Forget ‘Dutton Ranch,’ Taylor Sheridan’s Most Thrilling Action Series Is Finally Returning This Week

While Taylor Sheridan is best known for Yellowstone, the political action thriller Lioness is arguably his grittiest work to date. Sheridan may have built his television career chronicling the Dutton family’s sprawling Montana ranch across multiple generations, but Lioness is an entirely different beast. Instead of protecting a family legacy, it follows those who are tasked with saving the nation from potential foreign threats.

Returning to his Sicario roots, Sheridan trades cowboys for covert spies, with Zoe Saldaña taking the reins as the show’s lead and executive producer. From infiltrating a terrorism-funding billionaire family to protecting the border from drug-smuggling cartels, Joe leads highly classified operations so secretive that, officially, they don’t even exist.

What Is ‘Lioness’ About?

Inspired by the real-life CIA Lioness Program, Lioness follows senior CIA case officer Joe McNamara (Saldaña), who recruits and trains female operatives to go deep undercover, infiltrating terrorist organizations by getting close to their families and inner circles. In the Lioness program, there is absolutely no margin for error; because the program operates off the books, there are no standardized guidelines, forcing operatives to improvise in the field. If they are compromised, there is no guarantee the CIA will come to their rescue, as doing so would expose the entire operation. This danger is established in the very first episode, when an asset is exposed because of a tattoo, forcing Joe to authorize a drone strike that kills both the terrorists and her own asset.

For Joe, choosing the right assets is a challenge in itself. In Season 1, Force Recon Marine Cruz Manuelos (Laysla De Oliveira) is handpicked to infiltrate the family of Aaliyah Amrohi (Stephanie Nur), the daughter of an oil tycoon secretly funding terrorist groups. Season 2 follows Captain Josie Carrillo (Genesis Rodriguez), a skilled military helicopter pilot tasked with infiltrating the family of cartel leader Alvaro Carrillo (Marcus DeAnda). In both seasons, the two assets undergo brutal training to prepare for the worst-case scenarios, only to realize they’ll be left with scars far more painful than any bullet wound.

The Mission Always Comes First in ‘Lioness’

One of Lioness‘ central themes is how much someone is willing to sacrifice for their country, which often means putting emotions aside. However, Lioness doesn’t romanticize this strict notion of patriotism, instead revealing its emotional cost. By the middle of Season 1, Cruz finds herself sympathizing with Aaliyah, who is herself a victim of her father, but Aaliyah’s feelings are none of the CIA’s concern. Meanwhile, Season 2 sees Josie’s family ties making her the perfect asset — and potentially the mission’s greatest liability. In Lioness, the moment that personal feelings outweigh the mission, lives are put at risk.

Joe isn’t exempt from this. Unlike Cruz or Josie, she has a husband and two daughters waiting at home. Her work at the CIA takes up most of her personal time, and Joe is well aware of the strain it puts on her home life. Her husband Neal (Dave Annable) occasionally lashes out in frustration over Joe’s insistence on always being at the CIA’s beck and call, while her eldest daughter Kate (Hannah Love Lanier) despises her for never being around. Although Joe convinces herself that it has always been her duty to keep the country safe, being a “hero” isn’t idealized at home. The mission always comes first in Lioness, much to her family’s disappointment.

‘Lioness’ Is Inspired by Global Politics

Image via Paramount+

Lioness wouldn’t be a political thriller without global implications. Both Joe and her CIA superiors agree that eliminating foreign threats has always been the mission of the Lioness program. However, while Joe and CIA leadership prioritize protecting innocent lives, the U.S. government is often more concerned with optics. It’s not surprising that Joe and her colleagues, Kaitlyn Meade (Nicole Kidman) and Byron Westfield (Michael Kelly), frequently butt heads with the White House Oversight Committee and the Department of State. The CIA is willing to use every resource available to capture threats, but the White House’s only priority is making sure any CIA activity doesn’t make the administration look bad.

Just because the Lioness program manages to take out a few bad guys doesn’t mean evil suddenly disappears. If anything, it simply shifts the political landscape, creating new threats from America’s rivals, like China or Russia. Joe may have joined to protect the country, but Lioness makes it clear that she and her team are often treated as pawns in advancing government agendas. That’s why Joe is constantly forced to make impossible choices about whom to save and whom to sacrifice, depending on what serves those agendas. As Season 3 approaches, that moral conflict will only intensify, testing Joe’s loyalty to the Lioness program, the CIA, and even the United States.

Lioness

Release Date

July 23, 2023

Network

Paramount+

• 

• 

  Laysla De Oliveira

  Cruz Manuelos