Lioness Is Switching Genres In Season 4

Published Sep 24, 2026, 5:26 PM EDT Greg is a Lead TV Writer & Critic at Screen Rant with expertise in new streaming releases. He's published over 3000 articles at SR, including weekly recommendation guides and dozens of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. He previously worked in Development at ABC Television & Lawrence Bender Productions. Greg majored in Film Production at Chapman University's Dodge College. Greg also has years of broadcast TV production experience at major networks such as NBC, TNT, and ESPN. He currently lives in Greater Boston. WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Lioness season 3 finale.Taylor Sheridan's Lioness may be heading in a completely different direction with its yet-to-be-announced fourth season after season 3's shocking finale twist. Although Paramount+ has not confirmed Lioness season 4 at the time of writing, several contextual factors point toward the military/spy action thriller eventually getting the green light, including anticipatory statements from cast members and Lioness' continued streaming dominance, ranking #1 on the platform's global viewership chart for the better part of August and September 2026. Zoe Saldaña's Joe leads the Lioness special ops unit and often accompanies her QRF – Quick Reaction Force – on various missions that involve direct combat throughout the first three seasons of Lioness. Things shift drastically for Joe in season 3 after she is directly attacked at home and eventually abducted by an unknown threat, initially believed to be retaliation for her team successfully extracting the head of Russia's Special Services Department from the front lines in Ukraine. In the end, however, it's revealed that Joe's kidnapping had nothing to do with geopolitics or a budding world war, but rather was a direct and targeted revenge plot from a powerful figure in her past. Lioness Season 3's Villain Reveal Alters Its Geopolitical Emphasis Lauren”Lo” Smith / Paramount+ Lioness has always, and will likely always, be an action thriller with spy and military elements set in modern times. These signature characteristics are what Sheridan uses to give Lioness its distinct immersive identity. What may change, though, in an expected Lioness season 4 is the primary target, which would seem to no longer exclusively run down the United States chain of command. Lioness season 3's villain was revealed to be Aaliyah Amrohi, a key character in Lioness season 1 who fell in love with the show's first undercover Lioness operative, Cruz. She was the only reason why Joe was attacked at her house in Virginia, why her family had to move for their safety, and why Joe was kidnapped and nearly taken hostage outside the United States. Aaliyah wanted to destroy Joe's world the way she had destroyed hers when Cruz was revealed to be an undercover agent after killing Aaliyah's father and fiancée. That said, Aaliyah wasn't just taking revenge for her family – she was scorned and heartbroken by Cruz's betrayal, whom she had secretly grown to love throughout season 1. While Cruz is a devoted Marine at heart who has moved on from the affair in recent seasons, Aaliyah had been plotting her revenge in the shadows the entire time. This gives Lioness its first true series villain based on personal factors such as passion and hatred, which is set to alter – but not remove – the series' geopolitical emphasis. Lioness has been a military/spy-based thriller thus far, facing opposing threats in the name of flag and country, but season 4 is about to get much more personal for Joe. Joe May Have To Work Behind The Scenes To Save Her Family Life Image via Paramount+ Lioness season 3 also introduced the possibility of Joe no longer working in the field alongside her QRF team, which has placed her in grave danger for several seasons now, including season 2 after a shocking suicide bombing left her hospitalized. Even back in Lioness season 2, as Joe was recovering, Kaitlyn told Joe that a desk was in her future, and Joe ended up taking it at the start of season 3. While it's obviously not her fault that she was kidnapped by Aaliyah's hand, it did destroy the sense of safety for Joe's husband and daughters, which is why Joe returned to an empty house in the Lioness season 3 finale. This emotional development reinforces the notion that Joe will have to truly take the desk job she was given at the start of season 3 if she has any hope of keeping her family together. That, however, would only be the first step for Joe and may no longer be enough now that she has a personal enemy in Aaliyah, who orchestrated another attack on Joe in the final moments of season 3. Knowing Joe, she won't be able to secure her and her family's safety without neutralizing Aaliyah first, but whether she will be authorized to use her QRF team or the almighty resources of the CIA is yet to be determined. No matter how it shakes out, Joe will not simply return to running her Lioness program with a new national security threat to defeat, as the battle lines of a whole new war have already crossed her picket fence. Lioness Release Date July 23, 2023 Network Paramount+ Cast Laysla De Oliveira Cruz Manuelos Showrunner Taylor Sheridan