The 51-year-old Oklahoma native has been a part of the show since it began in 2023. He plays Kyle, a spy who works with Joe\u2019s (Zoe Salda\u00f1a) team on threats from abroad.<\/p>\n
From boardroom scenes with Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman to flying in military helicopters to go blow stuff up, Luckinbill said \u201cLioness\u201d is the most fun he\u2019s had making anything in his over 20-year career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, there\u2019s really never a dull day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfac In case you missed it: <\/p>\n
As \u201cLioness\u201d continues airing its third season<\/a> on Paramount+, Luckinbill spoke to the Star-Telegram about the show.<\/p>\n He also shared his experience on living in Fort Worth and how he sees the filmmaking scene changing in Texas over the next few years. There are a few light spoilers for \u201cLioness\u201d up to episode 3,<\/a> which aired on Aug. 16.<\/p>\n This interview has been edited for clarity and length.<\/p>\n You\u2019re three seasons into \u201cLioness.\u201d What still excites you about the show and makes you ready to come to work every morning?<\/p>\n I mean, that\u2019s a great question. It\u2019s probably the most fun I\u2019ve ever had working as an actor, and really even production-wise. The cast is great, the writing\u2019s incredible, the budget\u2019s big, so we get a lot of fun practical uses with military helicopters and guns and explosions and stuff. I mean, there\u2019s really never a dull day.<\/p>\n You might have a big boardroom scene with Morgan [Freeman] and Nicole [Kidman] and Zoe [Salda\u00f1a] and Michael Kelly, etc. Which is obviously a lot of dialogue. It\u2019s sitting around a table, which, by the way, it\u2019s fun. That\u2019s still fun. But then the very next day, you\u2019re flying around on the helicopter with a gun, about to go blow some stuff up. It\u2019s always fun to work on this show. We could probably be in the 20th season, and I would tell you, I\u2019m still having the time of my life.<\/p>\n One new wrinkle this season is the dual timelines, from before and after Joe is kidnapped. Do you remember what your initial thoughts were when you heard about this choice?<\/p>\n It\u2019s funny, the actors and producers, we\u2019re always having to, as we were shooting it, always having to like talk about where we were, right? Which timeline we\u2019re in? Are we six months before? Six months later, etc. Just like the audience is trying to figure it out. We were trying to figure it out as we were shooting it. I love it because it adds so many layers, right? And it\u2019s fun for the audience because they got to sit there and watch how these people are acting and reacting based on the timeline. I think it gives the series, or the season at least, some pace. It was fun to film and fun to watch as well.<\/p>\n One of the highlights thus far is your character Kyle\u2019s interrogation scenes with Oleksandra (played by Elizaveta Neretin) in episode 3. I\u2019m not an actor, but if I was, that seems to me like one of those days you circle on the calendar and say, \u201cThis is going to be a big fun scene.\u201d For you, did the way you prepare for the scene change at all from what you normally do? And, is this scene something you guys rehearsed or is it better to capture the raw reaction by just going for it?<\/p>\n My approach has always been a little bit, I enjoy approaching things a little more raw and letting it come. She and I didn\u2019t really know each other. We had worked a little bit together with that scene prior in episode 2, where I extract and put her in the SUV and I pull her out of the bar, which I love that scene too. It wasn\u2019t a lot of dialogue, but I just loved the way that played.<\/p>\n But the interrogation scene, to be honest with you, I don\u2019t even think we really rehearsed it. I mean, obviously there\u2019s a lot of dialogue. There\u2019s a lot of memorization individually, but when we got in there, it was more of just a feel. I was feeling her out, and I think she was feeling me out, and I think you saw a lot of that in the way it played. She\u2019s a great actress and so much fun to work with. I mean, it was easy to fall into a rhythm with her. I had the upper hand obviously in that scene, and it was fun to try to pull information out of people.<\/p>\n It feels like you can tell exactly who each person is by how they react. Kyle is calm and cool, while Oleksandra is excited and angry. As an actor, how do you stay grounded when your scene partner is going big like that?<\/p>\n Yeah, I mean, I think the difference is Kyle\u2019s been doing this a long time. Taylor\u2019s [Sheridan] made that clear to me that this guy is country first, second and third. I mean, this is all he cares about. He\u2019s one of the guys you want. It\u2019s like the Jack Nicholson line [in \u201cA Few Good Men\u201d], he\u2019s the one of the guys you want on the wall, right? He\u2019s the one. He\u2019s the line of defense, but he is happy to be that guy. I think for her, she\u2019s younger and probably a little newer to the game, so this is probably a new dynamic for her character to be in this situation.