From box-office queen to queen of the box
“SHE’S AN EAGLE,” insists Zoe Saldaña. “I kept arguing with my acting coach because she was like, ‘Well, she’s a falcon’. But I said, ‘No, she’s definitely an eagle!’”
The ‘she’ in question is Joe, the beating heart of Paramount+’s Special Ops: Lioness and one of only a scant few TV characters Saldaña has played since her fresh-faced debut in Law & Order back in 1999. After achieving box-office domination — becoming the first-ever actor to appear in four movies that have made more than $2 billion each — the actor is now returning to the small screen. And she’s chosen the role carefully. When viewers first meet Joe, we witness the CIA operative calmly order an airstrike against Taliban insurgents who have her pinned down under heavy fire — all the while trying to finish up a phone call without being rudely interrupted. Whether she is in fact an eagle, a falcon or a particularly no-nonsense pigeon (it seems prep for roles these days involves a good working knowledge of ornithology), Joe is a woman with nerves of solid granite.
“You find her smack in the middle of making incredible and dangerous decisions that will cost lives,” Saldaña explains. “She’s constantly in this chess game where she can’t give herself away.
Because if she shows any sign of weakness then they’ll know she’s expendable and they’ll have to get rid of her.”
Lioness is rooted in the murky world of state-sponsored assassination, based on a real-world military programme that used specially-trained female soldiers to hunt down high-value targets by getting close to their families. It’s a morally complex job that requires operatives with ice in their veins and courage on a level with the show’s savannah-prowling namesake. Enter Joe, whose job is to recruit women with a particular set of skills (in this case, Laysla De Oliveira’s young Marine, Cruz) and send them on missions that might well see them caught, tortured and killed.
“What I loved about it is that, even in the first episode, there was never a moment where a woman has to justify why she has a seat at the table,” says Saldaña. “She’s never questioned by any of her colleagues that are males. There are no tropes, no stereotypes.”
Sideswiping expectations around women in the military, the show marks the latest offensive in uber-showrunner Taylor Sheridan’s bid to conquer all of streaming. The Yellowstone creator called Saldaña during the height of the pandemic to pitch her the idea and see if the woman with the cinematic Midas touch could work some similar magic by moving to the smaller screen. “That’s where good material is right now!” says Saldaña. “This whole antiquated mentality that cool people only live in cinema is bullshit. You have to follow good material, whether it’s on stage, in the theatres or on your TV.”
Hence Lioness, a serial thriller that boasts Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman in supporting roles. This eagle — if that’s what she is — has landed very well indeed.
SPECIAL OPS: LIONESS IS ON PARAMOUNT+ NOW
ZOE SALDAÑA TAKES UP ARMS FOR NEW SERIES SPECIAL OPS: LIONESS