Taylor Sheridan’s 'Lioness' slammed by real-life veterans for 'Twisting' history: 'Makes me mad...'
Taylor Sheridan’s 'Lioness' is facing criticism from women who served in the real-life military unit that inspired the Paramount+ drama. The backlash comes as the Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman-led series begins its third season, highlighting the difference between Sheridan’s fictional CIA operation and the Marines who carried the Lioness name during the Iraq War.
Former members say the show has taken their history and turned it into something they do not recognize. Their objections are not regarding its cast or storytelling, but its use of a name that carries deep meaning for the women who served under it.
The real Team Lioness was formed by the U.S. Marine Corps in 2003, at a time when Department of Defense policy excluded women from certain combat roles. The team was not connected to the CIA and did not send operatives undercover to infiltrate terrorists’ families. Instead, female mechanics, engineers, and combat medics accompanied male troops, protected translators, and searched Iraqi women.
They also gathered intelligence and worked in communities, with Captain Kate Guttormsen explaining that the Lionesses “would do anything from going to schools and handing out soccer balls to finding intel.” Despite the restrictions placed on them, the women became among the first female American service members to participate in offensive ground combat operations.
“It makes me mad that it doesn’t follow what we did at all,” one of the original Lionesses, Ranie Ruthig, told The Telegraph. “They took the Team Lioness name and twisted it into a spy thing. I like Taylor Sheridan’s writing – I’ve watched his other shows – but he took our history and kind of corrupted it.” Documentary filmmaker Daria Sommers was equally direct, saying, “The key thing is it has no basis in reality.”
She added, “I’m not critiquing Nicole Kidman or Zoe Saldaña – they should get all the kick-ass adventure roles they want. But if Taylor Sheridan had called the show something else, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
Former Team Lioness member Michelle Dallocchio described the series’ use of that history as an act of appropriation. “I see a really complicated women’s wartime history repackaged into something safer and sanitized for mass consumption – while erasing the actual women who lived it,” she said. Sheridan has never presented 'Lioness' as a direct retelling, but rather as a drama inspired by real events.
Discussing the series in July on the 'Joe Rogan Experience,' he said, “The fun thing about ‘Lioness,’ which is, I can’t say ripped from the headlines, because I’ve tried to guess what’s going to happen politically and then fictionalize that.” He added, “The fact that I’ve managed to be right is pretty [expletive] wild.” Season 3 of 'The Lioness' is currently airing on Paramount+.
