The Taylor Sheridan universe grew even bigger with Special Ops: Lioness. The eight-episode series based on the real Lioness Program has a star-studded cast including Zoe Saldana, Nicole Kidman, Morgan Freeman, and Laysla De Oliveira.
Special Ops: Lioness follows Cruz Manuelos, who is put on a mission to befriend the daughter of a terrorist whom the CIA is watching. Throughout the season, we follow her journey to grow closer to the target while fending off her commanding officer, Joe, who is dealing with her own issues.
While the premise of the series stems from the real-life Lioness program, Sheridan and his team choosing to take the focus off of that made for an underwhelming series. The first episode was a strong setup, but the rest of the show failed to live up to the true promise it had with a star-studded cast to go along with it.
READ: TV Shows like Special Ops: Lioness
Zoe Saldana and Laysla De Oliveira are strong in their roles of Joe and Cruz, even giving some emotionally profound moments that connect you to their journey. However, every time the show would take one step forward, it would take ten steps back while losing sight of what it should’ve been about. This series would’ve been much better if they stayed focused on the program.
With the series being based on this real-life program, Sheridan and the team can grow it within a second season. Let’s look at Special Ops: Lioness and whether or not it has been renewed for a second season.
Will there be a Special Ops: Lioness Season 2 – renewed or canceled status
Status: TBC
At the time of writing, Paramount+ hasn’t made an official decision on a second season of Special Ops: Lioness.
Sheridan’s Special Ops: Lioness has failed to land with critics and has become one of his lowest-rated series on Paramount, sitting at 55% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, audiences are much higher in the film, hovering at 75%. That’s a huge positive for a possible second season.
Another thing in favor of Special Ops: Lioness getting a second season is Sheridan’s relationship with Paramount. His shows are widely successful and have had multiple seasons, and with the ongoing strikes, this could be an easy greenlight by the studio.
As far as where could the series go with a Season 2? We could deal with the fallout of the first season, or we could do a time jump where Joe has to take a new girl through the Lioness program, and she has flashbacks of her relationship with Cruz. Either way, they could easily move forward story-wise for a second season.
Our official prediction is that Special Ops: Lioness will be renewed for Season 2. We’ll keep this page up to date with the latest information as we get it.
How many episodes of Special Ops: Lioness are there?
So far, only eight episodes of the series have been commissioned. However, with its growing popularity, we should expect to see more episodes from a second season.
You can watch this series with a subscription to Paramount+.
The show was atrocious! Horrible writing and acting! Just a mess! Fire Kidman! She can’t act the badass role! Sheridan should stay out if this lane!
Wow I really loved everything about this show amazing was amazing to me this is my first time ever watching a show like this and it was amazing first time experience I would stay up till 3am on Sundays just to watch this show and I just could not wait till Sunday come so I can watch this but I really do hope there is a season two because u really hate the season one ending like why did they not show what happened to Cruz after she quit they just left us guessing and I hope Aaliyah and Cruz find there way back to each other if there is a season 2 and it better no be new characters if there is a season two because wth would they do that for and I hope they show what happened when she said she wants to quit the army and if they let her or not and I want to see how that conversation with Down when she said that
This series was one of the best I’ve ever watched. It reminded me of Narcos; the edge of your seat action of what will happen next! The whole cast was great especially zoe & Laysla who was exceptional. I couldn’t stand any of the White House people as they had NO CLUE what was going on only concerned about oil prices. Figures politics! Taylor pulled another great series off and I truly pray there will be a second season of this. It will have to be new characters as I think they have exhausted the man characters with Cruz & Alliyah. Kidman was OK , hard to imagine hee as a badass but Deputy Sirector (from Jack Ryan) is one of my favorites. He is such an excellent actor!!!
I love this show. It’s one of those nail biter types. The episodes go way to fast and before you know it’s over. I think this show needs at least one more season so that people know that it’s out and ready to watch. I’m still telling friends and family about the show and they haven’t heard of it. When they do watch it they LOVE it as well.
Great series, Saldana and Kidman are very powerful characters. Good story, lots of action. Hoping for season 2
I really enjoyed this show and I hope it gets a second season! So many questions left!
