Lioness season 2's release date has now been confirmed following the release of season 1 last year. Created by Taylor Sheridan, who is best known as the mind behind the Yellowstone universe, the hit Paramount Plus series stars Zoe Saldaña as Joe, a CIA operative, and Nicole Kidman as Kaitlyn Meade, her boss, who together run a specialized team that puts female agents deep behind enemy lines. After a successful season 1, Lioness season 2 is now confirmed, with filming having gotten underway earlier this year.
Deadline now reveals that Lioness season 2 will premiere on October 27, 2024. The Sunday night premiere will include the first two episodes of the season, with the remainder then releasing weekly. You can read the season 2 synopsis accompanying the announcement below:
In Season 2, as the CIA’s fight against terror moves closer to home, Joe (Saldaña), Kaitlyn (Kidman), and Byron (Michael Kelly) enlist a new Lioness operative to infiltrate a previously unknown threat. With pressure mounting from all sides, Joe is forced to confront the profound personal sacrifices she has made as the leader of the Lioness program.
How Will Lioness Season 2 Compare To Season 1?
The Taylor Sheridan Drama Is Making Some Changes
Lioness season 1 features Saldaña in a starring role, but much of the action actually involves Laysla De Oliveira's Cruz Manuelos. Cruz is Joe's Lioness program recruit in season 1, and she's the one who infiltrates the arms dealer's inner circle and takes him down. While it hasn't been confirmed one way or another, much of what's been revealed about Lioness season 2 suggests that Cruz won't be a part of the upcoming batch of episodes.
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As teased in the synopsis above, Joe and her team will be recruiting a new agent in season 2, and this new figure will seemingly be taking Cruz's place. Genesis Rodriguez joins the Lioness season 2 cast as Josie, a helicopter pilot, and it's possible that Josie is this new recruit being referred to. This change could reflect how the Sheridan show continues if it gets renewed for season 3 and beyond, with new Lioness recruits joining for their own standalone outings that get concluded by the end of each season.
Thad Luckinbill is confirmed to return as Kyle to play an expanded role in Lioness season 2.
Returning to season 2, however, Morgan Freeman is poised to play a larger role as Secretary of State Mullins this time around after appearing very briefly in season 1. This could suggest that the Lioness program is facing more external pressure and that bureaucratic red tape will become more of a factor in the new batch of episodes. Many questions still remain about Lioness season 2, but a trailer for the show's sophom*ore outing likely isn't far off.
Will Lioness Season 2 Be The Last One?
How Long The Taylor Sheridan Series Could Run For
As of writing, no announcements have been made regarding the future of Lioness beyond season 2. Critically, season 1 wasn't particularly well received. As seen in the chart below, the Paramount series has a 56% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes, with reviews taking issue with the fairly by-the-numbers storytelling and lack of any genuine surprises. It's with audiences, however, that Lioness succeeded, Metacritc user score notwithstanding.
Lioness' Key Scores | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Score | Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score | Metacritic Score | Metacritic User Score | IMDb User Score |
56% | 80% | 56/100 | 5.4/10 | 7.7/10 |
Lioness' 80% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is evidently indicative of the show's viewership. While specific figures regarding season 1 are hard to come by, Collider previously revealed that episode 1 garnered 6 million viewers across Paramount Plus and linear in its first three days. While a strong critics' response is always a nice bonus, it's viewership that determines whether a series gets renewed or not, and Lioness must have pulled strong enough numbers to justify a continuation.
Another positive sign for Lioness is Sheridan's track record when it comes to shows. Yellowstone season 5 part 2 is on the horizon, and there's been talk of a potential season 6. While 1883 was a limited series, 1923 is returning for season 2, and could continue beyond that. Yellowstone spinoff The Madison is also on the way. Though Lioness isn't connected to Yellowstone in any way, Sheridan is evidently creating television that people want to watch, and it's certainly possible that the Saldaña-starring series returns for multiple more seasons in the years ahead.
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Could Lioness Get Its Own Yellowstone-Like Universe?
What Spinoffs Could Be About
Yellowstone and its spinoffs have been wildly popular, with viewers clearly interested in learning more about the history of the Dutton family and their ranch. Lioness features a very different premise, but it's one that could be expanded in a similar way. Saldaña's character, for example, is a seasoned CIA veteran when the show starts, but a prequel could explore Joe's history with the Agency and how she came to start the titular program.
A Lioness spinoff show could also pivot away from Joe and chronicle the early days of Meade's time in the Agency in the '80s or '90s. A present day spinoff could similarly follow Luckinbill's Kyle and his own work at the CIA. While there's seemingly nothing on the cards just yet in terms of a further expansion of the Lioness universe, the upcoming season 2 could introduce new elements that paint a clearer path forward for the show.
Source: Deadline
Lioness (2023)
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Special Ops: Lioness is a Paramount+ original series starringZoe Saldana and Nicole Kidman. The series centers on a marine and a CIA agent who work together with the daughter of a dangerous terrorist group to destroy the organization.Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone co-creator) and Jill Wagner created the series, which was directed byPaul Cameron and Anthony Byrne.
- Cast
- Zoe Saldana , Nicole Kidman , Morgan Freeman , Laysla De Oliveira , Michael Kelly , Dave Annable , Jill Wagner , LaMonica Garrett , James Jordan , Austin Hébert
- Release Date
- July 23, 2023
- Seasons
- 1
- Streaming Service(s)
- Paramount+
- Writers
- Taylor Sheridan , Jill Wagner
- Directors
- Anthony Byrne , Paul Cameron
- Showrunner
- Taylor Sheridan
