Secret Service ending explained: Viewers react to 'obvious' twist and the shocking story we'd see in series 2
Don't expect every question to be fully answered in Secret Service
Secret Service – even by the standards of other knotty spy thrillers – gets pretty complicated by the end. So, if you’ve watched every episode of the new ITV thriller and want a breakdown of the ending, you’re in the right place.
Based on a book by ITV News’ Tom Bradby, the series follows Kate (Gemma Arterton), an MI6 agent who heads up the SIS’ Russia desk.
After picking up on some clues from an operation in Malta, Kate and her team of intelligence officers become suspicious that there’s a Russian mole in the UK Government. Their concerns grow when the Prime Minister announces he’s stepping down, paving the way for their prime suspect – Foreign Secretary Ryan Walker (Mark Stanley) – to take control.
There are a lot of moving parts in the ending of Secret Service; for example, Russian collusion, gay affairs, and sex tapes. We don’t blame you if you felt a little bit lost – but that’s why we’re here to help.
***Warning: spoilers for Secret Service ahead***
How does Secret Service end?
Secret Service ends with Ryan Walker winning the leadership vote and becoming UK Prime Minister, with suspicion still surrounding his association with Russian operatives.
We’re going to break this down as simply as we possibly can. At the start of the series, it’s uncovered that he secretly met with the Russian foreign minister, and this was all organised by Lev Amatov (Juris Zagars), an oligarch with serious ties to the Kremlin.
That creates the question that hangs over the series: is Walker colluding with the Russians, and if so, to what extent?
Don't miss a single story! Add us as a Preferred Source in Google for all your television news
It’s also found that Walker had taken payments from Igor Borodin, the head of the Russian secret service, supposedly to develop land.
This brings us to Imogen Conrad (Amaka Okafor), Walker’s competitor for the PM gig. It’s known throughout the series that footage of her sleeping with another man is out there somewhere. Understandably, she’s wary that Walker could leak it and use it to his advantage.
Lo and behold, it gets leaked, but it appears the video has been altered to protect the man’s identity. Kate asks Imogen for more information, but she doesn’t know who it was. She’d met a lot of alleged “hotel investors” at a cocktail party with Kyril Markov (Oleg Levin), one of Russia’s top intelligence agents.
Still with us? Later, Kate meets Mikhail (Michael Tcherepashenets), Igor’s son, and leverages knowledge of his affair with a man. She passes on information to her Russian ally (“Cyclops”, played by Alexander Terentyev), who sneaks into the Russian secret service building and finds crucial information about when Igor recruited his mole.
Who was the Russian mole?
Stuart (Rafe Spall), Kate’s husband, is revealed to be the mole for the Russians.
Kate immediately knows she’s been betrayed when Cyclops tells her that Igor was in Prague in December 2024. Why? Because that’s when she was there… with Stuart.
Kate asks Stuart to fly out to Finland to meet her at one of their favourite hotels, but they actually meet at the Russian border. She reveals that she knows everything: he was recruited by Igor in Prague while they were on holiday for their anniversary, and he slept with Imogen in Montenegro.
The Russians erased him from the sex tape in exchange for information. According to Stuart, they only wanted “cabinet gossip” at first, but they started asking for more and putting people’s lives at risk.
Kate doesn’t want to see him tried for treason, nor does she want to put their children any more drama. So, she lets him walk across the Russian border as an “escape route”, and he’s never seen again.
Secret Service ending explained: Who dies?
Two people die in Secret Service: Lena (Alma Prelec) and Rav (Avi Nash).
Lena is a Russian nanny who’s recruited by Kate to spy on Igor, with the promise that the SIS will help her and her brother. However, Kyril quickly figures out that she’s an informant.
Kate disobeys her boss’ orders and embarks on an extraction mission. They almost get away, but she’s shot in the head by one of Igor’s snipers as they speed away on a boat.
Rav is another MI6 agent, and probably Kate’s closest ally. He goes undercover in Geneva to meet a Swiss banker connected to Igor, discovering the payments between him and Walker.
He returns home, tells Kate the news, and gets murdered in his own house before Kate can get to him.
What was going on with Zak and Julie?
Zak Hussein (Khalid Abdalla), the head of the SIS, is also suspected of being the Russian mole.
After all, it would make sense – he’s basically Igor’s British counterpart and the most efficient route of gaining intelligence from the UK.
However, his slightly shady actions and movements have a simple explanation: he’s sleeping with Julie (Aoife Hinds), one of Kate’s agents.
By the end, he’s a firm ally and supporter of Kate’s decisions, and all is forgiven.
Secret Service ending explained: Is Ryan Walker working with the Russians?
That’s the million-ruble question by the end of Secret Service. Ultimately, the answer is probably yes, but he’s more of a pawn than an actual ally to the Russians.
Think about it. He did meet with the Russian foreign minister. He does have a relationship with an oligarch, who also partially funded his campaign with £1 million.
In the final scene of the show, he finds out that Kate has been seconded to the cabinet office to protect him from “hostile influences”. He looks visibly worried.
That’s why Zak asks Kate to remain an MI6 agent. He believes everything went exactly to plan, in Igor’s eyes, creating chaos that could distract them.
Secret Service viewers left divided by ‘obvious’ twist with Rafe Spall
Given Rafe Spall’s level of fame and the fact he’s effectively shared top billing with Gemma Arterton, it shouldn’t be too surprising that he had a bigger role in the story than it initially appeared.
There’s just one question: did you honestly see it coming, or were you blindsided by the final episode’s reveal?
According to some viewers, they’d already solved it.
“It was ok but the reveal at the end was pretty obvious… no surprise really,” one user wrote.
“No spoilers, but my theory was correct. Oof,” another commented, with a third adding: “Very predictable sadly.”
Others were more uncertain about Stuart being the mole. “I don’t think hubby has been in it enough to suddenly be a massive part of the storyline. But I could be wrong,” one user wrote.
“Def think Stu / hubby is dodgy,” another theorised.
However, regardless of split opinions over the twist, Secret Service has been widely praised.
“I binge-watched all episodes yesterday on ITVX . I enjoyed it and will probably watch it again to spot the bits I missed the first time round,” another fan commented.
Will there be a Secret Service series 2?
ITV hasn’t announced Secret Service series 2, nor is there anything to indicate that it’s in development. However, it’s not completely out of the question.
Secret Service isn’t the first adaptation of Bradby’s work. Shadow Dancer, his first novel that was published in 1998, was adapted into a film by James Marsh, starring Clive Owen and Andrea Riseborough.
Bradby had originally pitched Secret Service as a TV drama. But his impatience and passion for the story led to the novel.
“And as soon as it was done, I started work on the television drama I had always conceived,” he told the Radio Times.
“I decided by then that I wanted to turn each of my novels into a film or TV drama myself in partnership with Gail Egan, a brilliant producer I particularly rated and liked.”
What the books tell us about the plot of Secret Service series 2
If Secret Service series 2 goes ahead, we have a reasonable idea of what could happen.
Bradby has written three books featuring Kate Henderson: Secret Service, Double Agent, and Triple Cross. In other words, there are two sequels that ITV could adapt, if the first series is successful enough.
According to the synopsis for the second book, it follows Kate after she’s kidnapped in Venice by a Russian defector. “But all is not as it seems,” it teases.
“The spy offers her conclusive evidence that the British Prime Minister is a live agent working for Moscow. Kate’s holiday quickly becomes the start of her next mission.”
If Bradby gets his wish to adapt all of his novels into TV shows or movies, Secret Service series 2 could be his next project.
