“Lioness”’ Jill Wagner Reveals Taylor Sheridan Had Her Relearn a Scene Left-Handed with 10 Minutes’ Notice (Exclusive)

Deirdre DurkanMon, September 7, 2026 at 5:25 PM UTC

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Jill Wagner as Bobby in ‘Lioness’Credit: Lauren "Lo" Smith/Paramount+ -

Jill Wagner and Laysla De Oliveira spoke with PEOPLE about working with Taylor Sheridan on season 3 of Lioness

Wagner recalls Sheridan asking her to switch her weapon to her left hand just 10 minutes before filming a scene

“He forces you to run into the fire,” Wagner says of the creator

Jill Wagner knows to expect the unexpected when Taylor Sheridan walks onto the Lioness set.

The actress — who plays Bobby, the tough special operations team leader and right-hand woman to CIA case officer Joe McNamara (Zoe Saldaña) — tells PEOPLE that Sheridan challenged her in a new way while filming season 3 of the Paramount+ spy thriller.

Though Wagner, 47, says the latest season wasn’t necessarily her most physically exhausting, there was one day when she and costar Laysla De Oliveira, who plays Marine-turned-CIA operative Cruz Manuelos, were rehearsing a particularly tricky sequence.

“I won’t say that anything was so physically draining for me this season because I do think this season is a bit more cerebral,” Wagner says. “But I will say there was one day that Laysla and I were trying to get this entrance into the house. Cruz and Bobby have to come in and clear the room, and we were having difficulties with some of the angles.”

Jill Wagner as Bobby in ‘Lioness’Credit: Ryan Green/Paramount+

After Wagner and De Oliveira, 34, learned the sequence one way, Sheridan, 56, stepped in shortly before cameras rolled with an unexpected change. “Ten minutes before we roll, he comes in and says, ‘No, I think you should switch arms. Transition your weapon to your left arm,’ ” Wagner recalls.

“And I was just like, ‘Hmm … okay. Help me,’ ” she adds.

Despite having only minutes to adjust to performing the sequence with her non-dominant hand, Wagner says the challenge paid off. “Ultimately, we worked it out, and it’s probably going to be one of my favorite moments,” she says.

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For De Oliveira, the last-minute switch encapsulates what makes working with Sheridan so unique. “That’s the coolest thing about working with Taylor. He can change things on the spot,” she says, clarifying that Sheridan doesn’t change the script itself, but rather the direction. “You have to have your head on a swivel and be able to do that.”

The actress says those challenges have also left her with a newfound confidence in her abilities.

“Once you go through that experience, you really leave the set thinking, ‘Wow, I can do anything,’ ” De Oliveira says. “If you can pick that up, then you go onto another set and think, ‘Well, this one time I did everything with my left hand even though I’m right-handed.’ So it’s a great opportunity for us.”

“He forces you to run into the fire,” Wagner adds. “He really does.”

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There’s another side of Sheridan, however, that viewers may not immediately associate with the prolific show creator, De Oliveira says. “For me, because I know he’s such a tough guy, it’s also seeing his sensitivity,” she says. “He does have quite a sensitive side, and it comes out in his writing and from the fact that he used to be an actor.”

Zoe Saldaña and Laysla De Oliveira in ‘Lioness’Credit: Lauren "Lo" Smith/Paramount+

De Oliveira adds that she was “really spoiled” during the show’s first season because she and Sheridan would run every scene together. When he wasn’t around as much during season 2, she called him before filming her first scene to ask for his guidance. “He said, ‘You’re a big kid now. You can go out there and do it. You don’t need that,’ ” she recalls.

“But I love when you give notes and direct,” De Oliveira remembers telling him, explaining that she enjoys getting “a piece of what’s inside his mind.”

“I love how he looks at lines and breaks them down,” she adds. “He’s obviously this really strong man, but he’s also connected to something incredibly soft, which I think makes the scripts so beautiful.”

Sheridan isn’t only behind the camera this season. He also returns as Cody Spears, and Wagner says viewers should pay attention to his performance in the season 3 premiere.

“I think what people are going to see in this show — specifically this season, in episode one — is that he’s a really good actor,” Wagner says. “He really is.”

“If you know a Delta guy, he acts just like them. It is incredible,” she continues. “I even told him, ‘This is your best acting you’ve ever done.’ And I think multiple people have said it... He kind of just shook it off. But he’s so talented, and we’re lucky to have him.”

Taylor Sheridan on June 30, 2026 in New York CityCredit: Cindy Ord/Getty

The nature of Lioness is also part of what keeps Wagner and De Oliveira coming back. For Wagner, the show’s portrayal of people serving in dangerous roles around the world gives the series a purpose beyond its action sequences.

“I think because we’re telling important stories about women who are still currently over there doing these jobs,” Wagner says. “I think it’s really important that we remind people — not just women, but men as well — that they’re over there fighting for a lot of different things for us and sacrificing. I just think it’s important to remind people and to honor that.”

For De Oliveira, the answer is simpler: “For me, it’s the writing and the people.”

New episodes of Lioness stream on Paramount+.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”