Warning: major spoilers for the final episode of The Capture season 3 ahead.
We don’t know about you, but we’ve been glued to our sofas with the latest season of The Capture. Ever since it first aired in 2019, the show has felt eerily ahead of its time, tapping into the now very real (and very unsettling) rise of deepfake technology. Now that reality has caught up with the premise, season three had seriously big shoes to fill, and, thankfully, it more than delivers.
This time around, the story centres on the shooting of Isaac Turner, unpicking a case where what we see doesn’t quite match what the cameras show. As ever with The Capture, perception is everything, and nothing is quite as it seems. It features a star-studded cast, known for their roles in KAOS, The Other Bennet Sister, Broadchurch, and more.
The sixth and final episode is now out on BBC iPlayer, and it’s packed with a relentless stream of reveals and jaw-dropping moments, right up until the very last second. If you’re still reeling from that whirlwind finale, don’t worry, here’s your full breakdown of The Capture season three ending.
Why did Noah Pierson kill Isaac Turner?
In the penultimate episode of The Capture, the truth about Noah Pierson (Killian Scott) finally comes into focus: he is, in fact, Captain William Walker of the Special Forces. In a tense confrontation, he finally confesses to murdering Isaac Turner to Rachel (Holliday Grainger).
What follows is a reluctant alliance, as the pair agree to work together to bring down The Increment. Noah reveals he’s been acting under extreme coercion with The Increment controlling his heart device, they’ve quite literally been able to hold his life in their hands. It’s this chilling leverage that forced him to kill Turner.
The third instalment of the anthology series has viewers saying the same thing.
Who is Simon?
We also learn that Rachel Carey’s closest colleagues aren’t as trustworthy as they seem. Both Kendricks and Paige have been compromised, with The Increment holding damaging information over them and effectively blackmailing them into compliance.
But the biggest bombshell is the identity of Simon. It's revealed that Simon isn't a person at all, but an AI system. Yes, really. The series takes its central theme to a chilling new extreme, exposing a world where artificial intelligence is not just assisting operations, but actively supporting, mapping, executing and commanding them.
It’s Simon who ordered the many deaths of the season, orchestrating events from behind the scenes.
By the time we reach the The Capture season three ending, the stakes have escalated even further. Colonel Figgis (Linus Roache) — acting under Simon’s command — is pushing for the UK to move onto a war footing, a calculated attempt to justify increased military spending and expand the system’s reach even further.
What happened to Rachel Carey?
Rachel manages to negotiate her way back into power, reclaiming her role as Commander of Counter Terror, this time with full autonomy and a three-year mandate. With Commissioner Yates (Hugh Quarshie) needing a swift replacement for Pierson, she’s able to dictate her own terms, putting herself firmly back in control.
Deputy Commissioner Julian Talbot (Andrew Buchan) then approaches Rachel with concerns about irregularities in Pierson’s appointment. The two align, agreeing to take everything they’ve uncovered public and pursue arrests for those involved.
But, in true The Capture style, that sense of control doesn’t last long. Rachel is suddenly abducted by Colonel Christopher Figgis, who delivers yet another chilling reveal: the AI system Simon has been unable to predict or “solve” her. He also admits to blackmailing Tom Kendricks (Nigel Linsay) and others into compliance, tightening his grip on the operation.
Then comes the most disturbing moment yet. Figgis shows Rachel a video of her sister, Abigail (Daisy Waterston), with a gun to her head. Rachel immediately insists it’s a deepfake, but Figgis plants the seed of doubt. Can she be absolutely sure? In front of her eyes, Abigail is shot, and Rachel is later shown bloodstains as supposed proof.
A bag is placed over Rachel’s head, making her believe she’s about to be executed. Instead, the entire squadron exits the room, leaving a gun on the floor. Rachel is left alone with a gun waiting on the floor.
What happened to Gemma Garland?
In the finale of The Capture, the inquiry into Correction finally comes to a head when former Home Secretary Sir Rowan Gibb (Andy Nyman) is brought in to give testimony. Under questioning, he effectively exposes Gemma Garland (Lia Williams) as the figure behind the entire Correction programme, forcing her out into the open.
Gemma is then called to testify, where she defends the system at the centre of the controversy. She argues that replacing missing or corrupted evidence on a like-for-like basis is not only necessary, but ultimately truthful, and, in her view, has helped save countless lives in the process. And she's not… totally wrong.
Meanwhile, in the lead-up to her testimony, Wizard (Kenneth Collard) manages to repair Noah Pierson’s heart device and sends him out with instructions to save Rachel. But Noah goes off-script. Instead of carrying out his mission, he diverts to the inquiry itself.
What follows is the true shock of the final episode: Noah storms into the hearing and shoots Gemma Garland dead. In the aftermath, all footage of the moment is cut or lost, except for the recording captured by BBC journalist Natasha Hayes.
What happened to Noah Pierson?
Pierson arrives intending to save Rachel, but she has already discovered that he was the one who shot Garland. When he reaches her, she turns the gun that had been left behind and shoots him.
