As Lioness reunites with her pride for a third season, Zoe Saldaña is grateful to get to reprise a well-written character.
The Oscar-winning actress, who stars as CIA agent Joe McNamara, praised series creator Taylor Sheridan for knowing “how to write women” and characters that “defy gender and race” on the Paramount+ series, which returns Aug. 2 to the streamer.
“I do believe that Joe could’ve been a man. We’ve seen various stories of men like Joe,” she told People. “And Kaitlyn [played by Nicole Kidman] could’ve been a man, the same way Westfield [played by Michael Kelly] could’ve been a woman, Kyle [played by Thad Luckinbill] could’ve been a woman. These are incredible complex individuals [and] any actor who challenges themselves can rise to that occasion.”
Saldaña added that Sheridan’s skill for crafting characters of any experience “is what makes a really good writer.”
“When you write something so incredible that it kind of defies gender and race, and it’s just about the merit of that human being, I feel like you give yourself the opportunity of a wider range of actors that can come in and sort of vie for that part,” she continued. “I have a great deal of respect for men that really know how to write women and I think that Taylor gives himself enough credit.
“I’m happy to say that, after playing one of his female characters for three seasons, I’m incredibly honored that he wrote Joe as a woman,” added Saldañ
Jill Wagner, who plays Bobby, noted that Sheridan “puts a little bit of himself in each one of these characters. Like, I see Taylor in almost every single character. That’s something he does naturally.”
Saldaña joked, “Oh great, so he writes himself? Here I am thinking he writes great women!”
Starring and executive produced by Saldaña and Kidman, Season 3 of Lioness sees hidden networks, foreign operatives and personal betrayals collide. Joe (Saldaña) walks the line between duty and home as unseen forces circle her world. Patterns appear where they shouldn’t, names vanish, and paths rearrange. Guided by Kaitlyn (Kidman) and Westfield (Kelly), Joe confronts enemies operating in the shadows, leaving her to reckon with a war that now reaches into every part of her life.
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