A phenomenal show and well put together cast. Hoping this storyline continues. Really would like to see every character return and a future developed for Cruz and Aaliyah. I’know episode 8 Cruz tells Aaliyah, “ you’re going to be pretty hard to forget”. This line is genius and I really feel like Cruz could go back for her because in a way she saves Aaliyah and we didn’t really know the true relationship between Aaliyah and her father. However we do know that she felt trapped for such a long time. Let us not forget also, that Aaliyah’s mother has been brought into the mix mysteriously and we know nothing about her yet. So I really hope this story can continue. The viewing levels for the show are high and there really hasn’t been a militant show this great out in a while. An opportunity for Sheridan to expand on his style a bit, as he already showed us that he can and also an opportunity to keep this fan favorite characters at the forefront to make for great television. Seems like a show with the perfect recipe and with a great recipe the people always return for more. Great article here and I hope to hear a detailed response about season 2 soon.
I thought the series was phenomenal, excellent writing and excellent acting….sure hope there is more to come. Any time I see Taylor Sheridan’s name on the writing credits, I am all in….keep em coming!!
Amazing show. I love the cerebral quality: the portrayal of complex geopolitical controversy, issues surrounding government bureaucracy, the dialogue, the violence/action, the strong female & male characters, all of the US military propaganda (my gf is a Marine)…
I adore the beautiful actresses, though I found it completely unbelievable that a woman of Cruz’s thin stature is able to do over a hundred push-ups in a few minutes…. But it’s ok, the rest of her character and the plot made up for this.
Personally, more than anything, I appreciate the accurate portrayal of a budding lesbian relationship. This was so well executed – for once! – including the dialogue, humor, love making, tension, and overall drama of Aaliyah’s and Cruz’s relationship. As a lesbian in her twenties, I truly appreciate how their relationship unfolded in relation to the riveting storyline/plot. The existing TV/film content for same-sex relationships is trash, either promoting toxic, unhealthy relationships, poor beginnings and/or endings, or containing a horrible, trashy, pointless plot. TV and movie writers should really try targeting an untapped market of young LGB persons looking for better quality and more conservative content.
I am eager for a 2nd season!!! Especially looking for more closure between Cruz and Aaliyah and would LOVE to see them find their way back to one another some way. The story with Kidman’s husband also has a lot of potential. We will gladly give our money to see another season!
Maybe Morgan Freeman can be cut to save costs? His role could have easily been played by someone with a cheaper payroll… love him though.
Not sure how the ratings could be low. It was excellent. Filled with all kinds of conflicting emotions. Hopefully a second season.
This series is the bomb meaning it’s absolutely amazing. It has a variety of twists. The entire cast rocked it. I hope there’s several seasons. This is the one show I was waiting for the new episode to watch. Hopefully Paramount will see the value the show offers to many and bet on renewing for several seasons.
Excellent. Would look forward to Sundays to watch it. Exciting, thrilling, great acting. Zaldaña one of my favorites. Always gives great performances. Wish it would have been longer. Looking forward to Season 2
Who are these critics who rate this series low? With all the garage on Netflix and other TV stations this show is top notch. They acting is great and the filming was outstanding. Definitely not a low budget show. Paramount is absolutely crazy to even consider not renewing! Excellent and entertaining show to watch. It felt like a mixture of Homeland and Jack Ryan to me.
Not surprising it got such a rating, the series was ok. could of been better with a cast of actual actors and not the backups of the backups. I’d be surprised if this this got another season. However if it does, I hope they start over with a clean slate and all new actors.
Overall the series was good. Some of the characters were weak but most cared the series. The touch and feel with the doc and kid wasn’t believable or needed. Kidman can’t be portrayed as hardcore . Gal playing the group leader was weak in the role. Everyone else were believable in the roles. No 2nd season is necessary
This show was one of the best shows on television bring it back as fast as you can. Don’t listen to these critical critics. Give the people what they want. We’ve lost Yellow stone because of a domestic dispute over money. Which sucks. When you get another good show like Lioness there should be no debate bring it back with real world events and run it like Law and order SVIU. Leave the critics where they belong just critical critics. Who cares what they think. Great show. Absolutely great just not enough of it
I loveeeee this show I seriously hope there’s a second season why does people wanna release a good show and then just quit half way through does anyone know how to finish things in life.