Special Ops: Lioness is one of the most-watched shows on Paramount+. With stars like Zoe Saldaña, Nicole Kidman, and Morgan Freeman, the spy thriller series never fails to impress the audience.
The show is also known for its intriguing storyline, focussing on CIA officer Joe, who leads an undercover mission amid rising terrorism to stop a potential attack that could take countless innocent civilians' lives.
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The mission, named Lioness, recruits women operatives for military action and for befriending suspected terrorists’ family members to expose the attack’s plan. Since the show’s setting is based on real-world issues, audiences are bound to wonder if Special Ops: Lioness is based on a true story.
While the show is not explicitly based on true events, it does take inspiration from a real military program.
Special Ops: Lioness is inspired by the US Army’s Lioness Task Force
Special Ops: Lioness is inspired by a real US Task Force, but the show has built a fictional storyline around it. The real Team Lioness was established by the military by enlisting only women. The team’s purpose was to solve a problem US soldiers faced during the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The US Army had several checkpoints in these countries where the locals were searched to prevent the possession of explosives or dangerous weapons. Male soldiers could not search or talk to local women due to cultural rules, which made it easy for terrorists to use women to hide bombs or weapons.
Some suspects even dressed as women to try to pass through the checkpoints without being searched. To fix this, the military formed Team Lioness, a group made solely of female Marines. These teams included a ‘searcher’ who conducted body searches on local women and a ‘guardian angel’ who protected the searcher.
By being able to search women, Lioness teams found hidden weapons and pictures of sensitive military areas, which helped in thwarting attacks. Apart from working at checkpoints, Lioness team members also aimed to gain the trust of local communities.
Since there were no traditional battlefields in these conflicts, building relationships was important for gathering information. Female Engagement Teams (FETs) were later created from Lioness teams. FETs handed out supplies, provided medical care, and even entered homes to talk with the local women.
However, Special Ops: Lioness shows women going undercover within terrorist families, which did not happen in real life. The actual teams mainly focused on connecting with locals and collecting general intelligence.
In the show, things get more intense for the Lioness team as Joe, played by Zoe Saldaña, leads the young operative Cruz, played by Laysla De Oliveira. Cruz’s mission is to befriend the daughter of a known terrorist to get close to him. This mission was out of the scope of the real-world Team Lioness.
For that reason, the characters of Joe and Cruz are fictional and are not based on any real-world spies. Lioness team members were highly trained, learning things like local customs and search techniques. However, their mission was temporary and it is not active anymore.
Once the mission was over, local women were trained to take over their duties, which helped make the process more accepted within the communities. Hence, Special Ops: Lioness is a fictional story inspired by the real mission of Team Lioness.
Created by Taylor Sheridan Special Ops: Lioness premiered on Paramount+ in July 2023. The show returned with its second season on October 27, 2024, and releases new episodes weekly on Sundays.
For more news and updates about this show and other thriller series, keep following Soap Central.
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