It’s no secret that Taylor Sheridan has made waves in the entertainment industry, especially at Paramount. Having pushed himself into the television sphere back in 2018 with his hit neo-Western drama Yellowstone, the past few years have seen the filmmaker and writer broaden his interests. In 2023, he added the drama series Lioness (formerly titled Special Ops: Lioness) to his repertoire, proving that long-form military and spy thrillers are alive and well. With a powerful cast that includes Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman — both of whom also serve as executive producers — it’s no wonder that Lioness was renewed for a second season. Having seen the first four episodes of this sophomore outing, it’s clear that Sheridan and company have managed to extend the narrative as organically as possible, offering hope for the future of this series.
‘Lioness’ Season 2 Thrives When It Blends Country and Family
Last year, I wrote a piece about why Lioness doesn’t need a second season. The irony of that statement is that now I’m the one writing this Season 2 review, which has forced me to eat at least some of my words. The way Season 1 concluded, with an emotionally wrecked Joe (Saldaña) in the arms of her husband, Neal (Dave Annable), was indeed “a harrowing picture to end on.” While there were still some loose ends in need of tying up concerning Joe’s family, the main plot was effectively finished. The mark that the season’s events left on those involved, especially Laysla De Oliveira‘s Sergeant Cruz Manuelos, was powerful. Lioness had something real, something harsh, to say about the way military operations are sometimes handled, and the profound effect that they can have on those who carry them out. In short, Lioness Season 1 felt largely self-contained, and that was to the show’s benefit. Yet, now here we are, with a Season 2 that aims to do the same.
This season of Lioness aims higher than before, and (if the first four episodes are any indication) will hopefully stick the landing. Chief among the show’s strengths, which has proven weightier this time around, is the conflicting relationship that Joe has with both her work and her family. On the one hand, there is no one like her. She is the Lioness program, and without her, it would not function or maybe even exist. Her willingness to throw herself in the fire again and again and make it out still breathing is remarkable. As one of the show’s new characters puts it in the Season 2 premiere, “Beware the old soldier, he’s old for a reason.” Joe might not be that old, but she’s certainly well-worn and battle-hardened. On the other hand, her family means everything to her. They are why she fights, even if every mission risks turning her husband into a widower and leaving her children without a mother. It’s a powerful juxtaposition that no doubt feels real to many military families across the country.
This tension between duty to country and duty to family makes Lioness such a gripping series to watch. Sure, the gunfights are exciting, and the camaraderie between Joe’s QRF is always enjoyable — Jill Wagner, LaMonica Garrett, and James Jordan play off one another as well as ever this season, with more characters added in for good measure — but Lioness is such a compelling drama because we understand why Joe must continue to put herself in the line of fire, even as we wish more than anything that she would stop. But where Season 1 largely centered around only Joe’s struggles in this specific department, Season 2 ups the ante by spreading this theme out among more than one character, namely through newcomer Genesis Rodriguez, whose own interpretation of this theme is even more deadly.
‘Lioness’ Season 2 Challenges Joe in Ways that Echo Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Sicario’
Again, Zoe Saldaña is the most effective asset in this series. The way in which she switches from Joe the soldier to Joe the wife and mother is terribly impressive, even as one identity starts to bleed into the other. Joe’s struggle to reassimilate into everyday life after having just executed a host of enemy operatives is an inspired picture, and Saldaña proves that she was the only woman for this role. There’s a moment in the first episode, after her team completes a mission, when she calls her family to check in. While they’re back home having a normal breakfast, she’s out in the desert, holding back tears at the sound of their voices, desiring more than anything to hold them at that moment. It’s scenes like these that are the real meat and potatoes of Lioness, with Sheridan giving his actors the most emotionally rich set of circumstances to work with. Frankly, Saldaña deserves an Emmy.
But that’s not all there is to love about Lioness this season. In my aforementioned article about the dangers of giving Lioness a second season, I likewise noted that the show would be better off following the example of Sheridan’s most profound motion picture, the 2015 Denis Villeneuve thriller Sicario. In some ways, the Paramount drama listened. Not only does the central plot of this season involve the same sorts of Mexican criminal enterprises that Sheridan explored in the 2015 film (complete with a border crossing scene that, if one has seen Sicario, might have been expected to go another direction), but the dangers feel far more real, and more personal, than the foreign terrorist plot of yester-season. Joe’s struggle to work more closely with CIA colleague Kyle (Thad Luckinbill, who was, ironically, a producer on Sicario) feels somewhat akin to Emily Blunt‘s relationship with Josh Brolin. No doubt, it’s an interesting dynamic to add to the show. Thus far, Joe has only ever had superiors or subordinates, but Season 2 pushes her into an unwelcome partnership with Kyle that only makes an already delicate situation all the more uneasy.
