Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Lioness’ Criticized by Real Operatives It’s Based On: ‘Took Our History and Corrupted It’
“I see a really complicated women’s wartime history repackaged into something safer and sanitized for mass consumption," one former service member says The post Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Lioness’ Criticized by Real Operatives It’s Based On: ‘Took Our History and Corrupted It’ appeared first on TheWrap .
Taylor Sheridan's TV show "Lioness" has faced criticism from the real-life operatives it's based on, who claim that the series misrepresented their history. Paramount+ premiered the third season of the series, starring Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman, on Sunday. The show follows a covert CIA unit that utilizes female soldiers to infiltrate terrorist networks.
Sheridan took creative liberties in adapting the story, which initially drew from the real-life Team Lioness formed by the U.S. Marine Corps during the Iraq War in 2003. Team Lioness consisted of mechanics, engineers, and combat medics who worked alongside male soldiers to protect translators and assist in searching women. The Department of Defense had a policy at the time that excluded women from certain combat roles, yet the women became the first female service members to engage in offensive ground combat operations in U.S. military history.
Team Lioness veteran Ranie Ruthig expressed anger over the show's departure from their actual experiences, stating that the series distorted their history and twisted the Team Lioness name into a spy narrative. Team Lioness member Kate Guttormsen described the show's depiction as "corrupted," noting that the women performed diverse tasks from teaching children to gathering intelligence.
Daria Sommers, who co-directed a documentary about the team, revealed the complexity of emotions the series has stirred among the veterans, emphasizing that the term "Lioness" is now honorific and has no basis in reality. Michelle Dallocchio, another Team Lioness member, called the show's portrayal an act of appropriation, describing it as a sanitized version of women's wartime history that erases the actual experiences of the women who lived it.
TheWrap has reached out to Paramount for comment. Sheridan has never claimed the show is a verbatim adaptation of the true story but indicated that it was inspired by it. During an interview on "The Joe Rogan Experience" in July, Sheridan explained that he tried to guess what might happen politically and then fictionalized that, and the surprising accuracy of his fictionalized account has been "wild."
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