Taylor Sheridan's 'Lioness' closed its third season with a finale that Variety reports reached 9.7 million viewers in its first seven days of availability — the most-watched episode in the series' history and the No. 5 most-watched finale of all time among Paramount+ originals.

The finale capped a run that Variety describes as showing strong audience growth week after week, with each week of Season 3 bringing in more viewers than the one before it. The season aired from Aug.

2 to Sept. 20, produced by Paramount Television Studios and 101 Studios, with Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman leading a cast that also includes Laysla De Oliveira, Michael Kelly and Morgan Freeman.

What makes the numbers striking, according to Variety, is that streaming shows usually shed audience as seasons run on; 'Lioness' did the opposite.

Variety reports Season 3 averaged 8.5 million viewers per week, a 62% increase over Season 2's weekly average in 2024, and that the growth held right through to the finale.

The cross-measurement picture backs Variety's viewership claims up. According to the magazine, the series landed on Nielsen and Luminate's top 10 charts eight weeks in a row, and per Nielsen it achieved its first-ever billion-minute week during finale week.

Season 3 as a whole reached a cumulative 3.9 billion minutes watched over its eight-week run — also up 62% from Season 2 — while catch-up viewing stayed strong, with Seasons 1 and 2 drawing a combined 2.5 million minutes in the same window.

Those Nielsen and Luminate placements matter because they put 'Lioness' alongside streaming programming from other services, not just Paramount+'s own internal counts.

The same night belongs to another spy drama: CNET notes that 'Slow Horses' Season 6 concludes Wednesday, Oct. 21 on Apple TV, when the sixth and final episode, titled 'Judgment Day,' drops.

The Apple TV series, inspired by Mick Herron's Slough House novels, stars Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, with Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas and Olivia Cooke — back after a four-year absence — among the returning cast. CNET also points out that Apple TV regularly releases new episodes at 9 p.m.

ET the night before their scheduled date, and that the service now costs $15 per month after a recent $2 price hike, with bundles available through Peacock and Prime Video. Two flagship spy thrillers ending within days of each other gives genre fans a rare back-to-back finale week.