‘Lioness’ Stars React to Joe’s Fate, Tease ‘Cliffhanger’ Finale (Exclusive)

The fate of Joe McNamara (Zoe Saldaña) after her abduction in Lioness was finally revealed in Sunday’s (September 13) episode, and TV Insider caught up with key members of the cast to break down what happened … and what’s next in the Season 3 finale. Warning: Spoilers for Lioness Season 3 Episode 7, “Kiss the Girls,” ahead!

It was a deadly affair for the policemen who pulled the car with Joe and her captors over. Though they were able to alert the QRF of the vehicle, they were outnumbered and quickly ambushed with a spray of bullets that left all but one of the officers dead. The last remaining cop was inches from being executed himself before Joe’s squad arrived and jumped in to fire back. Soon, Josie’s (Genesis Rodriguez) helicopter arrived, and Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) proceeded to mow their nemesis down until there were none left.

While this was happening, Joe, who’d taken the passenger out on her own, escaped by foot, ducking a barrage of bullets while fleeing on her hurt foot. So, by the time Bobby (Jill Wagner) ran to reach her, Joe was still in a state of shock, disbelief, and fear.

While Bobby assured Joe no one was coming, she didn’t fully snap out of it until Cruz arrived, and Joe fell right into her arms. After an emotional beat, Bobby and Cruz treated Joe to a joke to lighten the tension of the moment, and the exchange spoke volumes about their relationship.

About the decision to imbue such an intense scene with a humorous beat, Wagner said, “I think Joe and Bobby have a really special relationship, and I think it’s woman to woman, chief to chief, and I think she understands Joe, and she gets Joe, and Joe doesn’t need a lot of coddling. She can get that from her husband, but from Bobby, she’s gonna get like, ‘Hey, soldier, get up and go. Let’s get up and go.’ And also, I think it’s just a defense mechanism that a lot of soldiers have because they have to, and so it’s ingrained in her to always make light of something because otherwise, it’s really dark.”

Oliveira credited Taylor Sheridan with scripting this tiny bit of levity in that moment. “Props to Taylor. He’s really good at writing these intensely beautiful moments and infusing humor into them…. I think with a show so intense, as dark as ours, what keeps it alive are these moments of humor that are so human,” she said. “We have these moments of great intensity, and there’s this little spark of life, little spark of joy. We have to find light in the darkness… I think also Joe is feeling so much in that moment, so, I think [we have] to get her out of her head, to get her onto the helicopter.”

Back in D.C., Kaitlyn (Nicole Kidman) and her husband Errol Meade (Martin Donovan) decided to do a rare intel exchange, despite their usual rule to keep their respective secrets, well, secret. In a clever exchange, Errol encouraged her to think about which nation-state or other organization might benefit the most from Joe’s capture, and they volleyed through a myriad of options before he not-so-gently pointed to the Ukrainian asset who clued them into so many other foreign assets on the homeland. Kaitlyn didn’t like it, but she seemed to understand the logic.

After Joe was safely on board a jet, surrounded by her team, most everyone else seized the opportunity to rest except for herself and Two Cups (James Jordan). Though Two Cups hasn’t been known for his stoicism or wisdom in the past, their conversation was as poignant as any from this show. First, he gave credit to Kyle (Thad Luckinbill) for pulling off the rescue against such incredible odds; then, he admitted he had no faith they could save her, and she admitted she felt the same way.

“That was my favorite scene to shoot this season, and I know it’s vitally important to the character and to Joe’s rehabilitation as she begins it, as we bring her home,” James Jordan said of the scene. “It’s a moment where we get to see those two connect as human beings. And that question of duty versus family is: Has she crossed the line too many times to where now she’s going to walk away from this life and go home to her family and just be a mother and a wife? I don’t know.” On a personal note, the actor also relished the opportunity to chew up such a powerful moment with the series’ lead. “To play that scene with Zoe, man, there’s no other actor like her, huh? There’s so many levels operating. When we were doing that scene, we both were fist-bumping. We’re like, this scene has a lot going on.”

While en route to Washington, Joe insisted she wanted to go home to Neal (Dave Annable) and the girls instead of directly to Walter Reed for treatment, while Kaitlyn paid a visit to the house to let her family know she was on the way back and that a desk would almost certainly be in Joe’s future. Kaitlyn then met with Edwin (Morgan Freeman) and Byron (Michael Kelly) to decide whether Oleskandra (Elizaveta Neretin) deserved to die over the suspicions against her. And as Joe pulled up to her house, with Bobby and Cruz accompanying her, she changed her mind at the last minute and had them peel away, with her leaving Neal with only the promise that she’d be back “soon.” Joe, she then revealed, was on a mission to find out who was behind the abduction and to handle them — a decision Cruz heartily supported.

Ryan Green / Paramount+

“They’re finally on the same page,” Oliveira said of Cruz’s mindset. “Cruz is starting to realize — and Joe also — ‘Well, maybe we’re more similar than we thought. We’re a reflection of each other.’ Then, because of Joe being taken away and these true feelings being presented to Cruz in this massive moment of self-reflection and self-realization, you see, ‘Oh, now we’re on the same page. We’re going to go get the bad guys.’”

Though Oliveira is tight-lipped about what’s ahead in next week’s finale, she promises, “It’s definitely a cliffhanger.”

And if you thought the rescue of Joe couldn’t possibly happen with an entire episode left in the season, well, you were not alone. “I felt the same way when I was reading the scripts. I was like, ‘Well, we did it. We got her. Now what?’” Oliveira said. “Which is why it makes sense that it ends on a cliffhanger because there is more to come.”

Meanwhile, Jordan teased, “Let me tell you this: It will leave your jaw on the floor. When we, as actors, got that episode, I think we were on set, and literally, we all went, ‘No. Whoa!’ I mean, it comes out of left field. It’s a total curveball, but boy, it makes so much sense… You want to talk about a watercooler moment? We’re gonna have that.”

Lioness, Sundays, Paramount+