Joe’s Lioness Season 3 Capture Will “Get Increasingly More Barbaric,” Warns Taylor Sheridan Star

Credit: Emerson Miller/Paramount+ Published Aug 17, 2026, 6:14 PM EDT Sign in to your ScreenRant account Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Lioness season 3, episode 3. Lioness star Ian Bohen warns that Joe's horrifying season 3 situation is only going to get worse following episode 3's shocking ending. Created by Taylor Sheridan, the Paramount+ espionage thriller returned for season 3 on August 2, with Zoe Saldaña once again leading the cast as CIA officer Joe McNamara. The latest episode takes a particularly dark turn, even leading to some controversy for Joe when she is abducted and subjected to Chinese water torture, setting up a dangerous second half of the season. In an interview with ScreenRant's Liam Crowley, Bohen addressed what viewers can expect following Joe's capture. The actor, who joined Lioness season 3 as Delta Force operator Grady, warned that her captivity will become "increasingly more barbaric" as her captors take their time tormenting her. Read Bohen's full comments below: The abduction and captivity of Joe is going to get increasingly more barbaric. And skin-crawling. And just awful, because it is patient, and it has time to wait, and you'll see the captors delighting in the time that they have, and the audience's skin will crawl. And all the while we're waiting, is this going to end in our favor? And for once, on major TV, you don't know. This is a premium streaming show. It doesn't have to have a happy ending. It could be a tragedy. And so, the teaser is just ready to just have your heart broken. Bohen's comments make clear that episode 3 is only the beginning of Joe's ordeal. Rather than quickly resolving the cliffhanger, Lioness appears prepared to draw out her captivity, with Bohen specifically emphasizing the amount of time her captors have to escalate what they are doing to her. The storyline also puts Joe in a dramatically different position. She has consistently been established as one of Lioness' most powerful characters, but season 3 has now taken away much of the control she normally maintains during dangerous missions. Seeing how she responds to that vulnerability could be just as important as discovering whether she escapes. Most intriguing is Bohen's refusal to guarantee that the story will ultimately work out in Joe's favor. His observation that a premium streaming series "doesn't have to have a happy ending" isn't confirmation that something fatal will happen to Saldaña's character, but it does raise the stakes surrounding the uncertainty of her fate. With Lioness season 3 consisting of eight episodes, there are still five installments remaining after episode 3. Bohen isn't revealing exactly how Joe's captivity ends, but his warning to "be ready to just have your heart broken" speaks for itself, suggesting the series may only be beginning one of its darkest storylines yet. In previous ScreenRant exclusives, it's already been established that audiences should be buckled in for more twists, turns, and even potential Lioness crossovers. Lioness season 3 has already broken a major viewership record with its premiere, while the latest episode leaves its central character in one of her most dangerous situations yet. Lioness season 3 streams new episodes every Sunday on Paramount+. Lioness - Season 3 Release Date August 2, 2026