<\/p>\n For me, it\u2019s like my approach was to keep it calm and cool and let her lose it, get her break so we get the information. Because one way or the other, Kyle had to either believe her or Kyle\u2019s got to believe that she\u2019s lying, right? There was no in between, and so he had to push her to the point of breaking to know whether she was telling the truth or not. Ultimately, he believes her. I think they got the objective.<\/p>\n I do want to ask you about Fort Worth, since you guys filmed the last two seasons here. You\u2019re an Oklahoma boy, so I\u2019m curious what your experience has been making the show in Cowtown and across North Texas?<\/p>\n Great town, great town. I grew up obviously in Oklahoma, went to school at the University of Oklahoma, and a lot of the friends and family I have moved to Dallas. Very few of them moved to Fort Worth, so I had a little bit of exposure to Fort Worth growing up, but mostly Dallas. Then these last two years living and working in Fort Worth, I was like, \u201cThis is a great town. It is a really great town.\u201d Like to the point where I was sort of, I mean, I don\u2019t want to diss on Dallas, but it felt more like to me what I was used to in Oklahoma. It felt a bit more like home to be honest with you.<\/p>\n Do you have any Fort Worth favorite restaurants, museums, anything like that?<\/p>\n LaMonica Garrett loves to go to Stockyards, so we\u2019ve been there quite a bit. The Drover, and obviously Cattleman\u2019s<\/a> with the affiliation there, which is great food. I\u2019m trying to think, it\u2019s a Mexican restaurant, the really famous one. Why am I blanking on the name?<\/p>\n Joe T. Garcia\u2019s?<\/a><\/p>\n Yeah, Joe T.\u2019s is great. I mean, you can\u2019t pick a better ambiance than that. There\u2019s a million places that we\u2019ve gone and loved and keep going back to.<\/p>\n I\u2019d love to get your perspective on the growing Texas film scene, due to the increase in film incentives passed by Texas lawmakers<\/a> last year. You\u2019re an actor, but also a producer with your company Black Label Media. What do you think the future of filmmaking looks like in Texas?<\/p>\n It\u2019s interesting. I mean, obviously, I produced a lot of movies and New Mexico for a while was where everybody was going. Then back in the early 2000s, Canada, etc. There\u2019s always like that one hot spot. Atlanta, obviously, has been that in more recent years. It feels to me like Texas has a lot of momentum. A lot of it is attributed to Taylor and what he\u2019s doing there and the amount of production he\u2019s got. But it feels like a place that if they keep those incentives, because that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. You keep the incentives, then you build the crews, then people start moving there, then you have cast that you can pull locally. You have really talented crews, etc.<\/p>\n You do that enough years in a row, and then you\u2019ve all of a sudden got a really big shooting hub. It feels like that\u2019s what Texas is starting to achieve. By the way, selfishly by proxy, because it\u2019s so close in relation, Oklahoma is kind of picking up as well because it\u2019s all so close to each other, which excites me a bit too, right? Just being a hometown boy. But I love it because a lot of my family\u2019s in that area, whether it\u2019s in Dallas or Oklahoma. We\u2019re shooting a movie in Oklahoma in three weeks. I love being back in that part of the world and seeing it come up in the entertainment business, too.<\/p>\n That movie shooting in Oklahoma is the new Miles Teller one called \u201cCopperhead,\u201d<\/a> right? I read that the story is actually set in West Texas. Did you try to make that in Texas first? Or, was it always going to be Oklahoma?<\/p>\n Initially we were going to do Fort Worth, but because, well there\u2019s a lot of reasons. I mean, Taylor\u2019s got people pretty busy, so Oklahoma seemed like a well, I don\u2019t want to bore you with the details, but there\u2019s a lot of financial aspects that go into making that decision. But yeah, initially was either going to be Texas or Oklahoma.<\/p>\n \u201cLioness\u201d airs Sundays on Paramount+.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n![\"Thad](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lioness_305_EM_0120_00771_RT_f.jpg\" "\\"Lioness_305_EM_0120_00771_RT_f.jpg\\"")
Thad Luckinbill as Kyle in \u201cLioness,\u201d episode 5, season 3, streaming on Paramount+, 2026. Emerson Miller Paramount+ <\/p>\n![\"L-R:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Lioness_303_EM_1103_00015_RT_f.jpg\" "\\"Lioness_303_EM_1103_00015_RT_f.jpg\\"")
L-R: Zoe Salda\u00f1a as Joe, Thad Luckinbill as Kyle, Laysla De Oliveira as Cruz in \u201cLioness,\u201d episode 3, season 3, streaming on Paramount+, 2026. Emerson Miller Paramount+ <\/p>\n![\"Thad](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lioness_300_RG_0309_0100_RT.JPG\" "\\"Lioness_300_RG_0309_0100_RT.JPG\\"")
Thad Luckinbill as Kyle in \u201cLioness\u201d season 3, streaming on Paramount+, 2025. Ryan Green Paramount+ <\/p>\n
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