REVIEW ‘Lioness’ Season 3 Delivers Thrilling Espionage Action And Heavy Propaganda

The stakes have never been higher in Lioness Season 3, as the danger comes to Joe McNamara’s (Zoe Saldaña) doorstep and a dark conspiracy with huge global implications begins to take shape. Lioness Season 3 is a military espionage drama series written and created by Taylor Sheridan and produced by Paramount Television Studios and 101 Studios.

Lioness Season 3 stars Oscar winner Saldaña, Laysla De Oliveira, Genesis Rodriguez, Dave Annable, Jill Wagner, LaMonica Garrett, James Jordan, Austin Hébert, Jonah Wharton, Hannah Love Lanier, Thad Luckinbill, Ian Bohen, Michael Kelly, alongside fellow Oscar winners Morgan Freeman and Nicole Kidman.

The line between Joe’s duty and home has become blurred nearly beyond repair. Having narrowly survived an abduction six months earlier by unseen forces, her cover was exposed to her family, causing them to upend their lives. As Joe and her team investigate all possible suspects and remove players that can be connected to the attempted abduction from the board, Joe is captured in a second attempt.

Lioness Season 3 features some of Zoe Saldaña’s most intense acting in the series by far.

Now, having been captured and undergoing intense torture methods, Joe’s only hope is being rescued by her team before she is transported out of the country. Kaitlyn Meade (Nicole Kidman) and Byron Westfield (Michael Kelly) take up leading Joe’s QRF (Quick Reaction Force) unit, race against time, and interrogate double agents to find the source of Joe’s kidnapping. 

Lioness Season 3 features some of Zoe Saldaña’s most intense acting in the series by far. However, there were missed opportunities when Joe was kidnapped to share some introspection from the character. For example, flashbacks to her earlier years in the Lioness program and training for situations like the one she finds herself in now. Or even thinking back on her family to hold out hope and keep herself motivated.

Unfortunately, none of those introspective opportunities happened this season for Joe. Having those moments included in the narrative could have shown Joe in an even more vulnerable light. By allowing audiences a glimpse into Joe’s inner thoughts and state of mind as she went through a hellish week of torture, not knowing if she would be saved. Granted, Saldaña’s performance does capture a few moments of vulnerability for Joe when she reaches her breaking point during some of the darkest and most gruesome moments this season. 

Morgan Freeman is the standout supporting star of Lioness Season 3.

The entire main cast delivers impressively strong performances throughout the season, but Morgan Freeman has some moments that stand out above the rest. While his character, Secretary of State Edwin Mullins (Freeman), does not have as much screen time as other characters, he leaves a lasting impression in Episode 6 when he reminds Westfield of the importance of deciding whether to take a life.

Even if taking that life is something they must do to protect their country, they should never forget the weight of having to commit murder. The moment is brief, but it offers a much-needed reprieve from the fast-paced action and violence this season, adding a more human element and reminding audiences of the weight of the decisions these officials must make. 

The action and pacing in Lioness Season 3 are versatile, shifting from battlefield operations in Episode 1 to an espionage thriller that spans the rest of the season. Instead of the characters moving from one covert explosive mission to the next, Sheridan builds the stakes in each episode with clues that feel like they bring the Lioness team closer, yet further from Joe with every passing moment. The action sequences also feel especially personal and gripping in Lioness Season 3 because they carry visceral weight.

Joe’s work life is finally having a major impact on her home life.

The action scenes feature intense counterintelligence traps, survivalist combat, and firefights erupting in public on American soil in places like crowded diners and soccer fields. One of the more brutal public settings resulted in many civilians being caught in the crossfire and dying. It will be interesting to see how the fallout from these public firefights plays out and what consequences, if any, follow for Joe and certain members of her team.  

Storywise, the show uses flashbacks to connect clues and patterns from six months ago to present-day situations. As Joe’s team investigates the first abduction and their double-agent informant, Oleksandra (Elizaveta Neretin), for more clues and insight, Joe becomes blind to the threat of a second abduction attempt, thinking they’ve captured anyone who could have been involved. The overall mystery of the motives and identity of the mastermind behind these abductions remains one of the season’s biggest questions. 

Joe’s work-life balance and problems at home finally hit their breaking point for her family in Episode 7. Joe’s work in the field has been a consistent source of contention in her marriage, and now it is affecting her daughters. This becomes painfully clear when Joe finally goes home in Episode 8 and finds an empty house, a for-sale sign, and a letter waiting for her. 

The moment is gut-wrenching for Joe, but both sides, in a way, are valid. Joe chose not to return home until she completed the mission herself, coming home only once it was truly safe. However, Joe’s husband and daughters, having learned how dangerous her work is and not knowing whether she will be home when she leaves, can take a toll. 

Lioness Season three explores the sacrifices and costs agents and their families face. This season, Joe’s work nearly cost her her life again, but it also cost her family. Next season, it will be interesting to see whether this season’s events will finally push Joe to retire from the field and take a desk job to repair her relationship with her family. Or, if by this point, the damage to the McNamara family is too deep to fix. 

The Propaganda is heavy in Lioness Season 3, which is nothing new for shows that center on military and defense force units. This season draws heavily on real-life geopolitical conflicts and name-drops countries such as Russia, Ukraine, and Iran. This is nothing new for Lioness, since the characters have run covert missions in these countries or mentioned them verbally in previous seasons.

The season finale reveals the true mastermind behind the attempts to capture Joe.

However, this season, the mystery of who is behind the targeting of Joe, a high-ranking senior operative, and what their motives could be leads the characters to consider that the abduction is tied to a geopolitical power struggle aimed at weakening America. The evidence bounces back and forth among the three potential countries until the tail end of the season, when Joe and her team believe Iran is behind everything. 

Given the very volatile, ongoing war with Iran dominating our headlines today, the narrative’s aggressive focus on Iran feels especially glaring. In many ways, it feels deliberate, as if calling back to the post 9/11 media playbook, where Middle Eastern nations were uniformly portrayed as monolithic threats to American freedom to justify military intervention. 

Eventually, the season finale reveals the true mastermind behind the attempts to capture Joe in its final moments. Many thought Joe’s abduction was revenge for her leading “Operation Treasure” earlier in Season 3 or “Operation Skyhawk” in Season 2, and a way to incite America to act, which would force it to pull forces out of the ongoing war. However, that was not the case.

Lioness Season 3 is complicated, a bit heavy with the propaganda, but still entertaining enough to watch.

Sheridan pulls threads from Season 1 to connect to the finale of Lioness Season 3, delivering one of the season’s best narrative payoffs. The fallout from Cruz’s (Laysla De Oliveira) first mission comes back in the form of Aaliyah Amrohi (Stefanie Nur) as the ultimate mastermind. The reveal is stunning and exciting, as it suggests that next season will further this high-stakes game between Joe, the Lioness program, and Aaliyah.

Additionally, although Nur’s scene is brief, it leaves a lasting impression, as it is clear her character has grown significantly and gone down a darker path than when audiences last saw her. Granted, she saw Cruz, the woman she was falling in love with, kill her fiancé and father in front of her. Instead of leaving her behind in season 3 as a tragic casualty of the operation, Sheridan brings her character back to the forefront of the series and sets her up to be an intriguing foe for next season. 

Lioness Season 3 is complicated, a bit heavy with the propaganda, but still entertaining enough to watch. It is an intense and graphic espionage thriller from start to finish, but it stumbles, missing opportunities to further explore the introspection of its main characters. Strong performances throughout the main and supporting cast help to carry the season to a very strong narrative payoff in the final moments. 

Lioness Season 3 is streaming now, exclusively on Paramount+.