Special Ops: Lioness Trailer Starring Zoe Saldana Released by Paramount+

Paramount+ has released the official teaser trailer for Special Ops: Lioness, a new series starring Zoe Saldañaand Nicole Kidman as very dangerous people. The trailer gives a look at the violent and complicated world of the titular program, and sets the stage for some of the conflicts fans are likely to see in the miniseries, which is set to debut on the streamer  in July. The series hails from Academy Award nominee Taylor Sheridan, the creator behind the smash hit Yellowstone and a long list of other Paramount+ original series, such as the Yellowstone spinoffs 1923 and 1883, Mayor of Kingstown starring Jeremy Renner, and Tulsa King starring Sylvester Stallone. Special Ops: Lioness is based on a real-life program that features female undercover operatives.

The world of Lioness lives in a lot of moral gray area, underscoring the dangers of a clandestine program. The program itself is something based in reality, although the story here is not based on specific events. In the trailer, we see that they have to struggle with whether to save an operative whose cover has been blown, and answer to the government after a “covert” operation goes sideways and incriminates them in front of the press.

You can see the trailer below.

The movie is a bit of a twisted Marvel/DC crossover, of course, with Kidman having had success early in her acting career starring opposite Val Kilmer in Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever.  Saldaña recently did press for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, filmmaker James Gunn’s last movie in his cosmic trilogy. Saldaña has stated how Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will most likely be her last Marvel movie as well, retiring from her role as Gamora.

Special Ops: Lioness, inspired by an actual US Military program, follows the life of Joe (Zoe 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 (Nicole Kidman) and Donald Westfield (Michael Kelly), enlists an aggressive Marine Raider named Cruz (Laysla 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. 

Special Ops: Lioness centers on Saldaña and Kidman’s characters, but also stars series regulars Dave Annable, Jill Wagner, LaMonica Garrett, James Jordan, Austin Hébert, Jonah Wharton, Stephanie Nur and Hannah Love Lanier with Emmy Award nominee Michael Kelly in a recurring role. The series is executive produced by Taylor Sheridan, David C. Glasser, Zoe Saldaña, Nicole Kidman, Ron Burkle, Bob Yari, David Hutkin, Jill Wagner, Geyer Kosinski, Michael Malone and John Hillcoat.

Stream the two-episode premiere of Special Ops: Lioness on Sunday, July 23, exclusively on Paramount+. Then stream all-new episodes on Sundays.