Nicole Kidman will step in front of the camera for Lioness, too

Move over, David E. Kelley, Nicole Kidman has a new A-list showrunner buddy. Yes, Kidman is the latest star to join Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount+ empire. She was actually already on board his upcoming series Lioness as an executive producer under her Blossom Films banner. Now, a new Variety report confirms she’ll join Zoe Saldaña and Laysla De Oliveira in front of the cameras as well.

Kidman will play Kaitlyn Meade, “the CIA’s Senior Supervisor who has had a long career of playing the politics game,” according to Variety. “She must juggle the trappings of being a woman in the high-ranking intelligence community, a wife that longs for the attention she herself can’t even give and a mentor to someone veering suspiciously close to the same rocky road she’s found herself on.”

Sounds like her mentee will be Cruz Manuelos (De Oliveira), “a rough-around-the-edges but passionate young Marine recruited to join the CIA’s Lioness Engagement Team to help bring down a terrorist organization from within.” Saldaña, also an executive producer on the show, will play Joe, “the station chief of the Lioness program tasked with training, managing and leading her female undercover operatives,” per a previous release.

The women are joined by an eclectic cast of characters that includes Britney Spears’ husband Sam Asghari. (The fact that Asghari frequently refers to Spears as “his lioness” is just a fun pop culture coincidence.) The series also stars Jill Wagner, Dave Annable, LaMonica Garrett, James Jordan, Austin Hébert, Hannah Love Lanier, Stephanie Nur, and Jonah Wharton. NOS4A2 writer Thomas Brady was originally signed on as showrunner for the series, but “creative differences” after the writers’ room had already wrapped led to creator and executive producer Sheridan stepping into the role, according to Variety.

Lioness continues Kidman’s television renaissance, which began with her Emmy-winning performance in the megahit David E. Kelley series Big Little Lies. She continued to partner with Kelley on The Undoing and Nine Perfect Strangers in addition to appearing in Jane Campion’s Top Of The Lake: China Girl. Adding another star showrunner and another streamer under her belt makes Kidman a good candidate for reigning Queen of TV.