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Zoe Saldaña Is in Charge in New ‘Lioness’ Season 2 Sneak Peek
The second season of the Taylor Sheridan series premieres later this month.
‘Lioness’ Season 2 Struggles With Pacing and Character Development
Of course, Lioness isn’t a perfect series. There’s an argument to be made that the show runs at too slow a pace at times, especially given that this is meant to be a military thriller. While perhaps not a fair comparison, when put up against the Prime Video series The Terminal List, Lioness doesn’t have the same consistent rise in temperature that keeps one fully engaged. Having already watched half the season, it only now feels as if the plot is starting to move along again after the premiere, which, when translated into a weekly release format, will likely feel like an eternity. Whether this is intentional as a commentary on the slow-moving bureaucracy that is the military-industrial complex or simply over-indulgent storytelling is unclear. If the former, then the show is doing a good job by inserting more government meetings into the narrative and, effectively, giving Michael Kelly, Morgan Freeman, and Martin Donovan a little bit more to do. If the latter, and I highly suspect that this is the case (as Sheridan has a tendency to belabor his plots), then the hope is that the back half of the season will be able to reconcile with that. It makes one wonder if Lioness Season 2 would have been more effective as a movie or even a shorter miniseries.
Additionally, the show doesn’t seem quite sure what it wants to do with some of its supporting cast. Neal is great whenever Joe is home, or he’s doing something dad-like with their girls, but the moment the show pivots back to his work as a surgeon (one who deals with cancer-ridden children), we wonder why the show brought it up at all. Did Sheridan just want to remind us what Neal does for a living? Is this going to somehow factor into Joe’s family struggles later on? Or was it just an excuse to give Annable something to do? Likewise, while Bobby (Wagner) gets a little more development this season, we still know very little about Tucker (LaGarrett), Two Cups (Jordan), and the others on the Lioness QRF. Maybe we really don’t need to know that much about some of these guys (especially since they’ve made a point not to share personal histories with certain newcomers), but given how much of Season 1 focused on exploring Joe and Cruz, would it kill the series to give us more than caricature soldiers here? Now that Kyle and members of his team have also been added to the mix, it’s getting harder to keep some of them straight.
Then there’s Nicole Kidman, who is phenomenal as always here, and as far as the issues with Season 2 are concerned, her performance is not one. The way her character can mentor Joe without ever belittling her is just flawless, and her scenes with Saldaña are always a highlight. But Kaitlyn is more involved in Joe’s operation this time around, or, at least, the show tells us she’s more involved. What that actually means is still a bit confusing, since she only ever steps foot on Lioness base camp once in the first four episodes. More than that, when Joe asks if Kaitlyn is going to be overseeing her “on the ground,” her superior responds with an ominous “everyone’s watching on this one,” but then spends most of the season still engaging in closed-door or D.C. restaurant meetings. Maybe Kaitlyn’s position in the agency gives her a pass when it comes to her role on the series, but given that Kidman is an EP on this show, it’s almost a shame she isn’t given more interesting material to work with.
‘Lioness’ Is Headed in the Right Direction With Season 2
Lioness can be a tough show to watch. Its real-world violence and dark geopolitical overtones are certainly not for everyone, nor is some of the TV-MA material riddled throughout. Yet, at least those first two things are essential in reinforcing the series’ most compelling themes of dual identity, the conflict between country and family, and the dangers involved with keeping the American public safe. Lioness is based on the real-life team, after all, and while the series differs from the true story, its commitment to examining the genuine psychological effects of these operations is both admirable and daunting. As civilians, it can be challenging to try to understand the sorts of hardships those in the U.S. Armed Forces face, and Lioness does its best to show how all of that plays out — both in the field and off it. Season 2 is certainly a step in the right direction for this series and leads us to hope Sheridan will pursue more thriller projects in the future.
Lioness Season 2 premieres on Paramount+ on October 27.
Lioness gets deeper and better in a slow-burn second season that heads in a strong direction for the series.
- Zoe Saldaña gives a powerful performance that ups the ante from last season.
- The complex themes of dual identities and one’s duty to their country vs. family make for some meaty drama.
- Taylor Sheridan revisits ideas previously explored in Sicario in a new and interesting way.
- Season 2’s pace shifts far too often for what should be a pulse-pounding military thriller.
- Many of the characters still feel more one-dimensional, leaving us wanting more.
- Release Date
- July 23, 2023
- Seasons
- 1
Watch on Paramount+
