Taylor Sheridan’s CIA Drama ‘Lioness’ Releases First Looks

Movie theaters aren’t the only place Nicole Kidman comes to for magic. As Variety first reported in January, the face of the culture-shifting AMC Theatres ad has joined the cast of a new TV project. This week, Vanity Fair finally shared our first look at Special Ops: Lioness, a spy drama from Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan that follows different levels of a team that sends women around the world as undercover operatives. Set to air on Paramount+, the show is based on a real-life CIA program … one might even say it’s so true. Kidman plays Kaitlyn Meade, a CIA senior supervisor who manages high-ranking government officials played by the likes of Morgan Freeman and Michael Kelly. Zoe Saldaña stars as Joe, the station chief who is in charge of training the Lioness program’s young recruits for on-the-ground missions. The new generation of oper includes a passionate Marine named Cruz Manuelo (Locke & Key’s Laysla De Oliveira), who hopes to take down a terrorist organization by befriending the daughter (1883’s Stephanie Nur) of a billionaire thought to be funding the terrorists.

According to Variety, the full Lioness cast also includes Jill Wagner, Dave Annable, LaMonica Garrett, James Jordan, Austin Hébert, Hannah Love Lanier, and Jonah Wharton. Sheridan, who created the series, will executive produce alongside cast members Kidman, Saldaña, and Wagner. Although no official release date has been shared yet, the show is expected to debut at some point during summer 2023. Saldaña let slip to Vanity Fair that she was worried about signing onto a “multi-seasonal show” when Sheridan approached her about Lioness. We’re just glad that Kidman’s next AMC commercial doesn’t seem to have caused any filming delays.

This post has been updated.