3 is a not a binge drop and after that premiere? Can’t wait for next week!”

However, some fans started to theorise why Joe was taken on the first place and some said the same thing.

One person posted on X: “Why didn’t they move her into a safe house right away? They are definitely using Joe as a bait… Definitely being kidnapped on purpose.”

Lioness season 3 will be even more action packed than before (Image: PARAMOUNT)

Another on Reddit commented: “My guess is after the 2 Russian agents they decide to hang joe as bait to see how big the Russian cell in the US is, and they are tracking her to see where she was kidnapped and taken to.

“But thats a pretty rough guess with how surprised Kaitlyn sounded, and having the family still in the house is still a huge risk if they really were hanging her out as bait [sic].

“Unless they did have surveillance around her house to let Joe be kidnapped but protect the rest of the family.”

A third hypothesised: “Calling it now:Jo shot two UKR operatives and got benched hence the 9-5 reference before she got kidnapped.”

Someone else noted: “You’re telling me two guys come up to her place, her cover is blown 6 months prior, and she’s still at the same place with no security when she gets kidnapped?”

Yet another person theorised about the abduction: “Whoever is coming after them this season makes Joe’s kidnapping feel less like a bad thing happening to a good person, and more like a long overdue reckoning for past wrongdoing.”

Lioness season 3 airs on Sundays on Paramount+