‘Lioness’ Star Zoe Saldaña Says Season 2 Brought Her Closer to Nicole Kidman: ‘I Get to Call Her a Friend’
“Special Opps: Lioness” has given Zoe Saldaña more than a juicy role as a CIA intelligence officer, it’s given her a friend in co-star Nicole Kidman. That’s especially the case in Season 2, an installment that groups the two powerhouses in more scenes together than ever before.
“It’s so rewarding. I get to call her a friend. We have so many things in common — our dedication to our work, but primarily our dedication to our families,” Saldaña told TheWrap.
For “Lioness” on Paramount+, the two stars shared a makeup trailer. Saldaña portrays Joe, while Kidman plays her boss Kaitlyn Meade, a high-ranking member of the CIA’s Lioness program. “In the mornings, we’re constantly talking about what we’re going to be doing, in addition to breaking from our work and talking about personal things.”
The two are so close, they once had a little fun after encountering a difficult scene. While they prepared for filming, both women called showrunner Taylor Sheridan at the same time to see who he would answer first.
“It wasn’t in a form of competition. It was more like, ‘We have an urgent question. We’re about to shoot this scene, and he’s the person that can give us this answer as the writer and the showrunner and the director,” Saldaña said. “That level of camaraderie with Nicole Kidman is unbelievable.”
That level of support is especially helpful in Season 2 of “Lioness.” After Season 1 chronicled Sergeant Cruz Manuelos’ (Laysla De Oliveira) chaotic flailing through the Lioness program, Season 2 zooms in on Saldaña’s Joe. But this time around instead of orchestrating from the sidelines, Joe has to travel to the center of the action. That’s especially difficult when every mission away from her family is life or death. Because of this focus, Joe’s story largely revolves around the stress of being a full-time working mom with unbelievably high stakes.
“It’s incredibly difficult for [Joe] to lose a Lioness, and she takes a great deal of responsibility upon herself to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Saldaña said. “In Season 2 these conflicts intensify for her because now they are requiring her to be physically on the ground and put her life at risk at every turn of the way.”
Though she repeatedly emphasized that her own life isn’t as stressful as that of real CIA operatives, Saldaña did pull from personal experience to portray Joe this season.
“I can relate in my own way, knowing that what I do has to strip me away from my family,” Saldaña said, noting that her sons are roughly the same age as Joe’s youngest daughter in the show. “Sometimes they’re not so understanding why I have to go and for how long. And sometimes it hurts more than other times having to leave them to go do what I need to do. For Joe, that’s intensified to the 10th power.”
Reflecting on her role, Saldaña has a great deal of respect for the men and women who take positions like her character. “The level of responsibility and pressure that people like Joe and even Kaitlyn carry is unimaginable. But the way Joe sees it is she took an oath to to serve her country and, at times, that comes at a cost of sacrificing your own family to save another,” Saldaña said. “I think the only reason why Joe hasn’t transitioned out of the Lioness program is because she hasn’t been able to find a person that can replace her. And if she can’t, I don’t think it’ll be easy for her to walk away.”
New episodes of “Special Opps: Lioness” premiere Sundays on Paramount+.
The post ‘Lioness’ Star Zoe Saldaña Says Season 2 Brought Her Closer to Nicole Kidman: ‘I Get to Call Her a Friend’ appeared first on TheWrap.