Before he dies, Pierson explains that he truly did mean to rescue her. However, as soon as his heart device was reactivated, he received a new mission directly to his handset: Garland had been re-identified as his target. He insists he carried out the order to save Rachel, knowing she would be killed by E Squadron if he refused.
Elsewhere, James Whitlock (Joe Dempsie) is released on bail and returns home, only to be killed almost immediately by operatives working for E Squadron.
The broader strategy becomes clear: E Squadron are willing to leave Rachel alive as long as Garland is dead, because her death allows them to convincingly declare Correction “over.” With that narrative in place, they can continue using the system under Simon’s direction without raising suspicion.
Pierson ultimately dies from his injuries — and yes, we shed a tear.
This time it's Gen Z vs. Millennial.
Did Rachel Carey take down E Squadron?
Gemma Garland is shot, and Lord Fredrickson (Adrian Rawlins) — who is overseeing the inquiry into Correction — corroborates the footage captured by journalist Natasha Hayes (Jude Mack). Crucially, the footage appears to show James Whitlock carrying out the shooting, rather than Noah Pierson.
The result is a powerful public narrative: that Correction may, in fact, be a force for good. The argument gains traction that if the programme had still been operational, Whitlock would already have been imprisoned and Garland’s attack would have been prevented entirely.
Then comes another major twist. Hayes is revealed to be working for E Squadron, having blackmailed Paige (Leah Eckardt) into compliance by threatening to release an incriminating photo of her wearing a Native American costume at a party.
Even more damning, Fredrickson is also exposed as part of the wider conspiracy to preserve Correction for military use, aligning himself with Figgis, Dr Neuman, Commissioner Cameron Yates and Rowan Gibb at a private dinner.
Rachel uncovers the truth about both Hayes and Paige. Hayes is arrested, and Paige is pressured into cooperating. And boy, does she sing like a canary. She admits she supplied Hayes with all the details of the Carey-cam launch on the day Isaac was killed, and even arranged for the Carey-cam itself to be positioned on stage, facing the audience.
This leads Rachel to a devastating realisation: footage from the Carey-cam was being live-streamed back to HQ before Isaac’s shooting ever occurred. In response, she decides to reconstruct the truth of what happened, tasking Wizard with deepfaking Noah Pierson back into the scene. It’s a calculated move, but one that marks a turning point: Rachel has become the very thing she once fought to destroy, even as she believes it is the only way to expose E Squadron’s narrative.
But it’s not enough. E Squadron strike back by flooding the internet with disinformation, suggesting Pierson was a Russian agent before Rachel can reveal their involvement. They even manipulate the timeline, claiming Pierson arrived in the UK on the same flight as Anton Koslov in episode one. At this point, it feels like there’s nothing they can’t rewrite.
Rachel realises that E Squadron are orchestrating a Russian false flag operation designed to push Britain toward conflict and justify increased defence spending.
She realises this has been their plan all along, to test how they can push her into using Correction, and in doing so, gather kompromat on her. In exchange for her silence and compliance, they offer her continued control of the role.
Talbot tries to pass Rachel the evidence he’s compiled, but she refuses to engage. Defeated, Rachel tells him they can never win against E Squadron. They're just too powerful and coordinated.
In the end, Rachel doesn’t bring E Squadron down. Instead, she loses to them.
Did Abigail Carey really die?
Like Rachel, we’re left uncertain whether Abigail was truly shot or whether it was another deepfake in the endless manipulation of reality that defines The Capture.
Thankfully, it’s eventually revealed that Abigail did survive, and the entire ordeal was fabricated. In fact, Rachel returns home to find her sister completely unaware that anything has been unfolding. The two share a quiet moment on the sofa, with Abigail taking a selfie of them together, a window framing them in the background.
Rachel suggests she move in with her, and Abigail says she’ll think about it. But once she goes to bed, the weight of everything finally catches up with Rachel, and she breaks down in tears, completely overwhelmed.
Later, she reopens the selfie, only to notice something unsettling in the reflection behind them. In the window, she sees her former mentor Gemma Garland, watching from outside.
Rachel zooms in: Gemma is unmistakably there. Panicked, she turns to the window, but there is nothing. They're in an apartment block, so it is literally impossible. And then, when she looks back at her phone, the image has changed. Gemma is gone.
What did that cliffhanger ending mean?
It’s hard to say, and, knowing the creators of The Capture, they’ll almost certainly keep us waiting for answers.
Was Rachel’s phone hacked in real time to briefly implant Gemma’s image before erasing it again?
Alternatively, did Rachel simply imagine Gemma there as a psychological projection of guilt, grief, and unfinished business?
And then there’s the most unsettling possibility of all: Gemma may be dead in a physical sense, but could she return in some form, an avatar, an AI reconstruction, or another iteration of the same system that has already proven it can rewrite reality?
For now, those questions are deliberately left hanging. If The Capture returns for season four, we’ll hopefully get some answers. Now we have to find another thriller TV show to keep us distracted.
The Capture season 3 is available to stream in full on BBC iPlayer now.
