• Netflix’s new thriller series “Black Doves” is about a spy who is looking for her lover’s murderer.
• The film stars Keira Knightley and Paddington voice actor Ben Whishaw.
• The streaming service renewed “Black Doves” months before the first season premiered.

The new Netflix series “Black Doves” is taking off on the streamer.

The London-set spy thriller received critical acclaim upon its release on Thursday, earning a 97% rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes.

In the series, Keira Knightley plays Helen Webb, an agent of the Black Doves, a private spy agency that collects secrets and sells them to the highest bidder. She is also married to the British government’s defense minister, which she uses to her company’s advantage.

However, she sets out on a mission of revenge with her old mentor Sam Young (Ben Whishaw) when the man she had an affair with is murdered just before Christmas.

Knightley’s role as a spy is a little different from what audiences would expect from her, and in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, the actress said that the series would have impressed her younger self.

“My teenage self loves it. Sometimes you have to listen to your teenage self and say, ‘This is for you,’ you know. I think she would have found that very cool,” she said.

Fans who have already watched the six-episode series will be excited to see if Webb and Young will return for more shady shenanigans. Here’s what we know about the second season of Black Doves.

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Black Doves season 2 was confirmed in August 2024

The streaming service apparently had great confidence in “Black Doves,” because in August 2024, a few months before the premiere, it announced that it had renewed the series for a second season.

The streaming service has not yet announced a release date or production schedule for the new season, so it’s unclear how long fans will have to wait.

The ending of “Black Doves” puts Webb and Young in a precarious position. In the second season, their hunt for the person responsible for the murder of Jason Davies (Andrew Koji) will lead to more problems that will undoubtedly have to be solved with lots of guns and bloody murder.

Showrunner and creator Joe Barton told Variety that he is currently in the process of writing the second season of Black Doves, which may include further exploring Webb’s backstory using material from the first season.

“We are still at the beginning of the process. I’m still writing the first episode and we’re kind of feeling our way through it,” Barton said. “We shot some flashbacks of young Helen, her stepfather and her sister Bonnie, which didn’t make the final cut. I think it would be really interesting to find out more about it.”

“Black Doves” continues Netflix.