After the Rip (Cole Hauser) and Beth (Kelly Reilly)-centered Yellowstone spin-off Dutton Ranch came to an end on July 3, fans have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of another slice of Taylor Sheridan on Paramount+. Finally, this past Sunday, his most explosive series yet, Lioness, returned for its hotly anticipated third season, with some speculating it would be Zoe Saldaña‘s last, after initially committing to a three-season deal to star as Joe McNamara and executive produce.
The status of Saldaña’s future aside, Lioness returned without missing a beat or causing controversy, nailing its opening gambit with a pulse-racing first episode, “The Spider and The Fly,” which was penned by Sheridan and directed by Michael Friedman. Oscar winner Saldaña, of course, returns as Joe, joined by fan favorites including Morgan Freeman,Nicole Kidman,Michael Kelly, and LaMonica Garrett. The series has immediately shot back to the streaming summit, but how has it performed with critics?
After the embargo on reviews was finally lifted, the verdict is in from critics, and it seems that the consensus on Lioness Season 3 is generally positive. However, the series has taken a major fall from the heights of Season 2. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, at the time of writing, the third season has an average score of 75%, which is a significant drop from Season 2 (90%), though it’s still an improvement on Season 1 (54%). For Collider, Therese Lacson wrote that Season 3 was “messy and chaotic,” for better and for worse. ScreenRant’s Cher Thompson said that the “show’s newest season could easily become its best yet,” with CBR’s Katie Doll writing that the show has “finally found the correct balance between action and grounded drama.”
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor Sheridan Show Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
10
When it’s over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan’s characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re smart enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
Will There Be a ‘Lioness’ Season 4?
We might only be one episode into the third season of Lioness, but hungry audiences are already wondering what might come next. There’s yet to be any confirmation from Paramount+ about the show’s future, although it is still perhaps far too early for that. What we do have, however, is a confident claim that Season 4 will go ahead from none other than Jill Wagner, who plays Quick Reaction Force team leader Bobby. In a recent interview, Wagner said, “We’re going to get Lioness Season 4,” with co-star Laysla De Oliveira adding that viewers “won’t want” the series to end after Season 3.
Lioness is streaming on Paramount+. Make sure to stay tuned to Collider for more stories.
