Zoe Saldaña recently claimed she was not willing to star in Taylor Sheridan’s series Lioness.
During the Thursday, July 30 episode of The Tonight with Jimmy Fallon, the 48-year-old American actress revealed that she took a whole year to give her seal of approval to play Joe McNamara in the Paramount+ series.
Saldaña told Fallon that Sheridan created McNamara’s role, keeping her in mind but “for a year, I said no” to the role.
She said, “It’s an honor, but it’s also a challenge. I didn’t believe in me, but I kept saying this: if Taylor Sheridan believes in you — someone like Taylor believes in you — then you have no choice but to believe in yourself.”
The Emilia Pérez star went on to sing praises of him, quipping, “He writes amazing worlds. There’s gotta be a reason as to why actors like Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman, Helen Mirren, Michelle Pfeiffer, Harrison Ford, they all just jump on board every time someone like Taylor Sheridan makes a call. It’s because he writes really rich characters.”
When Saldaña was asked if the Landman creator demanded anything of her to play McNamara, she shared that he asked her to “bulk up a little bit.”
“I was in Italy when I got that call, and I was about to dive into the biggest pasta bowl. And I was just like, okay, hand me the fish, I’ll eat that [instead],” she recalled.
It is pertinent to mention that Lioness season 3 is scheduled to premiere on Paramount+ on August 2, 2026. Watch the trailer here.
