Zoe Saldaña stars as Joe McNamara, leader of a team of CIA operatives whose missions usually revolve around an agent, invariably female and thus known as a "lioness," who is placed undercover to gather information in the war on terror.
In real life, a lioness will remain with her pride for her entire lifetime, doing most of the hunting to feed the pride, and deciding where to hunt, when to move, and when to fight to defend the pride's territory.
(The male lion is only in place until a younger, stronger male lion defeats him in battle; they leave the hunting and most of the defending to the lionesses, though they will defend their cubs.)
Created by Taylor Sheridan, the first season of Lioness saw Joe and her team in action in the Middle East with a new lioness (Laysla De Oliveira), while the second saw them ordered to less-familiar territory amidst a Mexican cartel with another new lioness (Genesis Rodriguez) in action.
In each season, some time was spent examining Joe's family life with her husband Neal (Dave Anable), a surgeon, and their two children. It's fair to say that the relationship between Joe and Neal, as well as between Joe and her children, was sorely tested by Joe's strict adherence to protocol, which required complete silence about her often deadly missions and what she was required to do as a soldier in an oft mysterious war.
In the field, Joe has never been hesitant to fulfill her assignments, though she often raises concerns to her boss, Kaitlyn Meade (Nicole Kidman), and to Kaitlyn's boss, Byron Westfield (Michael Kelly), CIA Deputy Director of Operations, and even to Byron's boss, Edwin Mullins (Morgan Freeman), U.S. Secretary of State. Joe's obedience to her orders does not spare her any anguish when her team suffers damage or when she does not agree with the objectives.
All that Joe and her team have accomplished throughout the first two seasons is put into question by the opening scene in Season 3.
Lioness S3
The first episode of Season 3 premieres Sunday, August 2, exclusively on Paramount Plus, alongside all 16 episodes of the first two seasons. I've seen the first two episodes of Season 3, as well as the entirety of Seasons 1 and 2. Subsequent episodes will debut every Sunday.
The Taylor Sheridan Streaming Universe has been very busy since the second season of Lioness concluded in December 2024, around the same time that Yellowstone concluded its fifth and final season.
A prolific creator, writer, and producer, Sheridan's credits since then on new or returning shows include Mayor of Kingstown, 1923, Tulsa King, Landman, and The Madison, not to mention two Yellowstone spin-offs, which he did not create, but certainly incorporate or imitate his DNA: Marshals and Dutton Ranch.
After its dynamic pre-credit sequence, the first episode, written by Taylor Sheridan and directed by Michael Friedman, rewinds six months. Joe (Zoe Saldaña) and her team go to Ukraine on a mission to retrieve an asset that may be valuable to the CIA. They work under a Delta Force unit, including team leader Cody (Taylor Sheridan), that is ruthless in their brutal, merciless efficiency.
Shortly after the team has returned safely home to the US, Joe comes under attack by foreign agents. Is this a direct result of the mission in Ukraine? What further consequences may come?
The next two episodes explore these questions further. The fulcrum of a rapidly intensifying situation demands the full attention of Kaitlyn Meade, Byron Westfield, and their bosses.
Meanwhile, we get a peek at the previous six months, as Joe works to play the role of a suburban mother. Those efforts are quickly undone when she survives a domestic attack, and suddenly, 'she's got a lotta 'splaining to do,' in the words of Ricky Ricardo.
Consistently, Joe says or does things that she is absolutely convinced are the right things to say or do, even though they may rile up anyone who does not agree with what she is saying or doing. This may be Taylor Sheridan's greatest strength as a writer and creator: Characters who say or do things that are absolutely authentic to their personal truth.
Zoe Saldaña is blisteringly good as Joe, and entirely convincing. She gives a mini-speech to her family in one of the episodes that is startling in its brutal honesty and total conviction. Yet she also conveys the emotional damage that is under the surface, through her eyes and facial expressions and body language.
She is always taut and ready for action; her husband must realize that, sleeping right next to him, she has the capacity to punch out his lights without a second thought. (So, don't make her mad, man.)
A very smart and probing show whose brash, muscular outer layer is pulse-pounding, dizzying action, Lioness reveals its tender, thoughtful inner layers only to those who are paying attention. Never has that been more true than in the first three episodes of Season 3.
Now Streaming celebrates independent and international genre films and television shows that are newly available on legal streaming services.