‘Lioness’ Season 4 Could Change Everything for Zoe Saldaña's Joe After That Shocking Finale

Published Sep 23, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT

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Editor's note: The following contains major spoilers for Lioness Season 3.

Summary

• In the Season 3 finale of 'Lioness,' Aaliyah was revealed as Joe's kidnapper—a finale twist that turns the action series into an epic saga.
• Joe returns to an empty home with her husband and daughters gone and the future of her marriage hanging in the balance.
• Taylor Sheridan's writing and the fierce all‑female cast push 'Lioness' into saga territory and demand a Season 4.

After that shocking reveal in the Season 3 finale of Lioness, finally making the individual behind the kidnapping of Joe (Zoe Saldaña) known to viewers, her fate as well as that of her entire team hang in the balance. On top of that, Joe was forced to return home, only to find it empty, her husband (Dave Annable) and their two daughters gone, and just a note left behind. And with Kaitlyn (Nicole Kidman) already wanting to discuss Joe’s future, there are a lot of questions left unanswered, including whether there will be a Season 4.

Collider recently got the opportunity to chat with Saldaña about her reaction to learning that Aaliyah Amrohi (Stephanie Nur) was the one behind everything with Joe, how she found out about the twist, the ramifications it could all have moving forward, what could be next for her marriage, who Joe is if she’s taken out of the field, her favorite scene to shoot, the gift she’s been given in working alongside all the Lioness women, and the need for a Season 4.

Zoe Saldaña Was Excited About the Season 3 Finale Reveal That She Says Turned the Action Series Into a Saga

"I was so happy."

Image via Paramount+

COLLIDER: My jaw was on the floor with this finale. That reveal was wild and I didn’t see it coming. How did you find out where this season would end and that it was Aaliyah that was responsible? What was your reaction?

ZOE SALDAÑA: With Season 3, Taylor [Sheridan] was literally writing and finishing the scripts a week before we were prepping them to shoot. That’s how big his world has become, but also, that’s how in demand he is with all the shows that he’s currently writing on. He personally wrote all of our seasons, and I’m so incredibly grateful because that meant that we always had direct and fast access to Taylor and he’s a really great storyteller.

I was finishing up Episode 6 when I got the script, probably two days before anybody else got it. Jill [Wagner] also gets them because she’s the producer and she’s one of the creators of the show, so she gets them in real time. He sends them to her and she reads them, and then they send them to me. And I was so happy. I was excited. It felt to me like a novella. All of a sudden, it went from this paramilitary operative show that’s high-octane and action and thriller and suspense to a saga, and I like that. I really do.

What ramifications do you think that will have moving forward? At this point, there has to be another season.

SALDAÑA: We would be so grateful if we’re able to come back. I think that this cliffhanger is so jaw-dropping that if we get canceled after this positive reception, I am going to be a little vocal about it. Paramount is thrilled. 101 is thrilled. Bosque Ranch, which is Taylor’s production company, is thrilled. We all, as producers, are super excited. I know Nicole [Kidman] and I are very excited. It would be a dream come true, to come back. The thing that I always want to remind people of is that, though the show draws inspiration from real world elements to build tension and suspense, it’s ultimately a fictional narrative that’s designed to entertain. Current events may naturally lead audiences to draw their own comparisons, but Lioness was not created as a response to any one geopolitical event news cycle.

That said, I think that history has shown us that when innocent people lose their homes and they’re displaced, they lose their families and they lose essential parts of themselves as a consequence of war and as casualties of war. These people are basically losing their innocence, and their lives are changed forever. So, I think that Aaliyah is going to represent something bigger and much more familiar in today’s geopolitical era. Obviously, on a much more fictional, fantastical scale because let’s pray and hope that many of these people don’t have the physical financial ability to come back and seek answers for what happened to them, but it would be naive to think that these lives are unchanged forever. It would be horrible and quite wrong to think that these lives aren’t marked forever. I commend Taylor for exercising that hypothesis.

Zoe Saldaña Isn’t Surprised That Joe’s Husband Finally Reached His Limit in the ‘Lioness’ Season 3 Finale

"Put yourself in Neal's shoes. There's only so much he can do to support his wife and partner."

Image via Paramount+

We also know at the end of the finale that Joe’s husband has emptied the house, packed up, and left with their daughters. He’s supported her in the past, at times when it really has taken a heavy toll on him, so has he just reached his limit? What are the questions that you are most interested in getting answers to when it comes to their marriage and how they move forward?

