The Big Picture

Genesis Rodriguez talks about her new role as Josie for the Paramount+ series
Lioness
and what it’s like working with Taylor Sheridan.
Rodriguez reveals her extensive training process and her character’s loyalties in Season 2 of
Lioness
.
Rodriguez also talks about her role as Sloane and the final season of
The Umbrella Academy
.

It’s never fun being the new kid, and Genesis Rodriguez’s Josephina “Josie” Carillo knows exactly how that feels as she joined the team as the newest Lioness agent in Lioness Season 2. The heart-pounding Taylor Sheridan show’s sophomore season introduces a new character to the team as it targets a Cartel criminal that they must take down from the inside. Josie is a far cry from Season 1’s agent, Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira). She’s trained, she’s experienced, but she lacks some of the hardness and scrappiness that Cruz had. After a Mexican cartel kidnaps an American congresswoman, Joe (Zoe Saldaña) and her team recruit Josie due to her family connection to the cartel.

Despite these ties, Josie is a loyal US Army pilot who seems patriotic. It doesn’t hurt that she’s the best woman for the job. Her training makes the process of bringing her in less chaotic, but the Lioness program is not like the army. It’s clear almost immediately that Josie will struggle with Joe’s rough and fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants QRF team. As truths about her past are slowly revealed, there might be more to this character than meets the eye.

We spoke with Rodriguez about her role as Josie for this new season of Lioness. She talked about what it was like joining the cast of the show and also goes into some of Josie’s motivations and loyalties. She discussed her transformative training process, where she trained with a Navy SEAL and learned to fly a helicopter. Rodriguez also goes into what it’s like to work with Taylor Sheridan and what challenges her character might face in the upcoming episodes. Finally, we discussed a little bit about her previous role as Sloane from The Umbrella Academy.

You can check out the full interview in the video above or the transcript below.

Genesis Rodriguez Reveals the Most Demanding Challenge Joining ‘Lioness’ Season 2
Image via Paramount+

COLLIDER: Josie’s character is the newest Lioness on the team, and she’s very different from her teammates. She’s like the odd person out. Can you talk a little bit about Josie’s journey in joining this team and her first impressions of the program?

GENESIS RODRIGUEZ: Going into a second season of a show, I could really pull from life. I was kind of the newbie, “How am I going to fit in here?” So, that wasn’t the reach. Then, they were so welcoming to me, so that didn’t really add to the character anymore because I loved them. But Josie has to deal with a lot in this season. She deals with themes of sacrifice and loyalty and patriotism and family, and do the ends justify the means for her? So, I really am happy that we get to showcase all of that for her without spoiling too much because there’s a lot that happens there.

This is a very physically demanding role for your character and many of the characters on this show. Was that a challenge for you, getting a handle on that physical aspect? What was it like prepping for that?

RODRIGUEZ: It was super challenging for me. I had never done anything that transformative in terms of strength. My program started right around after I got the call to do the job. I started training six days a week, and I was training with a Navy SEAL. I was able to pick his brain as to how he would go about certain situations and really understand the psyche of how would you deal with these real scenarios, and that informed my physicality and that informed where to pull from what kind of a person this is from the inside out, too. I also trained — well, you call it training? I learned how to fly a helicopter.

Related ‘Lioness’ Season 1 Recap: What You Need To Remember Before Season 2 Where did we leave off with Taylor Sheridan’s thriller last season?

That’s definitely training!

RODRIGUEZ: [Laughs] I did not have that skill prior to this job, and that really helped with the performance because you could imagine what a helicopter pilot is like, and then you actually know what a helicopter pilot is like. They have to be so calm, cool, and collected up in the air. They always have to be solving problems and there’s no time to panic. So, there is a reason why she talks the way that she talks inside the helicopter. Outside? Different person.

She’s very much in control in those scenes. She’s a lot less frazzled by the energy of all these people.

Rodriguez Praises Taylor Sheridan for How He Writes Female Characters
Image via Paramount+

What is it like working with Taylor Sheridan on this project? This is a man of many TV shows with many stories in his mind. Was there anything that was surprising about working with him?

RODRIGUEZ: He’s a creative genius. I’m just so honored to be a part of his umbrella of shows. He is amazing. Like, how does he do it all? I’m just so incredibly lucky. The way he writes women, too — I am so lucky because they’re complex characters. You’re seeing the struggle, you’re seeing dualities, you’re seeing the gray of actual people, and that’s what helps make the performances so real and authentic. It’s his writing. Honestly, every time I got a script, I was like, “Oh my God, what’s going to happen in the next episode?” I was always nervous and excited.

That’s how I feel watching the show, so honestly, it’s relatable.

Where Does Josie’s Loyalty Ultimately Lie in ‘Lioness’ Season 2?

Speaking about Josie’s character and that balance between morality, I don’t wanna get too much into spoilers, but she has to struggle with where her loyalties lie, so to speak. Can you talk about working on that aspect of the character and thinking about her through the lens of somebody with multiple identities?

RODRIGUEZ: No one person is black and white. We all have gray. We are complex characters, each and every one of us. So, the fact that we’re able to take a little snippet and show it in Josie, one, it’s like an actor’s dream to be able to play the gray, and two, it helps because it makes my job easier, but also, it gives a lot for the audience. It makes you think. That’s what we’re trying to do is create something that makes you think, “What would you do in these scenarios?”

Definitely. I haven’t seen this yet, but if there is a match-up against Cruz and Josie, I feel like these two characters, even though they’re similar, they’re actually quite different personality-wise. Can you tease if we get any of that and what that interaction is like?

RODRIGUEZ: The great thing about being a part of a Taylor show is the fact that there are so many twists and turns and you’re not going to know what is coming to you. I promise you it’s worth your time to just check out. Even in just the first couple of episodes, you’re hooked. You’re not going to be expecting what’s going to happen.

I literally never expect what happens in this show.

RODRIGUEZ: I know! It’s so good.

Genesis Rodriguez Recalls Her Time on ‘The Umbrella Academy’
Image via Netflix

Wrapping up, I have to ask about The Umbrella Academy because I love you in that show, and I was such a fan of your character. Were there ever any plans for you to come back for that final season? I was sad that we didn’t get any more of Sloane. She was amazing. Or was that not something that you were considering?

RODRIGUEZ: I would have loved to. Because they wrapped up the show in six episodes, I think that Steve [Blackman] couldn’t do it. I would have loved to. I love Sloane so much, so thank you for saying that. And Umbrella Academy is a very special show to me.

Lioness Season 2 drops new episodes on Sundays on Paramount+ in the U.S.

Special Ops: Lioness is a Paramount+ original series starring Zoe Saldana and Nicole Kidman. The series centers on a marine and a CIA agent who work together with the daughter of a dangerous terrorist group to destroy the organization. Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone co-creator) and Jill Wagner created the series, which was directed by Paul Cameron and Anthony Byrne.Release Date July 23, 2023 Seasons 1 Story By Taylor Sheridan, Jill Wagner Streaming Service(s) Paramount+

Watch on Paramount+