Nicole Kidman Cast in Taylor Sheridan's Latest Paramount+ Series, 'Lioness'

by Darian Scalamoni

    Nicole Kidman has been more hands-on in taking part on-screen for her producing ventures recently. Now, she's joining the long list of actors who are joining the Taylor Sheridan-verse for Paramount. Though there were many months of speculation, Deadline confirmed yesterday that the Oscar-winning actress would be joining Lioness alongside Zoe Saldana and Laysla De Oliveira.

    Kidman signed on as producer for the project when it was first announced, however, Paramount was trying to keep her role in the series under wraps. Lioness is based on the real-life CIA program and follows a young female marine named Cruz Manuelos (played by De Oliveira) who is recruited to join the prestigious program to take down a terrorist organization from within. Saldana will play Joe, a station chief of Lioness who is tasked with training and managing all the female agents within the CIA branch. Kidman will play Kaitlyn Meade, a senior supervisor to the program who is always involved in a political scheme. 

    This is far from Kidman's first foray in television in recent years as she won an Emmy back in 2017 for her lead role in Big Little Lies for HBO. Kidman has done some other work in streaming in recent years including The Undoing for HBO Max, Nine Perfect Strangers for Hulu and appeared in an episode of the anthology series, Roar for AppleTV+. Taylor Sheridan, who created Lioness is something of a renaissance man for Paramount as he's single-handedly shepherded the biggest series for their streamer Paramount+ and their cable network, Paramount Network. He created Yellowstone as well as the accompanying spinoff series, 1883 and 1923. Additionally, he created the Michigan-set crime series, Mayor of Kingstown starring Jeremy Renner and has Land Man starring Billy Bob Thornton currently filming as well. 

    Kidman most recently starred in The Northman and will return to her role as Atlanna in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in December. She is also set to star in Lulu Wang's Expats for AppleTV+ in 2023 as well.

    What are your thoughts on Kidman's upcoming role in Lioness? Are you excited to see her join a Taylor Sheridan-created program? Let us know in the comments!