“I’d never played this type of woman before, where there is an enormous strength and then her allegiance and her protection of her country,” Kidman s
Saldaña was joined onstage at the SVA Theatre by Kidman, who plays Kaitlyn Meade, the CIA official overseeing the entire Lioness program. “I’d never played this type of woman before, where there is an enormous strength and then her allegiance and her protection of her country,” Kidman said. “That’s what she will live and die for.”
Lioness is the brainchild of Taylor Sheridan, who cocreated the hit Western Yellowstone and came up with subsequent spin-offs including 1883 and 1923. But unlike his previous work, Lioness focuses on female protagonists juggling complicated homelives, inner demons, and brutal geopolitical conflicts. If you love elaborate military acronyms (OPSEC, PID, DLA, TTP), sedate gore, and Call of Duty, you’ll find much to love here.
In season three, the show’s characters are forced to evolve. “There were things this year that I didn’t get to try the first season, like, how does Cruz smile? How does she laugh?” cast member Laysla De Oliveira joked during the Q&A. “I don’t know! She’s been brooding for so long.”
“I still never smile!” Kidman added of her own character, laughing.
Saldaña noted that season three also sheds lithe on the morally gray decisions each character must make. “They understand that bad things can happen to good people, and good things can happen to bad, and that good people have to sometimes do unimaginable bad things in order to accomplish a greater good,” she said. “And to think that that never comes back to haunt you is naive as well.”
