If your plans for Thursday involve a couch and a streaming queue, Netflix has made the choice easy. “Black Doves” Season 2, the darkly funny spy thriller with Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw, is now streaming, with all six episodes available at once. Here is what Netflix and TVLine reported about the return, along with other shows arriving tonight.

What Black Doves Season 2 is about

According to Netflix’s Tudum, Season 2 finds Helen (Knightley) still betraying her nation’s secrets to the covert organization she serves, the Black Doves. After the misadventures of “last Christmas,” and with her husband, Wallace (Andrew Buchan), preparing to become prime minister, she is walking a more treacherous line than ever.

Her handler, Mrs. Reed (Sarah Lancashire), is ensnared in a ruthless plot to undermine her position inside the organization. Helen is reunited with her best friend Sam (Whishaw), a once high-end triggerman now reduced to lonely drinks in Soho bars and low-rate hits. As the pair search for answers, loyalties are weaponized, trust is shattered and, in Netflix’s words, the fight to protect the people they love “could cost everything.”

Who is in the cast

Knightley, Whishaw, Lancashire and Buchan all return, along with Kathryn Hunter as Lenny Lines, Ella Lily Hyland as Williams, Gabrielle Creevy as Eleanor, Agnes O’Casey as Dani and Molly Chesworth as Marie. The new additions, per Netflix, include:

  • Ambika Mod (“One Day”) as Laila, an acerbic and anarchic agent sent to help Helen on a mission
  • Babou Ceesay (“Alien: Earth”) as Mr. Conteh, a Black Doves executive with suspicious motives
  • Sam Riley (“Firebrand”) as Patrick, an emissary from a mysterious organization who offers Sam a lifeline
  • Neve Campbell (“Scream,” “The Lincoln Lawyer”) as Cecile Mason
  • Sylvia Hoeks (“Blade Runner 2049”) as Katia Chernov
  • Goran Kostic as Alexi Chernov, and Samuel Barnett as Jerry

Creator and writer Joe Barton returned, with Julian Farino and Kieron Hawkes directing. “Downing Street will never be the same,” Barton told Netflix. Filming took place across London, and the season also reaches Paris and parts of Italy.

A drone show over the Thames

To kick off the season, Netflix sent 800 drones above the Thames on November 2, filling the London skyline with imagery and messages from the new episodes. Tudum described it as the largest drone show ever staged over the river, with the cast and creatives watching from Woods Quay.

What else is on tonight

TVLine’s What to Watch column for Thursday, November 5 highlights several other debuts and returns:

  • North of North (Netflix): the Season 2 premiere, an eight-episode binge, follows young Inuk mother Siaja as winter settles over Ice Cove.
  • Mistletoe Murders (Hallmark Channel): Season 3 premieres at 8 p.m. ET, with Emily Lane teaming up with Detective Sam Wilner on three new Christmas mysteries.
  • Hell’s Kitchen (Fox): a black-tie gala celebrating 25 years of the show, with previous winners judging the top three dishes, airs at 8 p.m. ET.
  • Super Troopers 3 (Hulu): the third film in the cult comedy series is new to streaming.
  • Thursday Night Football: Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars visit Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in Week 9 at 8:15 p.m. ET.
  • Big John’s Bosh! Family (Paramount+): a six-episode binge about internet sensation John “Big John” Fisher and his family.

How to watch Black Doves

All six episodes of Season 2 are available on Netflix now. If you need a refresher, Tudum notes that Season 1 left Helen and Sam alive, compromised and with plenty of unfinished business, which, in this world, is rarely good news.

The bottom line

Between a spy-thriller binge, a holiday-mystery premiere and a milestone for “Hell’s Kitchen,” Thursday night is a stacked one. Pick your genre and press play.

Image: Laptop in the living room (Unsplash) by Oliur Rahman ultralinx via Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0