Black Doves season 3 gets an encouraging update despite disappointing ratings

Black Doves season 2 just premiered on Nov. 5, 2026, and fans around the world are already wondering what's next for Helen Webb (Keira Knightley), Sam Young (Ben Whishaw), and the rest of this ragtag group of spies and assassins.

Netflix hasn't announced Black Doves season 3 yet, but creator Joe Barton shared a big update right after Black Doves season 2 premiered in an interview with Variety.

"I’m in a writers’ room for it at the moment, and we’re hoping," Barton revealed about the show's season 3 chances.

So, that's the good news! The Black Doves season 3 writers room is basically the first step toward a renewal at Netflix. Should the series be renewed, it will also drastically cut down the time it takes to make the season, which is basically the opposite of what happened with the first season.

After Black Doves was a smash hit during the holiday season of 2024, it took almost two years to write, film, edit, and promote season 2, which might have contributed to the bad news that I'm about to share.

Before that, I want to mention that, with the writers' room up and running, a Netflix renewal would mean that we could see Black Doves season 3 by the end of 2027. If the season is written and ready to go, filming could happen next year, and we could be watching another season of the best spy show on Netflix just in time for the holidays.

That's the dream scenario right now, but it's going to require a little help from fans.

Black Doves needs fans to watch season 2 to score a season 3 renewal

So far, Black Doves season 2 is off to a slower start than Netflix would probably hope for. During opening weekend for Black Doves season 2, the show only racked up 3.8 million views. Now, that's not the worst opening weekend we've seen for a show to get renewed for another season, but it's not really good by any means.

Netflix usually waits for a few weeks before making a decision about a show's future, so hopefully, Black Doves has a lot more time to simmer before Netflix makes the call. Really, though, we need to see that number take a big jump in Black Doves season 2's first full week on Netflix.

We'll find out those numbers on Tuesday, Nov. 17. If the numbers are around 3 million or so, we might not see Black Doves return for season 3, and that would be a shame. Realistically, I think Black Doves season 2 needs to be around 10 million views when the next ratings drop happens. If we're below that number, we might be in trouble.

And that would be such a bummer because Black Doves is easily the best spy show Netflix has to offer. Knightley and Whishaw are so good in this show, and we just achieved the dream team in the season 2 finale with Ambika Mod's Laila teaming up with Ella Lily Hyland's Williams and Gabrielle Creevy's Eleanor. We simply need to see more from that group moving forward.

We'll share more news about Black Doves season 3 as we find out! Hopefully, we'll have good news to share in the near future.

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