Zoe Saldaña says Lioness is all she can handle

Zoe Saldaña says she cannot carry another Taylor Sheridan series on top of Lioness.

“I can’t imagine me taking on more of a Taylor Sheridan world,” Saldaña told People in an interview reported by The Hollywood Reporter. “[Lioness] is all that I can handle at this time.” One show is enough.

Saldaña is the star and executive producer of the Paramount+ spy thriller, which follows covert operations run through female undercover operatives. She has played CIA operative Joe McNamara for three seasons. Joe is the station chief of the Lioness programme, tasked with training, managing and leading those operatives, as first detailed by Variety.

The reason is workload. Saldaña described being number one on the call sheet, meaning she leads the cast and tops the daily shooting schedule, as being first in and last out. She said she starts preparing months before anyone else joins production.

Lioness centres on Joe and her team as they navigate dangerous global assignments while facing risks to their own safety. The action-drama also stars Nicole Kidman as a CIA officer alongside Morgan Freeman, Laysla De Oliveira, Dave Annable, Jill Wagner, LaMonica Garrett, James Jordan, Austin Hébert, Jonah Wharton and Hannah Love Lanier. Sheridan executive produces with David C. Glasser and Saldaña, according to Variety.

Sheridan personally recruited Saldaña for what was then called Special Ops: Lioness by sending her the pilot script to read, Variety reported in 2023. Paramount+ renewed the series for Season 3 in October 2025. Its Season 3 premiere drew 7.1 million viewers, Variety reported in August 2026.

For fans, this means Saldaña is staying put. Her focus remains on Joe and finishing that story, not on joining Sheridan’s wider slate of series.