Special Ops: Lioness - Is the Lioness program real? Everything you need to know

Special Ops: Lioness is an American spy thriller series, with Season 1 premiering via Paramount+ on July 23, 2023. While its second season premiered on October 27, 2024. The series revolves around the CIA operative Joe McNamara (Zoe Saldana) who's in charge of an undercover operation called The Lioness program.

The Lioness program is a high-value undercover operation where the female operatives befriend the wives and daughters of dangerous terrorists to get a close insight into the high-value targets. The Lioness program is based on a real program called the U.S. Marine Cruz Manuelos.

The series takes inspiration from the U.S. Marine Cruz Manuelos, whose team is called Task Force Lioness or the Female Engagement team, but their purpose is slightly different than Special Ops: Lioness. They operate in Iran and Afghanistan and are tasked to identify women who might be involved in terrorist activity.

---

What inspired the story behind Special Ops: Lioness?

Taylor Sheridan's Special Ops: Lioness bases its main concept on a real military force. This one is borrowed from the U.S. Marine Corps' Female Engagement Teams, also known as Task Force Lioness special unit that operated in Iraq and Afghanistan for a major purpose: making contacts with local women in these territories.

In response to the norm of local culture that restrains male soldiers from freely interacting with local women, the U.S. military developed a specialized female team for purposes of interacting with women within the community. The intention of Task Force Lioness was to conduct sensitive culturally informed searches at check points and develop relationships, which improved intelligence and enhanced the rapport of the community.

While the show flexes its artistic muscles to expand on the team's mission, to include high-stakes CIA work and espionage, Sheridan grounds the narrative in a semblance of reality. The lead character, Cruz Manuelos, portrays a CIA recruit who goes undercover to get close to the families of high-value terrorist targets.

While it's fiction, the series helps illustrate the strategic significance of female operatives in intelligence work, a theme also supported by the real goals of Task Force Lioness.

---

How realistic is the action and storytelling in Special Ops: Lioness?

Special Ops: Lioness combines high-octane action with psychological bite, putting the viewer firmly into intense combat scenarios and tactical machinations. What would be expected, really, of any movie involving Chris Sheridan is an equally divided balance of hard-edged realism and theatrics for the action pieces.

Explosive moments abound in the trailer-kill missions, perhaps a "kill mission" set before the lens of a news, the dramatic turn shifts slightly away from the generally low profile, covertly involved status typical of most espionage activities. Sheridan suggests that "inspired by real-world storylines" the stakes were raised to create greater tension.

However, in practice, the Female Engagement Teams operated more covertly. In fact, they were integrated into the local communities to provide more subtle intelligence gathering with minimal attention. These were always short-term teams, as after training local women on what to do, the Female Engagement Teams would depart and disintegrate.

In a show that sticks to the typical short-term, community-oriented theme, this one is different, as it addresses long-term CIA missions, with creative liberties taken into the story for television viewers being highly pronounced.

---

What roles do the star-studded cast play in Special Ops: Lioness?

Sheridan’s knack for attracting top-tier talent is on full display in the series. Laysla De Oliveira takes center stage as Cruz Manuelos, a young Marine recruited into the CIA’s fictionalized Lioness program. Her character is given a complex mission that tests her resolve as she navigates the treacherous world of undercover intelligence.

Meanwhile, Zoe Saldaña portrays Joe, Cruz’s handler, who oversees her mission, adding depth to the series by exploring the mentor-mentee relationship in the high-pressure environment of counter-terrorism.

Supporting roles include Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman, who bring gravitas to the CIA’s upper echelons. Their presence is a testament to Sheridan’s skill at securing “prestige talent” and sets the tone for a high-stakes series that elevates its material through seasoned performances.

With Special Ops: Lioness, Sheridan merges blockbuster action with intense character-driven drama, making it a standout entry in his expanding portfolio of successful TV projects.

---

Special Ops: Lioness is streaming on Paramount +.