With Hulu’s trippy quasi-thriller Nine Perfect Strangers and a wild episode of Apple TV+’s anthology Roar as her most recent TV jaunts, Nicole Kidman made a big move in teaming up with Yellowstone franchise co-creator Taylor Sheridan for one of his myriad TV projects through Paramount. She’s co-starring in Special Ops: Lioness alongside several other heavy hitters, but only after initially signing on as a producer without any real intentions to get in front of the cameras, and revealed what made her change her mind about doubling up on her duties for the espionage thriller.
Paramount+ released a new video featurette giving potential audiences some background info into Special Ops: Lioness and the roster of talents bringing it to life for the streaming service. And within it, Kidman shares that it was the core casting choice that convinced her to bring her own acting skills into the mix. According to the Big Little Lies vet:
When Zoe signed on to play the lead, I was like, ‘This is great.’ I wasn’t gonna be in it, and then I was like, ‘Well…’ It was too enticing.
Such a comment has to feel good to know for Zoe Saldaña, who is superb enough to go toe-to-toe with anyone in Hollywood, and certainly has in her career so far. Since 2022 started, she's been in films that also starred Christian Bale, Ryan Reynolds, Margot Robbie, Dave Bautista, (fellow Sheridan familiar) Sylvester Stallone and more, while working with directors James Cameron, James Gunn, David O. Russell and Shawn Levy. Some actors don't get that kind of lineup in their whole careers. So when she saw she had a chance to join that list of thesps by locking down a role opposite Saldaña for Special Ops: Lioness, it was apparently too good to turn down.
In the show, Saldaña plays Joe, who serves as a supervisor within the U.S. military's Lioness program, based in part on a real-life CIA faction, whose purpose is to thwart terrorism. Joe is tasked with going undercover alongside a cockstrong Marine Raider named Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) to befriend the daughter of a powerful suspected terrorist among "the power brokers of State terrorism," all in order to stop another 9/11-scale attack. The program is overseen by Kidman's Kaitlyn Meade and Michael Kelly's Donald Westfield, with Morgan Freeman also starring.
Special Ops: Lioness, which also boasts Zoe Saldaña as an executive producer, will feature a pair of series regulars that Taylor Sheridan fans will recognize in Dave Annable (Yellowstone's Lee Dutton) and LaMonica Garrett (1883's Thomas). Other regulars include Jill Wagner, James Jordan, Jonah Wharton, Stephanie Nur, Hannah Love Lanier, and Austin Hébert. Several cast members can be seen in the promo video below.
And for those who want to see everyone in action without all the behind-the-scenes fun, look no further than the first official trailer below.
Special Ops: Lioness will be available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription on Sunday, July 23, with the first two episodes dropping at once. Check out what's happening with upcoming Yellowstone shows, and everyone can hit up our 2023 TV premiere schedule to see what else is hitting the small screen soon.
