‘Quantico’ Premiere: How the Series Transformed for Season 3

Quantico has gone through major changes in the past, but with the season three premiere it almost feels like a brand new show.

The series returned for a new season Thursday with a new showrunner, some new cast members and surprising twists for longtime fans.

Set three years after the events of the season two finale, viewers find Alex Parrish (Priyanka Chopra) living a seemingly blissful life in a small Italian village away from the drama of the FBI and CIA. The twist? No one knows her real name.

Alex’s dream life gets brutally interrupted, however, when strange men threaten to hurt her outside the house she shares with her new beau and his daughter. The altercation sends Alex away from her dream Italian life and back in with her ex-boyfriend Ryan Booth (Jake McLaughlin).

The show throws another curve ball at viewers when Ryan announces he married Alex’s best friend Shelby (Johanna Brady) and she has been captured by criminals looking for a secret government weapon known as the Conscience Code, a code that can bypass any computer controlled weapon, which of course Alex has.

In an attempt to save Shelby, Alex and Ryan return to New York City and reunite with now Deputy Director of the CIA Owen Hall (Blair Underwood). The team is rounded out by newcomer Jocelyn Turner (Marlee Matlin), a skilled FBI operative who lost her hearing after an undercover mission went wrong.

The Widow believes Ryan’s guilt for stealing the code many years before and never telling Shelby would lead him to be reckless so she sends the team a video of Shelby being torutured. However, the video holds the key to finding Shelby.

While they analyze the video, Ryan looks for a backup plan by looking for a potential buyer for the Conscience Code to participate in the Widow’s auction. He meets with fan-favorite character Harry (Russell Tovey), who now works as private security for a former arms dealer’s reckless brother, Felix. Harry hesitates at first but agrees to help after he becomes frustrated by Felix’s actions.

Things take a turn when Alex’s old friend Will Olsen (Jay Armstrong Johnson) reaches out to the team as he is working with the Widow and agrees to help them free Shelby if he gets immunity. The team meets up with him but it turns out to be a trap that gets Alex captured.

With both Alex and Shelby captured by the widow, Ryan continues to analyze the video and figures out their location, but not before Shelby and Alex have a chance to talk about how she ended up married to her best friend’s ex. The mission comes to an end when Ryan and the team rescue the agents and arrest the Widow.

Once the mission is done, the government decides to pardon Alex for her past crimes and allow her to return and work with the new team. At first, Alex rejects the proposal but after she realizes how she could put her loved ones in danger by continuing to live a lie, she accepts and returns to New York for good.

Quantico airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.