Killing Eve Season 3: The Twelve Explained

This Killing Eve article contains spoilers through the Season 3 finale.

We don’t chiefly watch Killing Eve for the plot, but that doesn’t mean we’re not dying to find out exactly what the deal is with The Twelve, the mysterious organization that has sent Villanelle and other assassins around the world to commit a series of precision (or sometimes not) murders. With their hands in politics and commercial forces around the world, The Twelve’s influence is broad and terrifying. At this point, it’s unclear how much control they actually have, though we know that people who get in their way usually end up dead.

Season 3 has arguably made the most progress yet on uncovering the mystery of what exactly The Twelve is and who is involved. Here’s what we know so far…

Who Are The Twelve?

Ostensibly, The Twelve (also known as Dozen Incorporated) are the “Big Bad” of a series filled with characters who do bad things. As Eve describes it to her Bitter Pill pals: “They’re called The Twelve, and they’ve infiltrated governments and organizations all over the world. We don’t know what their endgame is, but we do know they’ve been responsible for a significant number of international murders.”

The Twelve chiefly communicate with their assassins by sending postcards revealing the location of the next hit. Presumably, more detailed information follows in another form?

Who Works For The Twelve?

The answer to this question hasn’t always been clear, with some people working for The Twelve and not knowing it, some people working for The Twelve but doing their own thing on the side, and others just simply not revealing who they are or aren’t working for either way.

In Season 1, we are introduced to The Twelve broadly as Villanelle’s bosses, though she initially doesn’t even realize that she is working for them. In Season 1, Villanelle’s handler was Konstantin. In Season 2, it was Raymond. In Season 3, it has been Dasha. This means that we can count Villanelle, Konstantin, Raymond, and Dasha all as “employees” of The Twelve, though it doesn’t seem like any of them are at the organization’s highest level.

In Season 3, we meet Hélène, who seems to have more power in the organization than anyone we’ve met before. She is the person who tells Villanelle she has successfully reached the role of “Keeper.” In theory, this means she will stop murdering people and start doing more managerial stuff, but so far that hasn’t been the case—much to Villanelle’s frustration. Could Hélène be one of The Twelve higher-ups? Are there 12 higher-ups? (See final section for more on this.)

Sergei, aka Charles Kruger, was The Twelve’s accountant before he was killed by Villanelle earlier this season. Before he died, he confided in Konstantin that someone had stolen six million Euro from The Twelve’s accounts. (It was Konstantin.)

In the Season 3 finale, it is more or less confirmed that Paul, aka Carolyn’s terrible MI6 boss/colleague is working for The Twelve. More than that, it seems he might be one of the Twelve. Either way, there is probably going to blow back on Carolyn killing him in the Season 3 finale… even if she made it look like a finale.

In the past, especially Season 1, Killing Eve implied that Carolyn might be part of The Twelve. This has never been confirmed and, in the past two seasons, the series has leaned away from this implication a bit—but it has always remained a possibility. It seems less likely given the Season 3 implication that it was The Twelve who killed Carolyn’s son Kenny.

Who is The Panda?

The Panda is a character first introduced in Season 1. The victim of one of Villanelle’s kills, he was a Chinese intelligence officer who had been tracking The Twelve double agent Frank Haleton (aka Eve’s MI6 boss at the time). Frank was being paid from an account in the Cayman Islands, which went dormant after Frank’s death… until Kenny discovered it was active again prior to his death in Season 3. Three sums of money in the last two months totaling just over six million Euros were transferred to an account in Geneva. It seems like someone is stealing from The Twelve, and that theft has spurred a lot of the action in Season 3.

Who Stole the Geneva Money?

Sergei the accountant is at least a little bit suspicious, telling Konstantin that he’d rather have the money than the person responsible. That kind of sounds like something you’d say if you used the money to pay off something like personal gambling debts, you need fast cash to replenish the coffers, and you’re hoping no one will look too hard or at least you’ll be able to skip town before they do. 

Come the end of Season 3, it seems more or less confirmed that it was Konstantin who stole the money. Paul, who seems to know what’s going on with Konstantin more than any one else, says it was K. Besides, Konstantin does seem to have the money to retire to Cuba, though we would assume that his life of crime has paid pretty well.

What is Konstantin’s Relationship to The Twelve?

In the Killing Eve Season 3 finale, Konstantin confirms that he does, in fact, work for The Twelve… and MI6… and the FSB. You know how he rolls. He’s also trying to get out, as we see in the final episodes of Season 3.

Who Killed Kenny?

In the Season 3 finale, Carolyn more or less gets to the bottom of the mystery of Kenny’s death. Bear’s camera reveals that Konstantin came to the office the day that Kenny died. They are seen together. When Carolyn confronts Konstantin about it at gunpoint, he confesses that he was there, but it wasn’t to kill Kenny. He claims it was to tell him that The Twelve were on to him and to offer him a job with The Twelve. “He got scared. He kept stepping back. I tried to stop him, but he fell.”

Carolyn says shedoesn’t believe Konstantin, and we’re not sure if we do either. For now, we know that The Twelve ordered his death and he ended up dying. This is why Carolyn shoots Paul. You can read more about Kenny’s death here.

Twelve of What?

Like, what are we counting here? People? Governments? Corporations? I have usually assumed that The Twelve refers to a council of 12 actual people who run this organization, but that is just my own head canon. As far as I know, it has never been confirmed. It’s just as likely the number 12 was chosen for a different reason.

What is up with The Twelve? Hit us with all of your The Twelve theories, including what we’re counting, in the comments below!