Red Eye season 2 ending explained: Who is really behind the murders?

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ITV started 2026 with a thrilling return of its spy drama, Red Eye. Jing Lusi is back as detective Hana Li, finding herself embroiled in a new, dangerous plot.

Peter A. Dowling, who wrote the original, is back with the script for this sequel. It features a dangerous flight high in the sky and a tense situation unfolding within the American Embassy in London.

A welcome party for the new UK ambassador turns disastrous when people connected to him become the targets of a ruthless killer. This forces Hana to team up with a former rival to investigate the dangerous situation.

Okay, so the season finale of Red Eye left me with so many questions! I’ve dug deep into everything that happened, and let me tell you, the answers are wild. I’m about to break down the ending – be warned, this is going to be full of spoilers – revealing who’s really been pulling the strings and responsible for all the deaths and lies we’ve seen. Get ready, because the identity of the true mastermind is a real shocker!

Red Eye season 2 ending explained: Who is really behind the murders?

Wow, the season finale of Red Eye really threw me for a loop! I definitely didn’t see that twist coming. It turns out Nicholas Rowe’s character, Alex Peterson – the UK Secretary of Defence, no less – is the one pulling the strings behind all those murders at the US Embassy. Talk about a shocking reveal!

He’s secretly working with Fox, a dangerous hitman, and paying him to kill anyone who might reveal his dishonest dealings. Their most recent target was the newly appointed US ambassador, Ronald Tillman.

Okay, so the big twist? Peterson was stealing money – a pretty significant amount, tied to a deal involving military aircraft. Unfortunately for him, the up-and-coming Tillman stumbled onto the scheme while he was running the aeronautics company. It was a classic case of ambition uncovering corruption, and it really drives the central conflict of the film.

Tillman discovers evidence – the plane’s voice recorder from the opening crash – that proves Peterson was responsible for the accident and deliberately misled people, ultimately causing the plane to crash.

To prevent whistleblower Nicholas Martin (Mark Weinman) from reaching the US, someone remotely contacts the plane and falsely informs the pilots that he poses a threat to British national security.

This creates tension between Flight Lieutenant Patrick Johnson, played by Jack Ambrose, and his co-pilot, Flying Officer Edney, played by Tega Alexander. Johnson is also the brother of Clay Brody, who is portrayed by Martin Compston.

Johnson believes Peterson is being dishonest, but Edney just wants to do what he’s told. This difference in opinion causes a fight between the two airmen, which unfortunately leads to a terrible accident.

Tillman isn’t innocent himself, so instead of going to the police, he uses what he’s learned to pressure Peterson into backing his campaign to become the US ambassador to the UK, and surprisingly, it works.

He plans to reveal damaging information soon after starting his job, creating a big public relations victory that will advance his career and potentially lead him to the presidency.

Knowing Tillman’s intentions, Peterson devises a daring plan to discredit anyone who might challenge him, and begins carrying it out at the new ambassador’s welcome party.

For a while, things go his way, with several key targets picked off one-by-one.

However, Hana and Clay’s plan begins to unravel when they deliver the cockpit recorder to Madeline Delaney, the head of MI5 (Lesley Sharp), after escaping the US Embassy.

Officials were initially led to believe that Fox was a Russian agent planning to target people at a recent US security hearing, but this turned out to be a false lead.

Instead, the targets were all connected to uncovering Peterson’s misdeeds.

According to Delaney, after the voice recorder was found, Perry Lambert (also known as Tibu Fortes), from the company that manufactured it, would have been responsible for retrieving the audio.

As the project’s head of safety, Craig Stewart (played by Glenn Wrage) would have been privy to this information and shared it with his supervisor, Ronald Tillman, when Tillman was still the CEO of AM Aeronautics.

Now that the details of the case were clear, Delaney began to trick Peterson by making him feel safe, then secretly cut off all communication to his cell phone.

He’s waiting to meet Fox at their agreed location, unaware that the car park is full of police officers. Fox spots them and immediately thinks Peterson has betrayed him.

With the meeting cancelled, Clay steps in to get Peterson to admit something, and Hana confronts Fox on a rooftop, stopping him from shooting Peterson with a sniper rifle.

She successfully fights him and disarms him, but the situation becomes more difficult once they’re inside Peterson’s car.

Clay successfully tricks the dishonest minister into repeating his damaging admissions, but nearly ruins everything – including his own career – when he almost fatally attacks Peterson in the heat of the moment.

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He believes taking revenge for his brother would feel right, but it would likely lead to imprisonment and ruin his future. Showing how much he’s matured since his impulsive training days, Hana is able to calm Clay down and prevent him from acting rashly.

Peterson is arrested and gets an eviscerating reprimand from Delaney, before being dragged away.

At the end of the story, Clay reconciles with his father, partly by ensuring Patrick receives the military recognition he deserved. Meanwhile, Delaney offers Hana a position at MI5, but she decides to continue working as a detective for now.

The calm leader left Hana at a park, where she allowed herself a satisfied smile, pleased with a successful mission – and now giving that new offer a bit more thought. It’s still a possibility she’s considering.

Red Eye is available to stream on ITVX.

Don’t miss ‘Red Eye’! Add it to your watchlist on the TopMob: What to Watch app. Download the app today for daily TV recommendations and exclusive content.

Authors

David CraigSenior Drama Writer

David Craig writes about television and streaming drama and comedy for TopMob. Before joining them, he was a writer for Starburst Magazine, hosted the podcast ‘The Winter King’ for ITVX, and earned a degree in Journalism from the University of Sheffield.

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2026-01-08 21:06