Special Ops: Lioness: Dave Annable Reveals Awkward First Scene With Zoe Saldana

In the Paramount+ series Special Ops: Lioness, part of the series focuses on Zoe Saldaña as Joe, a CIA operative running an elite task force, while the more personal side considers her home life where she’s married to Dave Annable’s Neil, a surgeon. Speaking with ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview, we asked Annable about what he and Saldaña did to prepare for their intense moments as a married couple who often have some high stakes moments. For the pair it just came naturally of course, and one of their first scenes was one of the most awkward.

“You know, that’s a great question,” Annable said. “Truth be told. I met her, uh, once, which was at the rehearsals at Taylor’s Ranch and then we went sort of, kind of right into shooting. So I didn’t really have a lot of one-on-one time with her to sort of develop like, these backstories. What Taylor (Sheridan, creaotr) had had told Zoe and I was their love is a real love, he didn’t want to be like ‘Will they stay together, won’t they stay together?’ It’s basically how can we keep trying to make this work because I know what you’re doing and you know what I’m doing, for the nation, for others. There’s a respect there and I think that that was able to carry us through.

He continued, “I mean, our first day of shooting happened to be like the scenes in the bedroom. So that was, uh, that’s always awkward. I was like, yo this is day one. Hi, Zoe, I’m Dave. You know, nice to meet you, we got a weird job. But in all honesty I think she’s so good that I just get to play off her and sort of do the work, the prep that I’ve done. But it’s a tennis match so we’re just
going sort of back and forth. She’s fantastic and she’s fantastic in the show and it was really cool to see those chops on full display.”

What is Special Ops: Lioness about?

The Paramount+ description for the show reads, “SPECIAL OPS: LIONESS, inspired by an actual U.S. Military program, follows the life of Joe (Saldaña) while she attempts to balance her personal and professional life as the tip of the CIA’s spear in the war on terror. The Lioness Program, overseen by Kaitlyn Meade (Kidman) and Donald Westfield (Kelly), enlists an aggressive Marine Raider named Cruz (De Oliveira) to operate undercover alongside Joe among the power brokers of State terrorism in the CIA’s efforts to thwart the next 9/11.”

From Academy Award nominee Taylor Sheridan, Special Ops: Lioness stars series lead and executive producer Zoe Saldaña, Laysla De Oliveira, Emmy Award nominee Michael Kelly, with Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman, and Academy Award winner and executive producer Nicole Kidman. It also features series regulars Dave Annable, Jill Wagner, LaMonica Garrett, James Jordan, Austin Hébert, Jonah Wharton, Stephanie Nur and Hannah Love Lanier.

Special Ops: Lioness – Season 1 is Available on Blu-ray™ and DVD Now.