Nicole Kidman and Zoe Saldana Circling ‘Yellowstone’ Creator’s Upcoming Paramount+ Show

One of the many projects Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan is developing for Paramount+ is Lioness, a series about an undercover female operative program that fights against drug cartels and in the Afghanistan war. Although Lioness has been in the works for a while, little was known about it until now. Nicole Kidman and Zoe Saldana are reportedly close to starring in the show.

Saldana and Kidman are “in talks” to star in Lioness, journalist Matt Belloni reported in the latest issue of his newsletter. Lioness was announced back in September 2020, when ViacomCBS shared the first line-up of original Paramount+ productions. “Based on a real-life CIA program, it follows a young Marine recruited to befriend the daughter of a terrorist to bring the organization down from within,” reads the show’s logline. In December, Deadline reported that Sheridan has already written by the first two episodes of Lioness and he was “zeroing in” on cast he would not reveal. Tom Brady (Hell on Wheels) was hired to be the showrunner with Sheridan.

Jill Wagner is an executive producer on Lioness, and also plans on starring in the show. Wagner is best known for playing Amy Winslow in several Hallmark Channel Mystery 101 movies. She also starred in Teen Wolf as Kate Argent. In an interview with The List in December, Wagner said the show will completely surprise those used to seeing her on Hallmark. 

“That’s going to be totally different than any of the films that I filmed,” Wagner said. “It’s a little less family-friendly. I don’t necessarily know that I’d let my daughter watch Lioness.”

Wagner is also working hard to get back in shape to star in the show, which will begin production just months after she welcomed her second daughter in August 2021. On Dec. 3, Wagner defended pushing herself at the gym, calling Lioness the “opportunity of a lifetime” and she doesn’t want to miss it. “I am not a major famous actor that can just walk in the room and impress people with my credits,” Wagner wrote. “I feel as if I need to work harder to show the people in charge that I want this and I am serious about the role that I’ve been given. I also believe that there is no luck in life and it all amounts to being prepared when you have the opportunity thrown your way. I am not about to let this moment in time slide by without giving it 100% of my effort.”

Kidman is now working on Expats, a new Amazon series based on Janice Y.K. Lee’s novel about a close-knit group of expatriates. She recently starred as Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos and Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers. Saldana recently filmed a Netflix series called From Scratch and will be seen in Avatar 2, which is scheduled to finally hit theaters on Dec. 16, 2022.