'The Capture' Season 3 First Images Bring Back a Surprising Face

It is an absolute shame that Peacock doesn't seem to know how to market a British drama. Other than The Day of the Jackal, which was a hit despite Peacock's undermarketing, it has several hidden deep in its archives that most Americans have never seen. Vigil, for example, is the Suranne Jones-Rose Leslie series that would have been a hit on just about any other platform. The Undeclared War, a show with an all-star cast led by Mark Rylance, also did well in the U.K. and flopped completely over here.

But the biggest crime against television is that the first two seasons of The Capture are still trapped on Peacock, and the third is heading to the BBC in early 2026, with zero fanfare on this side of the pond. The series, which is quite possibly the most realistically terrifying near-future techno-horror of the 2020s, takes the concept of the deep-fake video and teases out the logical endpoint of how governments will use and abuse such things.

The first season introduced DI Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger), who accidentally stumbles into the use of deep-faking videos by the U.K. Anti-Terrorism unit known as SO13, as she investigates a soldier (Callum Turner), who is arrested for sexually assaulting his lawyer the evening after his controversial acquittal on war crimes charges. The video shows the attack, except that nothing of the sort actually happened. Turns out the entire thing was a fabrication using this technology, which the government has snazzily renamed "Correction."

Season 2 turned the series into something of an anthology, moving to a new case and a mostly new cast. DI Carey (now working for SO13 in hopes of being able to expose them) finds herself entangled with MP Isaac Turner (Paapa Essiedu), whose moral ground against deep-fake videos and AI has made him a target of the government, going so far as to literally air a real-time deep-fake interview where he renounces his beliefs and champions the technology. Carey joins forces with the BBC reporter who conducted the interview, Khadija Khan (Indira Varma), to finally expose "Correction."

Considering the significant cast turnover in Season 2, one would expect Season 3 to move on to Carey's next case and a new roster of guest stars. But The Capture refuses to behave predictably, and the first images from Season 3 confirm that both Essiedu and Varma are back for a continuation of Season 2's case.

Here's the Season 3 synopsis, via the BBC:

How do you protect the truth in a world where lies are daily currency? And with the proliferation of deepfakes, how can we trust what we see? It’s been 12 months since Rachel Carey broadcast a live deepfake of a government minister to the nation, exposing the UK intelligence service’s clandestine video manipulation programme known as Correction. Amidst an inquiry into the unlawful use of Correction, Carey has become Acting Commander of Counter Terrorism Command, determined to regain the public’s trust in surveillance technology through the new Operation Veritas camera system.

And then it happens: a brutal and exceptionally well-coordinated act of terror aimed right at the heart of the British establishment that leaves behind just one witness. The more Carey investigates, the deeper she is drawn into an unfolding geopolitical crisis that infects the British political establishment, the security services, and the media. The conspiracy reaches deep into the State, but just who is pulling the strings? Caught in an increasingly violent situation and with few allies left to trust, what sacrifices will Carey be willing to make?

Grainger once again leads the cast as DI Carey, with Essiedu as MP Isaac Turner and Varma as BBC reporter Khadija Khan. Season 3 will also bring back Ben Miles (Douglas is Cancelled) as Danny Hart, Lia Williams (The Crown) as Gemma Garland, Ginny Holder (Death in Paradise) as DI Nadia Latif, Nigel Lindsay (Victoria) as DSI Tom Kendricks, Tessa Wong (Silent Witness) as DC Chloe Tan, Daisy Waterstone (The Durrells) as Mama Carey, and American Ron Perlman (Hellboy) as CIA agent Frank Napier.

Season 3 will also introduce several new characters, played by Killian Scott (Dublin Murders), Jonathan Aris (Sherlock), Linus Roache (Fellow Travelers), Joe Dempsie (Get Millie Black), Andrew Buchan (Black Doves), Hugh Quarshie (MaryLand), and Amanda Drew (The Gold).

Series creator Ben Chanan once again penned all six episodes of Season 3, with directors Anthony Philipson and Johnny Allan splitting helming duties, and produced by Derek Ritchie. Executive producers for Season 3 include Chanan, David Heyman, Rosie Alison & Sue Gibbs for Heyday Television, Tom Coan for Universal International Studios, and Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC.

The Capture Season 3 does not yet have a release date on either side of the pond, though the BBC says it will debut sometime in the spring of 2026. Seasons 1 and 2 are currently available on Peacock, and I highly recommend them.