It was not at all a surprise to find out Taylor Sheridan is helming an upcoming Call of Duty film adaptation after watching Lioness. The show is the most explosive—and perhaps expensive—out of the bunch, with large shoot-out scenes, tanks, torture, and helicopters. The plot can be convoluted, but it’s kept interesting by performances from a handful of Oscar-winning actors.
Zoe Saldaña plays Joe McNamara, a CIA senior officer in charge of the Lioness program, which trains women to go undercover in anti-terror operations that, somehow, always go sideways. She’s supervised by her boss Kaitlyn Meade (Nicole Kidman), and U.S. Secretary of State Edwin Mullins (Morgan Freeman). Taylor Sheridan sometimes appears on the show to shoot guns and drive around military vehicles.
It’s quite the cast, but the supporting players here really make it come together, especially Cruz Manuelos (Laysla De Oliveira), a marine recruited for the Lioness mission in the first season, who returns again in the second to mentor a new young woman. This is Sheridan’s only show that centers more women than men, and the women in question are definitely tougher than the average cowboy.