Michael Kelly has some experience playing CIA agents. The veteran actor and star of Paramount+’s Special Ops: Lioness has played a plethora of different roles, but somehow always finds himself playing a government agent for the FBI or CIA. He played an FBI agent in 2013’s Now You See Me, and a CIA agent in Amazon’s Jack Ryan. He’s back as another CIA agent in Special Ops: Lioness, playing CIA Deputy Director Byron Westfield. Kelly’s experience makes him somewhat of a “CIA expert,” and he recently revealed how that led to him getting to visit the CIA headquarters.
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ComicBook.com spoke to Michael Kelly about Special Ops: Lioness, where the actor was asked about all of these CIA roles he finds himself playing. When Kelly was asked if he had to do any research for his Special Ops: Lioness role, he replied with a laugh, “I’m far from an expert. I don’t think one can ever be an expert in the CIA without being in the CIA.”
He then added how Jack Ryan afforded him the opportunity to visit the CIA. “Through Jack Ryan, I’ve become incredibly blessed to go to the CIA. We did a screening of Jack Ryan there on campus. I’ve been several times now, and it’s one of the greatest honors of my life. So I knew quite a bit about the CIA and how it operates. I was doing a screening of Jack Ryan, and the Deputy Director was hosting the Q&A with me and one of the producers. I had just gotten the [Special Ops] Lioness job, and I said, ‘Sir, you’re not going to believe this, but I’m playing you. Not you specifically, but I am playing you.’ He said, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to see it.’”
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.
