The writer and creator said he ‘couldn’t be more excited to delve back into the world of our murderous little spy family’.

Ben Whishaw and Keira Knightley in Black Doves (Image: Netflix)
An award-winning and critical hit spy drama is returning to Netflix this year for a second series. Black Doves is a British spy action thriller television series created by Joe Barton.

The series, starring Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw, and Sarah Lancashire, is developed by Sister and Barton’s production company Noisy Bear for Netflix. Helen (Knightley), the wife of the Defence Secretary, learns that her secret identity as a spy is in danger after her lover is killed by London’s underworld. Her employers, “the Black Doves”, a spies-for-hire organisation that retrieves industrial, political or diplomatic secrets for the highest bidder, send old friend Sam (Whishaw) to protect her. The series was well received by critics, and Knightley was nominated for the Golden Globe Award and Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress in a TV Drama for her performance. Whishaw was nominated for the Royal Television Society Programme Award for Leading Actor and won the Gotham Award for Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Drama Series.

Sarah Lancashire in Black Doves (Image: Netflix)

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 70 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website’s consensus reads: “Blending multiple genres into a truly unique action-thriller, Black Doves hits its target dead on.”

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating “generally favourable” reviews.

Writing in The Guardian, Rebecca Nicholson described the series as “gleefully pulpy” and was mildly critical of Knightley and Whishaw’s portrayals, but praised cameo appearances by numerous well-known actors in supporting roles.

In Digital Spy, David Opie singled out the on-screen depiction of Sam having gay sex in the first episode, stating that the series “ventures where James Bond would never dare go”.

Viewers called it a “masterpiece”, with one saying: “It’s deep state, geopolitic weave, sassy strong lead, and a flawed tangle of characters facing desperate odds whilst in layers of cover.”

Ahead of its premiere on December 5, 2024, it was renewed for a second series. Knightley and Whishaw as Sam are set to return, with new cast members including Ambika Mod, Neve Campbell, and Sam Riley.

In Season 2, Helen (Knightley) is still betraying her nation’s secrets to the Black Doves. But after the misadventures of the first series, and with her husband (Andrew Buchan) preparing to become prime minister, she’s “walking a more treacherous line than ever”.

As Helen and Sam (Whishaw) search for answers, “loyalties are weaponised, trust is shattered, and the fight to protect the people they love could cost everything”.

Writer, creator, and executive producer Joe Barton said: “I couldn’t be more excited to delve back into the world of our murderous little spy family.

“To have so many [members] of our amazing cast returning and also being able to add some of my absolute favourite actors into the mix is such a great joy. Downing Street will never be the same.”

Netflix confirmed that filming for season two began in and around London in November 2025. The release date for season two of Black Doves is not currently known.