SALDAÑA: I’m not saying that I influenced this move from Neal because Taylor ultimately makes his own choices, and I do believe that it’s not even up to Taylor. I think that these characters dictate where they’re going, and Taylor just has to make sure that he never gets in their way. If you are a good writer and you’re a great storyteller, you don’t manipulate the story. You just have to follow the natural course of what these characters would take. Put yourself in Neal’s shoes. There’s only so much he can do to support his wife and his partner.

If the violence and the darkness of her world comes knocking at their doorstep and it threatens the lives of his family, it’s funny that we say what makes a marriage work is because a wife chooses the kids and the husband chooses the wife, and that’s how you get a harmonizing family. Well, I love the fact that this Neal character broke that and he’s choosing the safety and the security of his life and his children, and he no longer can put Joe first. That has to rock Joe. As long as he’s her lighthouse, she’s going to continue to chip away at her own life and then inherently at his life with her because he’s always going to be there.

After she gets rescued, she avoids going home. But when she gets home and the house is empty, she can no longer avoid that reality. She can’t avoid that she was kidnapped because she’s missing a toe as proof of that. And obviously she has to have a conversation about her future with Kaitlyn at some point, even if she wants to avoid doing so right now. Who is Joe if she has to work a desk and if she can’t be who she is in this moment?

SALDAÑA: She’s a soldier. This show is not a love song. It’s not a joyful reality. But it does pay homage to the people that innately put themselves last for the sake of other people’s lives. She’s a soldier, and she doesn’t know how not to be that. She’s the same as Kyle. She’s the same as Kaitlyn. She’s the same as Tucker, Two Cubs, Randy, Tag, Bobby, Cruz. She’s a soldier. Did Neal rock her now? Yeah. Now, Neal has her attention.

What was your favorite scene to shoot this season?

SALDAÑA: What I like about this show and Taylor writing it is that, yeah, he is hard to get on the phone, but when he’s in a creative process and you are in that creative process as well, you’re synced in that process. You just have to meet him where he’s at. I love the fact that, as he was writing the episodes, I am so in the trenches in Joe world that sometimes I would have these epiphanies or these insights, and I would text him like, “Oh, this is what’s happening, right?” And he would either respond like, “Yep,” or he’ll call me. Even if I’m on set, I’ll be like, “I need to walk away. I’m going to talk to Taylor right now.” And he’ll help me break something down, or we will further discuss something, or we work something out. He ultimately has the final decision on how things unfold, but I’m so tapped into Joe that I can figure things out while he’s writing them.

There was one time when I was just struggling with a scene. I was like, “I just don’t know. If she’s a soldier and she’s done this and this, and she broke Cruz in Season 1 and sent her through all these camps to survive and become resilient, that means that she’s resilient herself.” And he was like, “Yeah, she’s going to save herself, and her team is going to come meet her in the middle.” The fact that he would say that, I have such appreciation for the fact that he truly values Joe. If he comes across a decision that he’s going to write for Joe that may weaken her character, he will not do it. Yes, her team is looking for her. Praise them for wanting to save her. But Joe is a rock. She’s a soldier. She’s going to find a way to get far enough so that then her team can come and meet her in the middle. I loved that. So, when I figured that out, and he had already written that, it just felt great.

Zoe Saldaña Says Working With the Incredible ‘Lioness’ Women Is the Biggest Gift in Making the Show

"[Taylor Sheridan is] going to write characters that are complex, that are honest, that are human, and then you have to figure out if you like them or not."

I love that this is a show where not only are you playing this badass, strong woman in a very heavily male world, but you’re doing so with such great women around you. From Joe to Kaitlyn, to Bobby, Cruz, and Josie, there are a lot of strong, smart, and capable women in this world. What is it like to be alongside so many other women through all of this?

SALDAÑA: The biggest gift of all is that I get to be around these incredible women that are talented as fuck and devoted and passionate and opinionated, but also funny and vulnerable and spicy. We’re not being forced to become more masculine because we’re living in these customarily masculine spaces. Take Cruz, for instance. Cruz fell in love. Cruz discovered that she was gay, whilst also receiving the opportunity of her life, when she was asked to be a part of the Lioness program in Season 1. That’s not a masculine role. That’s a woman. This woman is strong and capable and a survivor and a thriver and a heart that’s beating.

Look at Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn has to always practice putting her experience, her wisdom, her ability, her talent to create this program first, over her heart. Nobody is as heartbroken as Kaitlyn when Joe is blown. Nobody. Nobody is as fucking desperate to get her back as Bobby. I feel these women. These women reveal themselves to you if you give yourself the opportunity to watch them, season after season. That’s the good thing about good writing. He’s not going to spoon-feed you all the answers. He’s going to write characters that are complex, that are honest, that are human, and then you have to figure out if you like them or not, but it’s on you.

Lioness is available to stream on Paramount+.​​​​​​