Nicole Kidman Reveals Her Pre-Scene Line-Running Ritual With Morgan Freeman On Lioness Season Three Set

Nicole Kidman says she and her “Lioness” castmates, including Morgan Freeman, have developed a demanding pre-scene ritual to keep up with the density of the scripts Taylor Sheridan writes for the CIA thriller, running through their lines together and quizzing each other on the meaning of nearly every word before cameras start rolling.

Speaking at Paramount+’s “The Icons of Taylor Sheridan’s Universe” event in April, Kidman described the sheer level of preparation required to make Sheridan’s dialogue feel natural on screen. “We have to understand every single thing we’re saying,” Kidman said, describing the scripts as dense and the process of fully absorbing them as a significant undertaking each episode.

Kidman said that before filming key scenes, she, Freeman and co-star Michael Kelly regularly run their lines together, then work through the material further to make sure every term and reference actually makes sense to them. She described the process as needing to become second nature, saying dialogue has to come across as though it’s language the actors would naturally use every day, even though much of the show’s specialized CIA and military terminology is far from their normal vocabulary. Kidman said she and her castmates work through that material by repeatedly asking each other to define and clarify terms until the meaning is fully locked in.

Beyond the line-running sessions with her co-stars, Kidman has said she works with a dedicated research team to help her understand every specific term she uses on screen, supplementing the fact-checking work Sheridan does himself as the show’s creator and primary writer. Kidman has previously compared the overall experience of preparing for the role to writing a thesis on the CIA, given the depth of research required to keep up with the show’s rapidly evolving, topical storylines. She said the show’s third season in particular has felt especially urgent and relevant, describing the experience of filming it as constantly navigating difficult, high-stakes subject matter that requires the cast to stay sharp scene to scene.

Freeman, 89, has offered his own praise for Sheridan’s writing style in a separate interview with The New York Times, crediting the creator’s ability to center the human experience within high-stakes, geopolitically charged storylines. Sheridan’s work, Freeman said, “has to do more with the human experience, what people are actually going through,” pointing to the emotional realism he says has defined Sheridan’s writing across multiple projects, including “Yellowstone.” Freeman specifically highlighted the character arc of Zoe Saldaña’s Joe McNamara within “Lioness,” noting the personal stakes involved for a woman balancing a dangerous covert career with a husband and children at home, and praising Sheridan for having what he called the courage to write honestly about those kinds of difficult, high-pressure personal decisions.

“Lioness,” which returned for its third season August 2 on Paramount+, follows Joe as she leads the CIA’s Lioness undercover program while navigating threats that increasingly bleed into her personal life. According to the show’s official logline, unseen forces circle Joe’s world throughout the new season as patterns emerge, names vanish and paths rearrange, forcing her to confront enemies operating in the shadows while managing a growing conflict between her professional duty and her home life. Kidman plays CIA supervisor Kaitlyn Meade, Kelly plays CIA Deputy Director of Operations Byron Westfield, and Freeman plays Secretary of State Edwin Mullins, rounding out the trio of senior officials who guide Joe’s missions from Washington.

Season three consists of eight episodes, released weekly on Sundays, following the same episode-count structure as the show’s first two seasons. The series, created by Sheridan and based loosely on a real CIA program, launched in 2023 and has grown into one of several Sheridan-created shows currently airing across Paramount+, alongside projects including “Yellowstone,” “Landman,” “Mayor of Kingstown” and “Tulsa King.”

Both Kidman and Saldaña serve as executive producers on the series in addition to their on-screen roles, giving them a hand in shaping the show’s direction behind the scenes as well. The extensive preparation Kidman has described, running lines, defining unfamiliar terminology and consulting outside research, reflects the broader approach the cast has taken toward capturing the technical authenticity that has become a hallmark of Sheridan’s high-profile television projects.

With new episodes continuing to release weekly through late September, “Lioness” remains one of the most closely watched entries in Sheridan’s expanding television universe, with Kidman, Freeman and the rest of the ensemble cast continuing to lean on their behind-the-scenes preparation routine to keep pace with the show’s dense, fast-moving scripts.