Zoe Saldaña has opened up about working with Taylor Sheridan on the hit spy thriller series Lioness, saying the Yellowstone creator’s dense scripts “raise the bar.”
The 48-year-old Oscar-winner stars as CIA officerJoe McNamara in the Paramount+ show, which returned for a third season on Sunday.
Speaking to People, Saldaña described Sheridan as an “incredibly smart person” and added: “He’s very curious about government affairs, and he seeks out information and education based on that curiosity, and then he writes these incredibly elaborate shows that end up really educating us as well.”
She went on to say that the prolific screenwriter’s scripts do come with a stark ultimatum, saying: “Working with him is a challenge in the sense that he does raise the bar, and you have one of two choices. You either accept the challenge and make sure that you don’t f*** up... or you quit.”
Saldaña added: “And I like being challenged. I really do.”
Saldaña also gushed about her co-star Nicole Kidman, saying the 59-year-old Big Little Lies star is someone she respects “so much.”
“Nicole… I admire her,” she continued. “She’s an incredibly talented woman, but what she is first and foremost, what I love the most, is she’s a mother. She’s a daughter. She’s a sister. She’s a friend.”
“And she plays all of those roles beautifully, and she does it with so much love and unconditional support. That’s admirable. So everything about working with Nicole has been true joy.”
Lioness returned with a bang at the weekend, with viewers calling the season premiere “totally nuts.”
*Warning — Spoilers ahead for ‘Lioness’ season three, episode one.*
The latest installment follows Saldaña’s McNamara as she’s pulled into a mission in a Ukrainian war zone.
Instead of the show’s typical Middle East setting, the Lioness team are sent into Donetsk, where the CIA is trying to exploit a Ukrainian double agent with access to Russia’s intelligence service.
“Episode one far exceeded my expectations,” wrote one fan on social media.
“Just wow! #lioness!!! If this show doesn’t start winning awards all around I’m going to lose my mind. What an incredible opener for season 3,” raved another.
“Episode 1 of season 3 is 100x’s better than any episode of the first 2 seasons,” another fan opined.
New episodes of Lioness are airing Sundays at 3 a.m. ET / 12 a.m. PT on Paramount+.
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